Mobile App Development Glossary
25 essential terms — because precise language is the foundation of clear thinking in Mobile App Development.
Showing 25 of 25 terms
Google's open-source mobile operating system based on the Linux kernel, used by a wide range of device manufacturers worldwide.
A set of defined rules and protocols that allows different software applications to communicate with each other.
The file format used to distribute and install applications on Android devices, containing compiled code, resources, and the app manifest.
Android's modern publishing format that defers APK generation and signing to Google Play, enabling optimized delivery of smaller, device-specific APKs.
The sequence of states and transitions a mobile application goes through from launch to termination, including foreground, background, and suspended states.
Platform-specific frameworks (ARKit for iOS, ARCore for Android) that enable augmented reality experiences by tracking the device's position and understanding the environment.
A concurrency pattern available in Swift, Kotlin, Dart, and JavaScript that allows asynchronous code to be written in a sequential, readable style.
Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery: automated processes for building, testing, and deploying code changes frequently and reliably.
The process of digitally signing an application to verify the developer's identity and ensure the binary has not been altered since it was built.
Apple's object-graph and persistence framework for iOS and macOS that manages the model layer of an application using an SQLite backing store.
A client-optimized programming language developed by Google, used as the primary language for the Flutter framework.
A URL that navigates to a specific screen or piece of content inside a mobile application rather than simply opening the app.
Software tools that mimic a mobile device on a development machine. Android Studio provides an emulator; Xcode provides an iOS Simulator.
An open-source automation tool for mobile development that handles building, testing, code signing, screenshot generation, and deployment to app stores.
Google's backend-as-a-service platform providing authentication, real-time databases, cloud messaging, analytics, crash reporting, and more for mobile and web apps.
A query language for APIs that lets clients request exactly the data they need in a single request, reducing over-fetching compared to REST.
Android's modern declarative UI toolkit that uses Kotlin to build native interfaces with composable functions, replacing the traditional XML layout system.
A secure container on Android used to store cryptographic keys for code signing and encrypting sensitive data.
An authorization framework that allows third-party applications to obtain limited access to a user's account on an HTTP service, commonly used for social login in mobile apps.
Code shrinking and obfuscation tools for Android that reduce APK size and make reverse engineering more difficult by renaming classes and removing unused code.
An Apple-issued configuration that ties an app's bundle ID, signing certificate, device identifiers, and entitlements together, authorizing the app to run on specific devices.
An Android Jetpack library that provides an abstraction layer over SQLite, offering compile-time query verification and seamless integration with LiveData and Kotlin Flow.
Apple's declarative UI framework introduced in 2019 for building user interfaces across all Apple platforms using Swift code.
Apple's platform for distributing beta builds of iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS apps to internal and external testers before App Store release.
A component that embeds a web browser engine inside a native mobile app, allowing it to display web content or run a hybrid web application.