What is an SDK? Benefits and the best SDKs for your Mobile App

What are SDKs? Simply put, a software development kit (SDK) is made up of lines of code. SDK is a downloadable software package that contains the tools you need to build on a platform. Some SDKs are crucial for developing a platform-specific app. For example, the development of an Android app on Java platform needs a Java Development Kit, for iOS apps the iOS SDK, and for Universal Windows Platform the .NET Framework SDK. Some SDKs are installed in apps to provide analytics and data about the activity. Leading cases include Google, Apple, and Facebook.

SDK’s can be used in cases as simple as the implementation of one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) in the form of some libraries to interface to a particular programming language or to include advanced hardware that can communicate with an appropriate embedded system. SDKs are widely associated with mobile native apps, it’s possible to make use of them in connection with websites, set-top boxes, and other digital platforms. A mobile SDK is used for building a mobile application for iOS and Android devices. It provides resources for the same and customizes the applications.

Benefits of mobile SDKs

iOS and Android SDKs are major because of the reach of the platforms worldwide. Going without SDKs beyond those two can still make it hard for you to efficiently carry out all sorts of necessary procedures—crash reporting, sending mobile messages, gathering detailed analytics, and a lot more.

Quicker Integration 

Having a mobile SDK speeds up the integration process. Your devkit will help shorten the integration process because it makes integrating with your existing tech stack much easier. It lets the developers gain information at a fast pace.

Efficient Development & Faster Deployment

When you take into consideration the fact that the average Android app will use around 18.2 3rd party SDKs (higher if a game), you’ll quickly see that no software developer has the time to code every single tool from scratch. Android SDK is coupled with many sets of libraries and development tools, which help the software programmers to build and test a variety of applications at a faster pace.

Utilizing Facebook’s Android SDK toolkit to obtain code that would work for an Android device. This speeds up deployment by not requiring to code from a blank slate. You give that same efficiency to other developers when you build an SDK for your product that they can use to bridge your product with their apps.

A Great Product coupled with an SDK = Increased Reach

If your product is valuable and its accompanying SDK allows for a generous amount of interoperability, you increase the chances that other tools will want to integrate with your product, which leads to more exposure for your brand. It is free for all and helps in creating wonderful Android Applications. Android SDK is an open-source platform, allowing the developers to share-worthy and precious technologies at a larger scale.

Brand Control & Lessened Risks

With your SDK, you have better control over the details of your user interface that show up in other apps that use your SDK. This allows you to manage not just how your product integrates with other apps, but also how it looks. All while securing the most critical functions remain safe from being tampered with and possibly ruining the user experience. SDK provides efficient browser services, which lets you provide improved services.

List of useful SDKs for iOS

AdMob – AdMob by Google is a simple method to monetize mobile apps with targeted, in-app advertising. You can utilize the mobile advertising platform to produce revenue from your app, gather usage data, examine brand-new analytics capabilities, and more.

DoubleClick – DoubleClick by Google is a product suite that manages ad-serving, ad delivery, and behavioral targeting. The tool assists you to connect with the right people, at the right times, with its integrated solutions.

Facebook’s – Facebook’s SDK helps you produce engaging social apps and gain more installs. From driving in-app revenue through ads to learning your customers’ actions in your app through App Events, this tool supports app publishers connect with people in a significant, intelligent way.

AFNetworking – AFNetworking is a networking framework for iOS, OS X, watchOS, and tvOS. It’s built on top of the Foundation URL Loading System, stretching the powerful high-level networking concepts built into Cocoa. The tool also offers a robust community of developers who use and contribute to it daily.

Unity – Unity is a development platform for building 2D and 3D multiplatform games and interactive experiences. It’s one of the world’s most widespread platforms, offers an in-depth learning center for consumers to get the most bang for their buck, and hosts an active community forum where people can ask and answer questions about the tool.

Bolts – Bolts is a collection of low-level libraries designed to make developing mobile apps easier. Its libraries are written in Android, Swift, Objective C, and Java, and can be found on GitHub.

Fabric – Fabric is a suite of tools that help you build the best apps with ease. While there are multiple tools today that help you track crashes or user behavior within your apps, Fabric allows you to keep all of your important data in a singular, intuitive dashboard.

Chartboost – Chartboost is the best marketplace for you to maximize income and procure new players. The tool helps app publishers monetize their apps, acquire new customers, track performance, improve their ad experience, and more.

UnityAds – UnityAds allows you to monetize and engage your entire player base with video ads. The tool is intended to become a natural part of your game that enhances your players’ experience, without disrupting them with poorly-timed ads.

MoPub – Mopub Twitter’s SDK is a part of the Fabric product suite, and is called MoPub. MoPub’s primary function is to help app publishers manage their ad inventory in an easy, manageable manner.

List of useful SDKs for Android

Unity – Unity is a development platform for producing 2D and 3D multiplatform games and interactive experiences. It’s one of the world’s most popular platforms, offers an in-depth learning center for consumers to get the most bang for their buck, and hosts an active community forum where people can ask and answer questions about the tool.

FMOD – FMOD Studio is an adaptive audio tool and engine for games. It offers in-depth educational training courses and videos to help customers get the most use out of the tool, along with an active Q&A center to make integration and usage easy.

GoogleFit – GoogleFit is an open platform that lets users control their fitness data, developers build smarter apps, and manufacturers focus on creating amazing devices. Their Sensors API, Recording API, and History API help make building fitness devices easier.

Apache Flex – Apache Flex is for the development and deployment of cross-platform rich Internet applications based on the Adobe Flash platform. The tool simplifies the download and installation process of the Apache Flex® SDK and its required components.

Android Studio – Android Studio provides the fastest tools for building apps on every type of Android device. The tool offers world-class code editing, debugging, performance tooling, a flexible build system, and an instant build/deploy system that allows you to focus on building unique and high-quality apps.

GO Launcher EX – GO Launcher EX is a popular Android launcher with thousands of themes and features to customize each user’s home screen experience. The tool helps increase engagement and monetization based on personalization tactics.

Google’s Cloud – Google’s Cloud Platform allows you to run your application using the same technology and tools used at Google. With so many options to choose from, app publishers can find exactly what they need!

Google Mobile Ads – SDK Google Mobile Ads SDK helps app developers gain insights about their users, drive more in-app purchases, and maximize ad revenue. It’s important to note that it’s is now part of Firebase and the Google Mobile Ads SDK is delivered via the Google Play services platform. It is no longer available as a standalone moile SDK.

AdMob by Google – AdMob by Google is an easy way to monetize mobile apps with targeted, in-app advertising. You can use the mobile advertising platform to generate revenue from your app, gather usage data, explore new analytics capabilities, and more.

Facebook’s SDK – Facebook’s SDK helps you build engaging social apps and get more installs. From driving in-app revenue through ads to understanding your customers’ actions in your app through App Events, this tool helps app publishers connect with people in a meaningful, intelligent way.