Mobile App Backend Development: A Complete Guide

You cannot expect an application to perform unless it has a robust backend system. A well-planned and executed backend is essential for seamless application functionality, which is required to achieve user satisfaction. Working as the brain of a mobile application, the backend is expected to handle multiple tasks, including data storage, task processing, application security, user authorization, and many more.

Mobile app backend development is about building server-side components to support the app’s functionality. Backend developers work on creating app logic, database, APIs, and the server infrastructure along with additional required components.

Today, I’ll go into the details of how to build a backend for a mobile application.

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What is Mobile Backend Development, and How’s It Different from Frontend?

The mobile application backend is the server side of the solution responsible for data storage, processing, security, and a lot of other tasks. Hailed as the “Brains” of the application, the backend is essential to maintain and improve the application’s functionality.

Anything developers do with the backend development isn’t visible or visually appealing, but rest assured, it’s important for all the frontend components to perform as intended. It’s in backend development only that developers integrate APIs, enabling them to interact with the user interface and interact with the app’s core functionality.

A robust backend is essential to facilitate smooth interaction between the application user and the services they use, ensuring they have a satisfied experience.

Understanding Mobile App Backend Development

Mobile application backend development has four key components, including database, server, API, and middleware. To master backend development for a mobile app and to know everything that follows from the point you decide to build the backend, let’s decode the four key components.

• Servers

A backend server for the mobile application is like the lifeline of the network. The servers provide the fuel mobile app networks need to operate and work as a hosting platform. Some of the important ones are encryption, security, file storage, database, and other services.

The backend services connected to the servers use virtualization to deliver the required resources for one or more applications. This means a server can host more than one application. In turn, the servers use containerization techniques to provision for different services.

When you hear things like “the application cannot authenticate the user” or “the application cannot retrieve data,” there’s an issue with the server’s performance.

• Database

Databases make an application dynamic. In other words, it represents a mechanism that helps accept the user’s query, extract data, and forward it to the users. The speed at which the process is executed depends on the server performance.

Slow-performing servers can cause delays in the steps followed by a database and affect user experience. Now, with databases, backend developers must know how to differentiate between Relational vs Non-Relational databases.

Depending on the type of database used in mobile app backend development, your experience with data storage, retrieval, and manipulation can vary. Appropriate database development and structuring are also essential to maintain data integrity and further build a scalable solution for large amounts of data handling.

• Middleware or Application Programming Interface (API)

Middleware is a software type built on the server to connect the application frontend and backend. These solutions connecting the client and server can be organized into different layers. An API is a type of Middleware, which is heavily used in mobile app backend development.

APIs are small programs that connect the mobile application with the backend servers. APIs ensure data flows through smoothly and help complete the intended function. The smooth data flow ensures users can interact with the application in real time and receive updated information from the backend smoothly.

Using APIs, backend developers can integrate several third-party services and functionalities to enhance the application’s performance. APIs have proven instrumental in enhancing app capabilities and user experience.

Decoding the Backend Architecture

A mobile application’s backend is akin to arranging the different parts of the structure using one of the available approaches. In backend development for mobile apps, two such approaches are used;

• Monolithic Architecture: In this, everything happens in one big space where all the tasks are handled by a single component. This sort of architecture works well with small applications.

However, when the application grows or scales, managing everything with a single component can get messy and chaotic. As a result app performance will lower, affecting user experience. 

• Microservices Architecture: This approach separates larger applications with multiple components and functionalities into smaller independent parts. Each of the parts in this architecture has its responsibility.

This means to complete a single user request; this architecture will only call upon the required component and compose the response. This is where containers are used to build independent services without any dependencies.

Diving Deep into Backend Development – Popular Languages and Frameworks

Backend development for a mobile application is executed with programming languages and frameworks. These are chosen based on the application size, scale, and requirements. Backend developers must have experience in using most, if not all, of these technologies.

Most Used Programming Languages for Backend Development (Android)

• Kotlin: Kotlin is a relatively new language, when compared to Java and is popular for backend development for Android mobile app development. Supported by Google, working with Kotlin is easy and it’s also interoperable with Java. This means that all the information can be shared between these two and all the Java libraries are accessible with Kotlin as well.
• Java: Java is a default development language for Android application backend development. The object-oriented programming language, which means it can help developers create more efficient and easy-to-read code. Java also has automatic memory management, enabling backend developers to stay laser-focused on writing the code without worrying about memory issues.
• JavaScript: Another one of the best mobile app backend development technologies, Javascript is open-source, light, and dynamic and is more powerful than others. A great thing about JavaScript is that almost all the backend frameworks are built on it. This means when you employ JavaScript for backend development, things will get much smoother and work faster.

Most Used Programming Languages for Backend Development (iOS)

Backend development for iOS applications is done with different programming languages than Android. Let’s see which are those;

• Swift: Introduced in 2014, Swift became a cult favorite for iOS developers due to its compactness and easy working. Swift is a full-stack app development language, which means you can create both frontend and backend elements. Over the years, I have observed that Swift has evolved, delivering a remarkable developer experience.
• Objective-C: Objective-C is an object-oriented programming language popular for its dynamic binding and reflection capabilities. An easy-to-understand programming language, Objective-C has features of C and boasts a Smalltalk-style messaging structure. With these and many other features, you can manipulate the objects during runtime, providing more flexibility and building responsive applications.

Popular Frameworks for Mobile App Backend Development

Backend frameworks are distinct ecosystems used to speed up and automate some steps of app backend development. These frameworks comprise a collection of models and tools a backend developer can utilize to create the app framework. 

• ASP.NET Core: An open-source and cross-platform framework, ASP.NET Core is a lightweight framework enabling you to build and run applications on different platforms. In addition to building mobile applications, I use ASP.NET Core to develop APIs and web applications. Given its architecture and ease of implementation, you will need minimal coding to build apps with this framework.
• Django: Another framework a top backend development company like Mobmaxime uses for application backend. An open-source framework written in Python, Django uses the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture pattern. Focusing on building database-intensive and complex applications, use Django if you want excellent performance from the solutions you build.
• React Native: An amazing backend framework I use for in-house and client projects, React Native was created by Facebook. It’s an open-source backend framework you can use to build applications for Android and iOS. Boasting features like code reusability and compatibility with third-party plugins, applications built with React Native are easy to maintain.
• NodeJS: NodeJS is popular for building scalable and high-performance applications. An extensive collection of models help developers in building lightweight and scalable applications. Boasting asynchronous request handling, code reusability, and code sharing features, NodeJS is a cost-efficient framework.

The list of best frameworks for backend development for web and mobile does not end here. Other equally efficient and popular frameworks the best mobile app development company may use include ExpressJS, Ruby on Rails, Spring Boot, Loopback, and Flutter.

API Design and Implementation in Backend Mobile App Development

APIs are instrumental in app development because they help connect different parts of the solution and integrate data plus services while speeding up the development process. The flexibility these APIs bring to the application is essential for adapting quickly to the changing market demands. APIs work efficiently if they are designed and implemented with the highest standards and best practices.

RESTful APIs

Representational State Transfer (REST) is an architectural style developers use to build APIs. This API structure uses a mix of HTTP methods and JSON data format to establish clear communication protocols between the client and server. While they help in improving app performance, RESTful APIs are also easy to understand and implement.

Designing API Endpoints

API endpoints represent the specific accessible destinations in the mobile app backend. Every one of these endpoints has a distinct purpose, including retrieving data, creating new posts, etc. To design the API endpoints, follow these best practices:

• Naming Conventions: Always use clear and descriptive names for the endpoints in the application, ensuring their names reflect their functionality.
• Resource-based Structure: You should organize and structure the endpoints according to the resources they manage.
• HTTP Methods: From the available HTTP methods choose the relevant ones for your requirements. The available HTTP methods include;

• • GET to retrieve information
  • POST for creating
  • PUT for updating
  • DELETE for removing

• Data Formats and Parameters: The usual data format is JSON, which you can use to design the expected data. Plus, define the additional formats for parameters as they are needed to complete specific actions.

API Authentication

Securing the APIs is an essential part of the mobile app backend development process because they expose the backend data and make it vulnerable to unauthorized extraction. So, use the following authentication methods;

• API Key Authentication: Assign a unique key to all the authorized applications in the request header to verify their identity. It’s a simple approach but is not effective when dealing with highly sensitive data.
• Token-based Authentication: A more secure approach than API key authentication, the users receive a temporary token in addition to completing the primary API request for authorization.
• OAuth: One of the most secure methods, OAuth allows users to log in with their existing accounts using APIs and grants that app permission to access some specific data. A popular process developers include in the application to ease the login process and also add an extra layer of security.

Best Practices to Build the Best Backend Systems

You need to build a robust and modern backend system for the application, which is easier said than done. In the event the application you built needs to be upgraded and added with new features, a scalable and flexible backend system will make your work easier.

Here are a few things to follow to ensure you build the best backend for mobile applications. 

• Have a Modular Architecture: A modular architecture will have separate components of the backend system. So, experts recommend using microservices architecture to break down complex application functions and features into manageable and independent units. As a result, you will find it easier to develop, test, and scale the applications.
• Load Balancing: Load balancers can monitor the application servers with a polling URL and it uses the extracted information to stop routing traffic to the failing application servers. Such load-balancing techniques distribute the traffic to the multiple available servers and help present bottlenecks while ensuring efficient resource utilization.
• Use Caching: Caching in the backend systems is meant to improve performance and reduce the load on backend systems. With the help of tools like Redis and Memcached, you can build systems to regularly cache frequently accessed data and API responses.
• Implement Redundancy and Failover Mechanisms: While designing the application backend, adhere to practices that lead to fault tolerance. Such measures ensure the high availability of the application. Furthermore, you can use distributed systems, fault-tolerant databases, and circuit breakers for handling failures.
• Set Up App Monitoring: Application monitoring and logging systems are meant to track backend performance, health, and errors. Here you can use tools like Prometheus, Grafana, and others of similar kind to extract valuable information about and proactively identify issues.
• Automated Testing and Continuous Integration: Use automated testing practices during development to ensure you end up with a reliable and stable backend system. In addition, adopt continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines to automate app testing and deployment processes. For this purpose, you can use tools like Jenkins, Travis, or GitLab CI/CD.
• Use Best Coding Practices: In order to write scalable, readable, testable, and secure code, use the following practices;

1. 1. Implement coding rules to validate inputs, as it will allow only valid inputs to go through and prevent hackers from penetrating the system.
   2. Address and correct the coding errors after validating inputs, especially when working with microservices architecture.
   3. Use separation of concerns to make the code readable and easily collaborate with other developers.

To Sum It Up

Backend development is an essential part of the mobile app development process. Without a performance-ready and secure backend, you cannot expect the application to perform and protect sensitive information. For high-worth mobile app backend development, use the best applicable technologies and frameworks along with following the best development practices.

At Mobmaxime, we offer frontend and backend development services driven by a zeal to build performant applications. Our team of backend experts provides consultation, and technical guidance and builds backend systems for your applications customized to your requirements and goals.

Let us know what you are looking for, and we’ll get back to you with an awesome, tailored solution.