Best Practices for Building High-Performance Android Apps

Is your Android app suffering from long loading times and lethargic performance, leaving your users flustered with it? The world of mobile apps thrives on performance. Users want fast, responsive, and intuitive Android apps that are also reliable.

A poorly performing app can lead your users to uninstall it and give negative reviews on the Google Play Store. So, how do you ensure your application is performant and does not face this fate?

We’ve got you covered. Here are some best practices for building high-performance Android apps that ensure a smooth and seamless user experience.

1. Optimize Layouts and Views

Efficient layouts are crucial for app performance. Overly complex layouts with nested views can slow down rendering and user interactions. To optimize layouts, you should:

• Use ConstraintLayout: It allows you to create complex layouts with a flat view hierarchy, thereby reducing the need for nested views.
• Avoid Deep View Hierarchies: Keep the view hierarchy as shallow as possible. Deep hierarchies increase the time it takes to measure and draw views.
• Use ViewStub for Infrequently Used Views: ViewStub is a lightweight placeholder that you can use to delay the loading of views until they are needed.

2. Efficient Resource Management

Proper resource management is also very important as it can significantly improve app performance. This includes managing images, strings, and other resources efficiently. Here’s what you need to keep in mind:

• Use Appropriate Image Formats: Use WebP format for images, as it provides better compression than PNG and JPEG without loss of quality.
• Resize Images: Always resize images to the appropriate size for the target device. Large images can consume a lot of memory and slow down your app.
• Lazy Loading: Load images and other heavy resources only when they are needed to avoid unnecessary memory usage.

3. Optimize Network Calls

Network operations can be a major source of latency. You can take the following steps to ensure smooth app performance and to optimize your network calls:

• Use Efficient Libraries: Libraries like Retrofit and OkHttp are designed to handle network operations efficiently.
• Batch Network Requests: Instead of making multiple small requests, batch them together to reduce the number of network calls.
• Implement Caching: Cache data to minimize the need for repeated network requests. Use libraries like Glide for image caching and Room for local data storage.

4. Minimize Memory Usage

Efficient memory management is critical for preventing out-of-memory (OOM) errors and ensuring smooth performance. Here’s what you should do:

• Avoid Memory Leaks: Use tools like LeakCanary to detect and fix memory leaks. Always unregister listeners and callbacks to prevent memory leaks.
• Use RecyclerView for Large Data Sets: RecyclerView is optimized for handling large data sets with minimal memory usage. It recycles item views to avoid creating unnecessary objects.
• Optimize Bitmap Usage: Bitmaps can consume a lot of memory. Use BitmapFactory options to decode images efficiently and avoid loading large bitmaps into memory.

5. Optimize Code Execution

Efficient code execution is also known to improve app responsiveness and reduce lag. Here’s how you can code more efficiently:

• Use Background Threads: Offload long-running tasks to background threads using AsyncTask, Thread, or libraries like RxJava and Coroutines.
• Avoid Blocking the UI Thread: Never perform heavy operations on the main thread. Use the main thread only for UI updates.
• Optimize Loops and Algorithms: Optimize your code by reducing the complexity of loops and algorithms. Avoid unnecessary object creation within loops.

6. Enhance UI Responsiveness

An app’s user interface (UI) is key to a good user experience. To enhance UI responsiveness, consider doing the following:

• Use Smooth Animations: Use the Android animation framework to create smooth and responsive animations. Avoid using heavy or complex animations that can slow down the UI.
• Optimize Touch Events: Ensure touch event handling is fast and efficient. Avoid doing heavy processing in touch event handlers.
• Minimize Overdraw: Overdraw occurs when the same pixels are drawn multiple times in a single frame. Use tools like GPU Overdraw in Android Studio to detect and minimize overdraw.

7. Efficient Database Access

Efficient database access is essential for performance, especially when dealing with large data sets. Here are some tips to help you manage your database more efficiently:

• Use Room for Local Storage: Room is an efficient SQLite ORM library that simplifies database access and ensures efficient data handling.
• Optimize Queries: Write efficient SQL queries to minimize the time spent accessing the database. Use indexing to speed up query performance.
• Batch Operations: Perform batch operations to reduce the number of database transactions. Use bulk inserts and updates instead of individual operations.

8. Battery Optimization

Applications that use your device battery less are considered better performing. You can optimize battery usage by doing the following:

• Minimize Background Services: Background services can drain the battery. Use JobScheduler or WorkManager to schedule background tasks efficiently.
• Optimize Location Updates: Use the most efficient location provider and request location updates only when necessary. Use geofencing or passive location listeners when possible.
• Reduce Wake Locks: Use wake locks sparingly to avoid keeping the device awake unnecessarily. Always release wake locks as soon as they are no longer needed.

9. Implement Proper Testing

Software testing is a critical element of any application development process, be it through automated testing tools or manual software testing procedures. Thorough testing allows you to identify and fix performance issues early on in the development process:

• Use Profiling Tools: Use Android Studio’s profiling tools to analyze app performance, memory usage, and network activity. Identify bottlenecks and optimize them.
• Perform Load Testing: Test your app under different load conditions to ensure it performs well under heavy usage.
• Monitor App Performance: Use tools like Firebase Performance Monitoring to track app performance in real-time and identify areas for improvement.

10. Stay Updated with Best Practices

Android development is constantly evolving, with new tools and best practices emerging regularly. To ensure your app stays performant, do the following:

• Follow Android Guidelines: Adhere to the official Android development guidelines and best practices.
• Stay Updated with the Latest Tools: Keep up with the latest tools and libraries that can help optimize your app’s performance.
• Engage with the Community: Participate in Android development communities and forums to learn from other developers’ experiences and share your own insights.

Conclusion

Building high-performance Android apps is not rocket science and yet it requires a combination of efficient resource management, optimized code execution, and thorough testing.

These best practices help ensure that your app provides a smooth and responsive user experience, retains users, and stands out in an exceedingly competitive app market.

Stay informed about the latest trends and tools in Android development, and continuously refine your skills to build apps that not only meet but exceed user expectations.
Do you need any further help about building high-performance android apps? Feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].