In the era of technology, mobile captures the whole world day by day. Thus, the demand for Mobile app increases rapidly. With the promotion of mobile apps, developers face new challenges for developing amazing apps that understand the utilization of mobile phone and makes users’ life easy.
When we are going to develop a mobile application, typically two terms automatically associated with it- Front-end and back-end. Basically, front-end is the code that is executed on the client-side and runs on the user’s browser.
So what makes the front-end of a website visible? And, where is all that data stored? The answer is back-end. The back end of an application consists of a server, an application, and a database. It is the code that runs on the server that has logic and sends a response to the end-user according to the request receives. Thus, it is responsible for data storage, security, and business logic in mobile apps. It is also known as a back-end server for mobile apps.
Importance of Back-end in Mobile App Development
There is a certain reason for applying back-end development that you need to be considered before starting the development process.
• Is there is any necessity to save anything in the app to users?
• Does the app need to display dynamic data based on user behavior?
• Does the app required to authenticate the user?
• Does an application need to have the admin-driven configuration functionality?
After reading the above scenarios, if your answer is positive then you must need a back-end application programming interface (API) to access the back-end resources for your mobile app. Most of the back-end architectures follow the pattern of the MVC model (Model-View-Controller). In the following discussion, I am trying to present a clear view of Back-end development that will help you to understand the Mobile App Backend Development.
What does Back-end Technology mainly include?
The back-end is responsible for a run any application. You cannot see it but it always runs in the background. It processes the incoming request and generates and sends a response to the client. On the basic level, back-end architecture consists of an application, a web server, and a database.
The application: Running on the server, listens for requests, retrieves information from the database, and sends a response.
The Server: The computer that receives requests.
The database: Stores and organizes the data.
The back-end architecture is growth-oriented. So, according to your requirements, it adds functionality such as email notifications, pushes notifications, queuing services, data synchronization across platforms, and supports various HTTP methods.
Handle the security of Back-end APIs
While the matter of handling the back-end APIs, you need to ensure the security and safety of APIs. For this, you need to be the expert of SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), else you need to hire an expert for handling the associated issues.
There are also two more Security components which need concern:
• API token integration
• Authentication
Back-end Software Stack
Stacks are bundles of software that involves in your application’s back-end and comprises of an operating system, a web server, a database, APIs, and programming frameworks. You are not only restricted to these components. If you need, you can customize.
On the other hand, the cloud is a powerful platform that is well accepted by the developer associated with mobile app development. It is beneficial in the scenarios where a number of users’ increases and functionalities get more diversified.
Braking down Back-end’s Software Stack
Back-end’s Software Stack has mainly four components:
Database: Database makes an application live and dynamic. It stores data and manipulates it as per requirement. Or you can say that it manages the data. When a user requests data from the app, the database will accept the query, fetch the data, and give it to the app user. Additionally, as per need it can add, delete, update the data.
Server: The back-end server for a mobile app is the heart line of any application whether your back-end is in the cloud or on-site. Developers accept it as a heart line because of server shares resources like encryption and security, file storage, email, database, and web services. By this, the network will operate and work as a mobile app hosting platform.
Middleware: Middleware is a software program that connects application’s frontend to its backend on severs. In short, it facilitates client and server connection. It is organized in business and presentation layer. It is also used for error handling and data integration and enhance business process management, user engagement, authentication, content, content management, etc.
Popular Back End Technology Stacks
Here, I have some of the popular options that would help you with your back-end development:
• Ruby on Rails
• Express/Koa/Sails (Node.js)
• Django
• PHP MVC Frameworks
• Google Firebase
Conclude: The Mobile App Backend Development
When we think about the main components on which the whole development is based, then we conclude the following Four:
• Developers
• The API
• Assets
• End Users
Hello, I just read your posts. Thank you for that helpful summary. I would be happy to read more of yours. Best regards ditsch
Vipin Thanks for this informative article, though I believe that End Users are still the most important component of IOS/Android app development, because in the end it all comes to user and there likings, so better make efforts for user satisfaction in the first place.