[2023] The Best Programming Language for Mobile App Development and How to Choose One

In this article, we'll look at the best programming languages for app development. We'll also cover popular programming languages you can use in 2023.

We'll also compare the pros and cons of each, so you can make a well-informed choice that fits your mobile app development needs!

Mobile app development is the process of creating mobile apps for devices such as smartphones and tablets. It includes ideation, planning, design, development, and testing. And over the current 10-year period, mobile has remained a continuously growing industry, driven by the rising number of mobile users and the introduction of new, innovative technologies.

As a result, demand for mobile app developers who can build high-quality, user-friendly apps keeps rising. According to Panorama Data Insights, the global mobile app development market is projected to be worth $41 billion by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21%.

1. Types of Mobile App Development

There are basically three types of mobile apps: native apps, hybrid apps, and web apps.

1.1. Type of Mobile App #1: Native Apps

Native app development refers to apps built specifically for one type of mobile operating system, such as iOS or Android. Native apps are written in the language native to the operating system — Objective-C or Swift for iOS apps, Java or Kotlin for Android apps.

There are several advantages of native apps.

・They can make full use of mobile device features such as the camera, GPS, and push notifications.
・They can be designed specifically for the mobile operating system's user interface, improving the user experience.
They can be downloaded from app stores such as the App Store for iOS devices and the Google Play Store for Android devices.

However, there are also some disadvantages of native apps.

・They can be more expensive to develop than other types of apps, since you need two separate development teams, one for each operating system.
・Development can take longer, since each operating system has its own rules and guidelines.
・Updates can be more difficult, since each operating system has its own update process.

1.2. Type of Mobile App #2: Hybrid Apps

Hybrid app development uses a combination of web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript along with native technologies such as Objective-C and Java. Hybrid apps are typically built using frameworks such as Cordova, Ionic, React Native, and Flutter (we'll cover these in more detail later).

There are several advantages of hybrid apps.

・They're usually easier and faster to develop than native apps.
・They're built on web technologies, which more developers know than native languages, saving cost and time to market.
・They can be designed to run on multiple types of mobile devices — smartphones, tablets, laptops — and can take advantage of the latest features specific to each platform.

Like native apps, they can also be downloaded from app stores such as the App Store for iOS devices and the Google Play Store for Android devices.

However, there are also some disadvantages of hybrid apps.

・They can be less reliable than native apps, since they depend on multiple technologies.
・They can be less responsive than native apps, since at minimum they need to communicate with a browser interface and a JavaScript engine before communicating with the operating system.
・Updates can be more difficult, since they need to remain compatible with multiple types of operating systems.

Finally, they may be less appealing than native apps, since they're usually limited in how they can access native hardware such as the camera or GPS.

1.3. Type of Mobile App #3: Web Applications

Web app development uses web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Web apps are typically built using frameworks such as Angular, React, and Vue.

Web applications can be even less responsive than hybrid apps, due to the server/client nature of HTTP-based interactions.

Every request has to be sent to the server, and the client (browser) has to wait for a response. This is even more true when using server-side technologies such as PHP, Python, Ruby, or ASP — for every request, a script has to run on the server before a response can be prepared for the client.

Keep in mind that if you want to build a hybrid app, you'll always need to build the web application first. That's why solid knowledge of web development is essential.

Since this series already has a related article focused on web app development, the rest of this article focuses only on native apps and hybrid apps.

Reference: What Is a PWA? A Beginner's Guide to Progressive Web Apps
Reference: What Is a Website? A Complete Guide to Web System Development

2. How to Choose a Type of Mobile App Development

Here's a summary of the key characteristics to help you choose between native apps, hybrid apps, and web apps.

3. What's the Best Language for Native Smartphone App Development?

You'll first need to decide whether you're developing for iOS, Android, or both.

However, if you want to develop for both platforms, you also need to decide whether you want an app with a similar user experience on both platforms. In that case, we believe cross-platform development (hybrid app or web app) is a better choice than native app development.

3.1. Native App Development Languages for iOS (iPhone/iPad)

3.1.1. iOS App Development Language: Objective-C

Objective-C is a powerful, versatile language that has been used to build many popular apps, including Uber, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Objective-C is a superset of the C programming language. In other words, it includes all the features of C, plus several additional features such as dynamic typing, method overloading, data encapsulation, and automatic memory management.

Because Objective-C is built on top of C, it's easy to pick up for developers who already know C or C++. However, since it's a fairly complex language, it can be more difficult for people who are new to programming.

Being a fairly old language, Objective-C has plenty of tutorials and information available. However, since it's no longer as widely used as Swift, the community of developers you can learn from is smaller.

3.1.2. iOS App Development Language: Swift

Swift is a powerful, intuitive programming language for iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS. Swift is easy to use and open source, so anyone with an idea can build something great.

Swift is designed to be powerful enough for experienced developers while still being easy for beginners to pick up.

Here are some highlights of the Swift language.

・Created by Apple and introduced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in 2014.
・It's a compiled language, so it's fast and efficient.
・It's type-safe, which helps prevent errors and improves code quality.
・Memory management is built into the language, so you don't need to worry about memory leaks.
・It's also interactive, so you can write code and see the results immediately.

In short, Swift is safe, fast, and interactive. It's also easy to pick up even if you're new to programming. So if you're building an iOS app, Swift is probably your best choice.

3.2. Native App Development Languages for Android

3.2.1. Android App Development Language: Java

Java is a versatile and powerful programming language used to build Android apps such as Spotify, Netflix, and Google Earth. Java can also be used to build desktop, web, and enterprise applications. It's one of the most in-demand programming languages.

Java and C are quite similar in that both are structured, imperative languages that use a compiler. Also, like Objective-C, Java is object-oriented, making it easy to write modular, reusable code.

For this reason, Java should be relatively easy to pick up for developers already familiar with C or C++. However, it can be more difficult for developers unfamiliar with these languages.

Java is a compiled language, so it's fast and efficient. It's type-safe, which helps prevent errors and improve code quality. Java also has a garbage collector, so you don't need to worry about memory leaks. On top of that, since Java is such a popular language, there's a large community of developers you can learn from, with plenty of documentation and support.

3.2.2. Android App Development Language: Kotlin

Kotlin is a newer language designed specifically for building Android apps. It runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and is fully interoperable with Java, so you can use all your existing Java libraries when building a Kotlin app.

Kotlin is a statically typed language, so errors can be caught at compile time rather than at runtime. Kotlin also supports both functional and object-oriented programming paradigms.

Here are some highlights of the Kotlin language.

・It's a concise language, so you can write less code to achieve the same result.
・It's safe, since it eliminates null pointer exceptions.
・It's interoperable with Java, so you can use Kotlin code in a Java project and vice versa.
・It has strong tooling support in Android Studio, which is developed by JetBrains, the company behind IntelliJ IDEA.
・Android mobile development has been Kotlin-first since Google I/O 2019.

In short, if you want to build great Android apps, Kotlin is probably the language you can rely on.

4. What's the Best Language/Framework for Cross-Platform App Development?

As already mentioned, developing native apps can take a lot of time and money. It's much easier to build cross-platform apps using tools that can generate apps for multiple platforms.

You still need to use a framework or runtime to build an app for iOS or Android, but you don't need to write separate code for each target.

If you want an app with a similar user experience on both platforms, you can build a cross-platform app using a single, shared codebase for both platforms. However, keep in mind that if you want an app with a platform-specific user experience on each platform, you'll likely need to develop it in the native language of each platform.

4.1. Cross-Platform App Development: React Native

React Native is a powerful UI framework used to build many popular apps, including Facebook Ads, Walmart, and Bloomberg. Like React, it was created by Meta (Facebook).

Essentially, React Native is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces that compile down to native code, so you can use all your existing native libraries when building a React Native app.

React Native is a great choice for cross-platform app development, since it's easy to pick up for developers already familiar with JavaScript. Plus, React Native is extremely popular, so there's a large community of developers you can learn from.

4.2. Cross-Platform App Development: Flutter

Flutter is a newer language designed specifically for building cross-platform apps for mobile, web, desktop, and embedded devices. It runs on the Dart VM and is fully compatible with Dart. Like Dart, Flutter was created by Google.

Flutter offers a large number of libraries to speed up your development flow, so you can build apps quickly. On top of that, Flutter is reactive, so you can build a responsive user interface. Flutter is also open source, so it's free to use.

However, it can be more difficult for developers who aren't familiar with Dart.

4.3. Cross-Platform App Development: Ionic Framework

Ionic Framework is a popular choice for building cross-platform apps using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

It was originally based on the Angular framework, but now also supports React and Vue. It also originally used Cordova to access native device features, but now also supports Capacitor, which was developed by Ionic itself.

Ionic is easy to learn and use, making it a good choice for cross-platform app development. On top of that, Ionic apps are fast and highly responsive. And since Ionic uses Cordova and Capacitor, it can access native device features such as the camera and GPS.

5. Conclusion

It shouldn't come as a surprise that there's no one-size-fits-all answer to which programming language is best for app development. Different languages can each offer their own advantages, depending on the specific requirements and features your app needs to deliver.

That said, to put it simply, you have a few options.

・If you're only targeting iPhone and iPad, native iOS app development with Objective-C and Swift is your best bet.

・If you're only targeting Android apps, Java and Kotlin work well.

・Flutter or React Native can cover both platforms (Android and iOS apps).

・You can also use web technologies to build a hybrid app that supports every platform from a single codebase (though you'll give up some control over certain native-specific features).

・Cross-platform development saves you time and money, but you should accept that you'll always be a few steps behind when it comes to taking advantage of the latest and greatest platform features.

Whichever language you choose, what matters most in the end is clearly understanding your goals and objectives, and choosing the toolset that fits your project.

Miichisoft has an excellent team that can build both native and hybrid apps, so if you have an app development need, please feel free to contact us.
We'll start by listening to you from the planning stage, and provide a detailed proposal.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Reference:Sitepoint (Top Mobile App Development Programming Languages)