Potado leads a Google-Certified team of award-winning Android app developers and designers . Our team works with startups and enterprises to develop mobile apps for Android that look and feel great. We believe in working closely with our clients in a transparent and open environment. Our experienced team will offer any suggestions on design and technology solutions during the app development process, but the final decision will always be with you.

A typical Potado team consists of a product manager, UI/UX designers, and of course, the Android app developers who make your ideas come to life. The product manager is the team leader who makes works with the designers and developers and you, the client to make sure everything is coming together nicely and that our Android app developers are working to meet our milestones on time.

Native Android applications are developed in Android Studio with Java or Kotlin, but Kotlin is preferred for newer projects. These applications are best suited for apps that rely heavily on hardware features such as the phone camera. Android apps run on a variety of platforms. We develop Android apps for mobile phones and tablets, but also Wear OS for wearable devices, Android Auto for cars, Android TV for smart televisions, and Chrome OS. Native applications are particularly great for using some of the Android developer tools such as ML Kit for machine learning or ARCore for augmented reality.

By developing Android applications natively you are going to get the highest possible performance, speed, and security. Although cross-platform technologies have become so good that now that they have all the benefits of native Android apps with the benefit of building for multiple platforms with one codebase. It's also possible to combine with native app development with cross-platform app development. For example if an application has a focus on the camera. The login, profile, and setting pages can be built using cross-platform technologies and then the camera page can be built natively to get the best result.

If you want to develop an Android app for a business service that doesn't require access to hardware features, or wearable devices, it's going to be much better to develop the app using cross-platform technology such as React Native, Flutter, or Ionic. Think of an app like Agoda - the hotel booking company. It's a marketplace application that links hotels to consumers. An app like this can be developed natively, but it would be a waste of resources as cross-platform would be more optimal since there is no need to access device hardware to book a hotel.

Sure you can develop your application natively with Android and it will work well, but you will also need to then develop an iOS application. Developing 2 different apps can be costly for startups and large enterprises as you need to work with 2 separate projects. That's why we often suggest that our clients develop their app with React Native, unless it is absolutely necessary to build a native Android app, as the performance is great and the project will be developed quicker and at a lower cost.

Progressive web apps or PWAs are portable web applications that offer work anywhere you can open a link such as mobile, tablet, and desktop devices. On Android devices when you visit a website that is a PWA you will be able to save the app to your home screen which is great for some use cases. But Google Play allows developers to upload PWAs to the Play Store by using a Trusted Web Activity. This means you can develop a web application and conveniently have it on the app store for those users who are always go the the app store to download applications.

Besides getting more exposure by being searchable in the Google Play Store, there are some additional benefits of uploading your app to the app store. Users trust apps on the app stores more than the web which is important if the app is new. Apps from the Google Play Store are linked to the users' Google Account so can be backed up and restored in the case that the user switches to a new phone. While these features are still slightly limited these apps will be able to access native features and payments more easily. Other benefits include OS integrations, app shortcuts, home screen widgets, and Wear OS and Android Auto extensions.

Mobile phones are the most important devices when it comes to developing mobile applications. For many users it's their main device used to interact with digital services and for some users it's the only. When developing Android applications for mobile phones we need to create a simple user interface that is optimized for the small screen size. Our team has a great understanding of Android components and how to effectively use things such as bottom navigation, tabs, and menus in order to add much functionality without complicating the user experience. When make sure that when user opens an Android app built by our team for the the first time, they know exactly how to use it.

Android tablets run on the same mobile operating system as mobile phones. This makes it easy for developers to create applications for both devices using the same codebase. However, there is a notable difference, and that's the screen size. Android tables have more screen real estate and might be used as a portable computer at times. When developing Android apps for tables we need to consider this. Instead of just enlarging the same view as on mobile applications we develop responsive applications. For example, if we were just displaying a video on the screen on mobile, on tablets, we could use some screen space for a video and add a chat screen in another section.

With Wear OS, Android applications can also be used on smart watches. This let's people access the information they need most and also access new sensors to monitor their health and fitness. As Android wear developers, we follow the design guidelines for applications, tiles, as well as integrations with Wear Health Services to utilize sensor data.

Since televisions are in most of our homes, it makes sense to extend the power of Android to them, and this was why Android TV was released. Besides watching cable TV, people can now open up movie streaming applications, music streaming applications, and even browse the internet through a web browser. Android TV apps have access to some useful features that allow developers to create a great experience for users using a remote control. This is important as using a remote control is completely different than using touchscreen as we are used to on mobile or tablet devices. Our team also understands how to design Android TV apps for all screen sizes and to utilize the large screen real estate to add useful functions.

With people wanting to access their messages, calls, music, and more in their cars, Android Automotive OS was released to help developers build these applications on the vehicles infotainment system without worrying about the different device hardware and buttons. We develop Android Auto applications that help users access navigation, messages, media, and more.

Chromebooks or any desktop computer running Chrome OS now also has access to the Google Play Store, meaning you can run Android applications on them. It's possible to run an Android mobile application just as it is, but since the screen sizes are much different, the user experience won't be the best. This is why your team develops Android apps that take full advantage of not only the larger screen, but also the keyboard, trackpad, and mouse inputs.

Kotlin is a modern and statically typed programming language that has become the goto programming language for native Android applications. The great thing about Kotlin, is that the language was created specifically for Android development to build on the flaws of the previously used language, Java. More specifically it was created to make programming in Java more productive, but it quickly transitioned into an alternative to Java when the benefits of the language were seen. We develop all our new Android applications using Kotlin, and we also help companies transition their Java written Android applications into Kotlin. But doing that isn't always necessary as we can combine both Java and Kotlin in the same application and there are some cases where me might want to use Java.

Java is a simple, powerful, and proven object-oriented programming language. The new Oracle owned language was first released in 1995 and has been used for building Android and web applications, as well as server apps, embedded systems, and more. Although Kotlin is the new, more encouraged language for Android development. Java is the experienced, stable, and well-established language. This means it has great support, a large developer ecosystem, and an endless amount of libraries that are used in Android development. For this reason, the best Android developers are skilled at both Java and Kotlin. We help companies maintain and add additional features to java based Android applications, but since Google (the owner of Android) recommends Kotlin for Android development, we don't recommend using Java for new projects.

Jetpack Compose is a UI toolkit made by Google for simplifying and accelerating user interface design on Android devices. In the past Android developers had to work in the Java/Kotlin file for functionality and a spearate XML file for designing the components. With Jetpack Compose, the design and development is done in a single Kotlin file. This not only simplifies the development, but also goes a long way in making the application easy to maintain. Although we still use XML to maintain existing projects, for all new projects, we use Jetpack Compose to design the application.

Android studio is the official IDE (or Integrated Development Environment) for developing Android applications. With Android studio we can make the best possible applications thanks to the useful features integrated into the IDE. When designing applications with Jetpack Compose, we can preview them live and preview how the application would look on all the different screen sizes. The intelligent code editor, helps to streamline out Android development by providing intelligent suggestions and code completion in the languages that matter such as Kotlin and Java. Thanks to Gradle, developers are able to build their code and analyze the results to spot any issues. Android Studio also comes with an emulator for any Android device so developers can test applications on phones, tables, foldables, and Chrome OS. And then of course with Android studio you can create an Android App Bundle (or APK), which can be published to the app stores or web for users to access the applications.

Creating smarter Android applications is possible by using on-device machine learning. This let's the applications process images, video, and sound to provide the user with a personalized experience. With machine learning on Android we can do things like identify objects in images, scan barcodes, identify sounds or music, and more. By doing the machine learning on device, you don't need to depend on the internet connection and information is process in real time with low latency. This means it will also work offline which is both more convenient and cheaper. For certain things, users would prefer to keep the data to themselves, and with on-device machine learning, users can have private assured as their data can be kept on the device instead of the cloud.

Enhancing an Android app with 5G technology is going to change the way users interact with the application. Thanks to the higher bandwidth and lower latency from 5G, Android applications can now focus on providing users with what they want in real time, instead of them having to plan ahead and download information offline. The speed of indoor internet browsing, can also now be extended to the outdoor. Our Android developers use this API to optimize applications based on the internet speeds they have access to.

Android aims to be a privacy focused ans secure operating systems and because of that, they continue to release new privacy enhancements that developers can use to make applications safer. With our understanding of the privacy features on Android, we can build apps with permission minimization, which essentially means only asking users for permissionssion to things the application absolutely needs and offering them more control over it.

With Health Connect, it's possible to access valuable health and fitness data on Android devices. Health Connect ensures privacy, but with the users' permission health data can be securely shared between application in order to provide valuable insights.

Having a well structured process is the foundation of a successful Android app development project so we have taken the time to test and refine our process. This ensures that the project is finished in a shorter timeframe while maintaining quality and also transparency between us and our clients. We know the importance of good communication and we make sure our clients are as involved in the project as they want to be. For non technical clients we explain technical things in a high level way that is easy to understand. So let's dive into the app development process.

Defining the scope of a project is the most important part of laying a strong foundation. This is where we discuss exactly what we want the Android app to do, how we will achieve it, and offer our clients suggestions regarding user experience, technologies we will use and also monetization strategies. We will then document it all in a specification sheet so both parties can sign on on the project to make sure we are on the same page about everything.

Now we will work with the specifications to draw up wireframes (rough sketches) and plan the app/database structure. We work closely with our clients, offering suggestions and accepting feedback until we have a well defined plan.

Having a modern, clean and simple user interface is important if you want people to come back and use your app again. So here will will draw up designs and iterate until we have something that our clients are happy with representing their brand. When we design Android apps we consider all the target platforms. With Android Large Screens we can design responsive applications that work on all device sizes from mobile and tablet, to desktop and TV.

This is where the fun starts. Our Android developers will now take all of the blueprints and put them together to have a functional app. We allow our clients to follow and use the app with us during the development process.

Once we have completed the development we will use the app with our clients and make sure we test all functionality and that there are no bugs. We want your users to have a great first experience with your app and having a well polished product shows them that you are serious about your brand.

Android apps can be distributed on the Google Play Store and the Huawei App Gallery. Apps can also be distributed via the web or email by letting users download the SDK. This could be a way to release new features quickly without having to wait for the app store review as every update needs to go through a review on the app stores. We will then help you prepare the app for the app stores, and send the app off for review. This includes creating the graphics required on the listing pages. We can also assist with any domain or email configurations you might need help with before launch.

Once your app is live and you are busy growing your business, marketing and establishing partnerships we work with you to maintain the apps and fix any issues that may arise in the future. Once you grow your user base, improving and building out additional features will definitely be on your list, and we are here to help.

If you need to build an application that needs to handle millions of daily users, or you want to build an app that solves a unique problem for people, and want to work with a top Android app developer to build you a well polished app, you have come to the right place. Our team has built Android apps that have been featured on the Google Play Store. Here is what a few of our clients had to say about us:

"I decided to develop a mobile application to test out a concept I had for a startup . I am an iPhone owner so I developed the application just for iOS. After a few weeks of testing I had some good feedback from users, and decided it was worth the investment to develop an Android app, so I reached out to Potado and tasked them with building an Android application as an exact clone of of the current app I had. I had never owned an Android device, but they advised me that for Android there should be some design changes that matched the platform, but the branding and color theme should be the same. They develop an Android app that looked and functions just as the iOS version, but with some optimizations that suited Android and I was very happy with the result."

"We own an ice-cream shop chain , and we were expanding out business and wanted to digitize out operations. We reached out to Potado and decided that setting up Android tablet devices as kiosks would be the best solution for us. Potado developed us an Android application that let's our staff manage customer orders as well as manage our stock. This helped us simplify our staff duties as well as optimize our stock by storing and analyzing the data, leading to an increase in our overall profits."