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The Dummies Guide To Android Development

Android app development is the process of creating software applications for devices running Google's operating system. They include smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, TVs, and car dashboards. 

Programmers use special computer languages to create apps. Google, in turn, provides the tools they need to succeed. If you're keen on learning more, here's a thorough guide to understanding Android app development in minutes.

All the apps you're familiar with on the Google Play Store and third-party stores have passed through Android app development. Someone designed and executed their user interface, layouts, buttons, menus, and other visual elements that you interact with. 

Underneath these elements is a code that makes them run well together. Here's a list of the codes and what they do:

Java: The main language developers use to create Android apps, defining their behavior and features.

Kotlin: It's simpler to use than Java, requires fewer lines of code, and has become the new standard for Android development alongside Java.

Python: A more challenging language than Java, yet highly versatile. It's also suitable for Progressive Web Apps (PWAs).

C# and C++: It's compatible with Android Studio and iOS mobile development. Developers often use C++ for 3D games. They use C# for game development and scripting on Android systems, especially for beginners.

Integrated app environments

Developers often write and edit these codes within an integrated development environment. Inside the environment is a code editor, layout editor, debugger, and other features. Integrated into the IDE is the software development kit (SDK), which provides tools and libraries to build and run Android apps.

Essentially, the tools carry libraries, agee:, and other things necessary for app development. Once development is complete emulation enables you to simulate an Android phone. To make it clearer, think of the IDE as your workspace and the SDK as a box of resources within it. 

Although there are many IDEs, Android Studio is the main one everyone uses. After all, the creators of Android itself designed it and it comes with the latest features. To avoid bias, here are five other IDEs worth knowing:

Eclipse

A flexible software for creating apps in different languages, including Java, C/C++, and Python. It offers a customizable workspace to suit individual needs.

Visual Studio with Xamarin

It enables creating native Android, iOS, and Windows apps using a shared .NET code base. It provides access to native features and Azure integration for scalable cloud-driven applications.

Intellij Idea

It's primarily for Java, Kotlin, Groovy, and other languages based on the Java Virtual Machine. It's a product of JetBrains, and it offers advanced coding assistance, built-in tools for integration with various technologies, and a vast plugin ecosystem to extend its functionality.

Droidscript

A mobile app development tool that allows rapid creation of native Android apps using JavaScript, along with the capability to build HTML5 apps. It offers a simplified coding experience with portable functionality, enabling coding from any device without requiring an internet connection.

The core components of Android app development

Android app development components are foundational elements that define how your app behaves. Basically, they're must-haves. They include the following:

Activities & screens

Every app consists of activities. Each activity represents one screen in the app and controls what you see and interact with. So, an app with multiple screens has multiple activities. Usually, there's one main activity, which is the first screen you see when you open the app. 

From there, each activity can lead to others. You could move from your email inbox to composing an email. Even though activities work together to make the app work smoothly, they're not tightly connected. They can even start activities from other apps.

When you first open Snapchat, the default main activity the camera. This activity lets you take pictures, use filters, and record videos.

Services

Services run in your app's background to perform tasks without providing a user interface. There are two types of services. Started services go to work when you launch an app, and continue running independently to perform a specific task in the background. For example, your music streaming apps will play music in the background even when you switch to another app.

Bound services, on the other hand, are tied to specific parts of an application. Let's say you're developing a music streaming app, this time around. First, you'll create a bound service, DownloadService, in your IDE. That service is tightly integrated with the download functionality of your application. When a user selects a song to download, the UI component (the download button) binds to the DownloadService and sends a request to download the selected song.

Broadcast receivers

This component allows apps to respond to system-wide announcements, even when the app is not active. For example, it can trigger notifications when your battery is low battery or downloads.

Content providers

They manage shared app data that the device stores in various locations, such as the file systems, SQLite databases, or web services. Other apps can query or modify this data through the content provider if permitted. For instance, Android's system content provider handles user contact information, accessible to apps with appropriate permissions.

Android emulators

An Android emulator is any application that closely mimics an Android device. The application generates the virtual version of the device, and it's able to replicate the behavior of an actual gadget. 

After development, you need an emulator to test your app's functionality, performance, and user experience in a controlled environment. You want to make sure that the app works as intended before deploying it to real devices or the Google Play Store. BlueStacks and NoxPlayer are examples of Android emulators.

The app life cycle in a nutshell 

The app lifecycle refers to the different stages an app goes through from its creation to its termination. It includes six stages.

App development stage

It covers everything from conceptualization to market research, user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design. It's where you'll use agile methodologies and prototyping. Agile is a set of principles and practices for software development that prioritize flexibility, adaptability, and customer collaboration. Instead of following a rigid plan from start to finish, you'll divide the projects into smaller iterations or sprints. 

Each iteration typically lasts from one to four weeks and results, and there's the potential to increase it if you encounter unexpected challenges. Meanwhile, prototyping is when you create a physical mock-up of an app or its features to gather feedback, validate ideas, and refine the design before investing in full-scale development. 

Market introduction

After development, you introduce your app to the market. Then you'll work on your strategy, validating selling propositions and target audience, as well as set measurements of success. Marketing efforts focus on building product awareness.

Growth

Here, the app experiences increased demand and begins to generate profits. Your focus shifts to establishing a unique brand presence, investing in new features and distribution channels, and implementing advertising campaigns.

Maturity

Your app reaches its peak growth during this phase, with the highest profits. The business becomes more efficient in understanding its target audience and tackling problems. Strategies focus on competition and differentiation rather than customer acquisition.

Saturation

At this point, your app's success stabilizes, and there is no significant growth or decline. Competition intensifies, and the focus shifts to maintaining brand preference and continuous development and improvement.

Decline

The final phase where the app either maintains its position or experiences a decline. Innovation and brainstorming will help it stay competitive and prevent decline. Some products may experience inevitable decline due to changing market conditions or relevance. It's just how business works, really.

Kickstart your app development journey

Now you know the basics of Android app development. Don't be afraid to take the next steps in developing your own application. If you've started, don't hesitate to seek help. The official Android documentation offers comprehensive guides, while online tutorials on Udacity, YouTube, and other platforms provide step-by-step instructions. 

Android 15 Could Let Apps Selectively Hide Sensitive Content When Screen Sharing

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

TL;DR

Android 15's latest beta includes a new Developer Options toggle called "disable screen share protections," which is tied to a new feature internally called "sensitive content protection."

This feature could allow apps to block specific fields from ending up in screen recordings or screen shares.

With this feature, apps that display sensitive information only occasionally can selectively block those fields from appearing in screen shares and recordings.

Android 15 is shaping up to be a subtle change on the surface but a substantial upgrade when you peek under the hood. Another change that could come to Android 15 is how apps can selectively hide sensitive content when you are screen sharing.

As Android Police reports, Android 15 Beta 1.1 has a new Developer Options toggle named "disable screen share protections." This toggle disables the system-applied app and notifications protections during screen sharing. Reportedly, the visibility of this toggle is controlled by flags related to a feature known internally as "sensitive content protection."

According to the report, this feature could allow apps to block specific fields from ending up in screen recordings or screen shares. This way, apps that occasionally display sensitive information can selectively block those fields instead of disabling screen recordings or screen shares in a blanket manner. It could also help combat the use of malicious apps as it could get that much more difficult to leak your data to any malicious app that tricks you into sharing your screen.

There are a few mysteries about how this feature pans out. Flags for controlling "sensitive notification app protections" and hiding notifications during screen shares have been spotted, but it's unclear why both are needed. Blocking a notification entirely from a screen share would also block sensitive notifications from appearing. It's also unclear how Android would know when a notification contains sensitive content either.

We'll have to wait for Google to release more betas or officially announce the feature to learn more about this functionality and related APIs.

Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at news@androidauthority.Com. You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice. Comments

Android App Permissions Explained And How To Use Them

Damien Wilde / Android Authority

Since the release of Android 6.0 Marshmallow all the way back in 2015, the Android operating system has offered us full control over app permissions, dictating what apps can and cannot see on our personal devices. As our phones become more entrenched in the sensitive aspects of our personal lives, from family photos to financial data, careful control of these permissions has become increasingly important. Luckily, Android's robust permission system now lets us stop apps from looking into certain aspects of our digital lives.

So let's dive into what Android app permissions do and how best to leverage them to keep your smartphone secure.

What are Android app permissions?

As the name suggests, permissions on Android govern what an app is allowed to do and access. This ranges from reading the data stored on your phone, such as SMS messages and media files, through to using hardware including your handset's camera or microphone. Granting permission allows the app to use the feature. Denying access prevents it from doing so. Simple enough.

Permission requests often pop-up when you launch an app for the first time.

Apps cannot automatically grant themselves permissions, these have to be confirmed by the user via an on-screen prompt. Apps will ask you to accept each of their requested permissions the first time you launch them via a popup that asks you to "Allow" or "Deny" each request. This will also reoccur on startup if you deny permissions or if an app is updated to require new permissions.

Well-maintained modern apps will continue to function even if you deny them some or even all permissions. Although features that require permissions, such as your location, obviously won't work once denied. If you try to use a feature requiring a denied permission, you'll see the popup appear again. There are often no problems with denying app permissions you feel uncomfortable with and they can always be changed at a later date.

Android permissions explained

Robert Triggs / Android Authority

Most of Android's app permissions are self-explanatory, but here's a breakdown of what each one actually means.

Body Sensors — allows access to your health data and step count from paired heart-rate monitors, fitness trackers, and other sensors.

Calendar — allows apps to read, create, edit, or delete your calendar events.

Call logs — Apps with this permission can read and write phone call logs.

Camera — taking photos, recording footage, and streaming video.

Contacts — read, create, or edit your contact list, as well as access the list of all accounts used on your device.

Files and media — access to your files, media, photos, and basically anything else stored on your phone's memory.

Location — access your location using GPS for high accuracy, cellular data and Wi-Fi for approximate accuracy. In more recent versions of Android, you can also choose to share your approximate location. This can come in handy for weather apps that don't need a precise location to work correctly.

Microphone — used for recording audio and video.

Nearby devices — whether an app can find, connect to, and determine the position of other nearby devices.

Notifications — allows an app to send notifications.

Phone — access your phone number and network info. Required for making calls and VoIP, voicemail, call redirect, and editing call logs.

Physical activity — access your physical activity logs, such as step count and exercise info.

SMS — read, receive, and send MMS and SMS messages.

An app will always ask you to confirm its permissions the first time you run it, but you can always go back and readjust your preferences at a later date by digging through your phone's settings menu. There are two convenient ways to view permissions, either by sorting apps by permissions or by viewing each app individually.

The first place to start for either method is to head into the Android Settings menu.

How to grant or deny Android permissions on a per-app basis

If you want to see the permissions that you've enabled for a specific app, then head into the Apps menu, select your desired app, and then hit Permissions.

This option will present you with a quick overview of the permissions that you've already granted or denied to the app (see the image above). You can adjust these permissions by clicking on them. Depending on the permission, you'll see either a simple Allow or Deny option or three more advanced choices — Allow while using the app, Ask every time, and Don't allow. They're pretty self-explanatory but you should only use the first option for apps you really trust.

How to check Android permissions by type

If you prefer an overview of all the apps granted a specific permission, such as those that can record from your microphone for example, then you can sort apps by this criteria too.

Head back into Settings and find the Privacy tab. You'll then want to select Permission Manager. From here, you can browse through all of the available permissions on your phone, as well as a quick overview of how many apps have been granted each permission.

Clicking on any of the permissions will display just the apps that have requested this particular feature. You can make changes here too, by clicking on the app and then picking Allow or Don't Allow for individual apps (see the gallery above).

Which Android app permissions to allow and deny?

Robert Triggs / Android Authority

Denying permissions is one of the best ways to keep your phone and data safe from malicious applications. The go-to case study is 2014's plague of flashlight apps that requested contact data, microphone access, and often even more just to toggle a light on and off. No doubt many of these apps were requesting access for data collection purposes and perhaps worse.

Broadly speaking, reputable app developers usually only request the permissions their application requires, but this isn't a green light to allow anything a popular app requests. You might not want to use certain features tied to data extraction, either for diagnostic or advertising purposes.

Always consider whether the requested permission is appropriate for the app.

Generally, consider whether the requested permission is appropriate for the given app and be wary of those that don't seem to make sense. Messaging apps will certainly need your contacts, SMS, and probably the camera and microphone too for video calls. They almost certainly don't need your health information. The opposite might hold true for a smartwatch companion app like Galaxy Wearable.

Remember, you can always check out all the permissions an app requests before you install it by checking out the description in the Google Play Store. A good developer will always divulge what each permission is needed for too, which can help with peace of mind.

What app permissions should I turn off?

On Android, you should deny or disable permissions for local storage, SMS, and location if the app doesn't need it.

Android camera and mic permissions

Jimmy Westenberg / Android Authority

Android 12 introduced greater transparency and control over the types of data that applications have access to.

For instance, Android 12 includes camera and microphone permission quick settings toggles. You can use these to temporarily disable all apps from accessing your camera or microphone, ideal for moments when you want to ensure maximum privacy. The OS also now displays a small light in the top left of your screen when an app accesses these functions, so you know when you're broadcasting.

You can now turn off camera and mic permissions for all apps.

Google also includes a detailed Android Privacy Dashboard that displays all permissions used by apps in the past 24 hours, how many times, and by which apps. While most of us won't check the dashboard regularly, it's a handy tool a final for catching out apps that might be abusing permissions in the background. Another Android 12 privacy-focused feature is the introduction of approximate rather than precise location data, such as for weather apps that don't need to know exactly where you are.

Android 13 also introduced a new photo picker that doesn't require developers to request full file system permission. Instead, you simply select the media you want to share with the app and nothing else. We haven't seen many apps embrace it yet, but this may change in the coming years.

Android is increasingly privacy-conscious and app permissions are one of the key tools to help keep your phone and its contents secure. Now you know how they work, make sure to use them to keep your sensitive data away from unscrupulous apps.

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