Tag: iOS Development

Why Android Apps Development Rules Over IOS Development

Why Android Apps Development Rules Over IOS Development

You must be having this thought that why one should use Android for app development rather than iOS. Well, the question has an obvious answer and the fact that Android app development is always better cannot be denied.

One should always start development in iOS first so that your app can gain fame and earn money. But then gradually one should plan to shift to Android. This article is especially for those who fear the shift and have concerns like development cost, Android market fragmentation, and return on investment in their minds. This is to prove that Android app development is not that bad as it seems.

Porting to Android from iOS:

Both, the newbies as well as the established companies like to target the Western Market like US, Australia, UK, Denmark, Canada, Japan etc because of the popularity that iOS has amongst them. Entrepreneurs prefer iOS for their application development initially despite of Android’s dominance because of their target audience which uses the App Store of Apple for downloading various apps and also because the average revenue per user in this market is quite high.

But this strategy does not work everywhere and there Android app development makes good sense. The countries which have a higher Android market include South Korea, India, China, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Brazil. Porting from iOS to Android here will be a great move to increase your user base. When you have a strong user base, you will automatically have good revenue no matter whether your user is using an Android device or iOS.

No need to fear Android fragmentation:

If you think that Android app developing is a pain then you surely need to review your thought. The vast diversion and fragmentation of Android market has been elegantly tackled by Google now. You can give different UI layouts for various screen sizes and also manage the pixel density without changing the codebase.

While porting from iOS to Android remember to make your app compatible with KitKat (4.4 version) and Lollipop(5.0-5.1 versions) which are being used by 36 and 33 percent of the users presently. You can also make your app compatible with Jelly Bean in some of the areas. However, you can wait for Marshmallow to become more frequent before making your app compatible with this version. So now you can very well see that using Android for app development is not that tough.

Android app development costs almost the same as that of iOS:

Yes, that’s true that Android app development will cost almost the same as that of iOS. While developing an app in Android you don’t need to focus on all the devices and OS. Instead you can use the Google provided data to check which OS and devices to focus on. When you support less OS and devices, you will automatically take less time and less cost to develop your android app.

The landing page of the App or a direct conversation with the users can help you analyze the devices owned by your target audience. This data will help you develop your app effectively at lesser cost and time.

Also, publishing your app on Google store is not that difficult and the Google approval time is also very less. Apple store takes weeks to approve your publish whereas Google takes only a little time. Therefore, it is an added benefit to work on Android for your app development as it saves on your time.

Get paid for your app on Google play:

The fact that Apple store earns more than Google play cannot be denied but gradually Android is seeing better revenue with the improvements in their device quality and OS. The tiny flaws which the Android apps face can be used to our own advantage by adding some features which are otherwise hard to implement and make them available at a particular cost on the Google store. For example, porting a video editing app from iOS to Android is difficult because of the lack of some features and libraries used for advanced video recording and editing.

So, now you can invest a little money to develop these features and make it available on Google play at a particular price. This is possible because Google play lets you price tag your apps or provide them to the users with a promo-code. This strategy will not only help you make money but also attract audience toward your app which is now providing some special features which are not there in other apps. Adding a video functionality to your app is definitely a great idea to improve your revenue. This is because reports have shown that many of the users are much interested in sharing and viewing more of videos.

Also, according to reports, in 2015 Android saw greater ad revenue as compared to iOS after excluding the Chinese Android App stores as Chinese market has banned Google play. But still people from Chinese market download Android apps from other stores.

Some Android features which iOS doesn’t provide:

When porting from iOS to Android, keep the following features in mind to get a positive stand for Android.

Widgets

Widgets are something which is very much in use in the Android apps and they are helpful for the users of the devices as well. Android allows the application of widgets on the home screen letting the users to gain more information and quick access to various apps. For eg, an app for task management can provide a widget which shows the daily tasks to the user and a news app can provide a widget which shows the daily headlines from the user selected category. You can also make these widgets paid if the information provided is important enough.

Push notifications

Although both the platforms provide push notification but those in Android are a lot better than iOS. This is because, the notifications do not show up on the lock screen and also don’t light up your screen in Android devices. This maintains the privacy of the user in public. Another advantage is the facility to use more symbols in a notification as compared to iOS.

The back button

This is a very useful feature in Android as it lets you navigate through your app, page or menu history when you click on it. This helps the user to go back to a particular page which you left in between. Whereas in the iOS you will have to follow the whole process because you are made to exit the app once you exit a page.

Android intents

Intent is a superb feature provided by android which helps the user to choose the software in which a particular thing can be opened. For example, if your device has three photo editing softwares, so your device will always show you a dialogue box asking you which software you would like to use to open your downloaded picture in. Including this feature is very easy as you just need to register some intent filters so that the OS can know the functionality of your app.

Your app can be chosen as the default app:

Android provides you the flexibility of making an app as the default one if the users love using it. This is quite a common practice incase of many messaging apps.

Android wear

Nowadays the android market is coming up with many android smartwatches and other android wears which are compatible with both android as well as iPhone. The watch face customization options in Android Wear are better than that of Apple Watch. Also the battery life of Android wear is longer than Apple Watch.