Python App Development: Is Python Good for Mobile Applications?

Python is widely used in science and technology, numerical computing, education, web development, and more. But how does developing mobile apps in Python differ from other solutions such as Swift, Kotlin or JavaScript? Is Python suitable for building mobile applications? Python offers native mobile development capabilities. There are external packages available for building mobile applications such as Kivy, PyQt, etc. This guide will help you understand the intricacies of Python mobile app development and the capabilities of the cross-platform Python framework Kivy.

A Brief Introduction to Python

Python is the standard programming language and currently the best programming language in the world according to the TIOBE index. As a result, Python app development has become the most lucrative field for developers. It is an open-source language that allows developers to code for various tasks. The syntax is relatively easy to learn and understand, allowing developers to learn how to code very quickly. For this reason, it is often the most recommended programming language for beginners. In addition, it is big data-ready and can be integrated with other programming languages.

Is Python Suitable for Mobile Applications?

What makes Python so great is its ease of use, readability, and short development time. This makes it ideal for the mobile market where time to market is critical to gaining and maintaining market share. IOS and Android don't support languages ​​like interpreters. This means you can't run Python apps natively. Because of this, building mobile apps in Python was not popular before. But with the advent of multiple frameworks, things are different. Various Python GUI frameworks exist to bridge the gap between the native functionality of Python apps on mobile devices.

What Type of Apps Can You Develop in Python?

1. Audio-video apps

Python app development lets you create music and other types of audio and video apps. Python lets you explore audio and video content on the web. Python libraries such as OpenCV and PyDub can help you develop your apps successfully.

2. Game app development

Many games are developed in Python, including Battlefield 2 and EVE Online. Battlefield 2 uses Python for all features and add-ons. World of Tanks also uses Python for many features. Developers can use Python and Pygame to quickly prototype their games and test them in real-time. You can also use Python to develop game design tools that support your development process. B. Level design and dialog tree creation.

3. Blockchain Application

It is one of the most pervasive technology trends and is dominating the market. Blockchain development is very difficult for developers, but Python makes it easy. Python is an easy-to-understand language that allows you to seamlessly build blockchain applications. Developers can use HTTP requests to interact with blockchains on the web. Additionally, the developer uses Python frameworks such as his Flask to create endpoints for various functions of the blockchain. Developers can also use Python to run scripts on multiple machines and develop distributed networks.

4. Command-line apps

The command line app and console app are identical. It is a computer program used through a command line or shell and has no graphical user interface. Python's REPL (Real-Eval-Print-Loop) capability makes it ideal for command-line apps like this. Because Python is a world-famous language, top app development brands have access to many free Python libraries for building command-line apps.

5. Machine learning apps

Another technology trend of the last decade, the development of machine learning, is the algorithmic technology that feeds operating systems with data to enable intelligent decision-making. Developing machine learning apps used to be a difficult task, but Python makes it easier. Python offers free machine-learning libraries such as Pandas and scikit. Available under the GNU license.

6. Business apps

Python has practical agility and the ability to develop many kinds of apps. So Python is useful for e-commerce app development solutions and his ERP as well. For example, Odoo is written in Python, offers a wide range of business applications and creates a suite of enterprise management applications. The popular business app "Tryton" developed in Python is a high-level general-purpose application with a three-tier structure.

Python for Android App

The recommended implementation language for Android is Java. So if you want to write Android applications in Python, you need a way to run Python code in the Java Virtual Machine. VOC (an acronym for "Vestigial Output Compiler" or "Vexing Obtuse Compiler") makes this possible. It is part of the BeeWare suite and allows you to access native Java objects such as Python, implement Java interfaces in Python classes, and subclass Java classes in Python classes.

This allows Android applications to be written directly to native Android APIs. VOC is a transpiler that compiles Python source code to CPython bytecode and transpilers that bytecode to Java-compatible bytecode. This means compiling Python source code to CPython bytecode and converting it to Java-compatible bytecode.

Several other tools implement Python in Java and vice versa. Examples of such tools include Jython, JPype, Jepp, and py4j. Each of these tools has its strengths and weaknesses depending on the nature and scope of the project.

Python for iOS Apps

The steps to create an application for iOS are a little more complicated than for Android. The developer can always refer to the official Kivy package documentation for the latest information on his iOS development with Python. This process typically involves setting up the Python environment, coding the application using Python/Kivy, and deploying using Xcode. Note that a macOS computer is still required for the developer to deploy apps to his Apple App Store. So even if you could build your app in Python, you'd still need an iMac or MacBook to deploy your app.

Mobile Applications that Use Python

1. Instagram

Instagram is the greatest example of a scalable mobile app built with Python. With 400 million daily active users, this app has changed the world of digital photography.

2. Pinterest

Pinterest, the third largest social network after Facebook and Twitter, allows users to bookmark, collect and share images. One of his most used apps on the web, Pinterest uses Python and Django to quickly process large amounts of content. This app uses Python from the beginning.

3. Disqus

Disqus is a simple and effective way to efficiently manage comments, engage your audience, and encourage discussion while controlling the content you receive. With multiple login options and cross-site notifications, the app caters to audiences of all tastes. In this case, Python takes full advantage of its Django security features and regular security patches.

4. Spotify

Spotify is the world's largest streaming service with annual revenue of over €4 billion. This means the company is a major market player as well as one of the top Python applications. They decided to develop Python because of its speed and advanced data analysis. This will allow Spotify to manage features like Radio and Discover based on your personal music preferences.

GUI Frameworks – Resources for Building Mobile Apps with Python

If you want to make a mobile app with Python, you require a GUI initial. There are two most common frameworks, Kivy and BeeWare. However, they are not the only ones used in the development process.

1. Kivy

Kivy is an open-source Python library for rapid app development with innovative user interfaces like multi-touch apps. GPU acceleration, cross-platform, business. This framework is based on various Python libraries such as PIL, GStreamer and Cairo.

2. BeeWare

BeeWare is used to develop and deploy native applications in Python. It also comes with Toga, his GUI toolkit that is OS-native, Python-native, and cross-platform. In addition, BeeWare Toolkit includes Rubicon Java, a library for working with Java libraries using Python code.

The briefcase is another tool for packaging Python projects and sending the results to end users. Also, precompiled builds of Python are used on platforms where no official Python installer is available. Rubicon ObjC is a library tool for working with Objective-C libraries on macOS and iOS using Python code.

3. Python-for-Android

A tool for running Python on Android. Its main function is to create a project folder containing all the tools needed to launch a mobile app. This folder consists of various libraries such as Kivy, Pygame and SDL. This folder also contains the Java Loader, an intermediary between Kivy and the OS. You can then add scripts or compile your application using the Android NDK.

4. PyJNIus

PyJNIus is a framework that enables interaction between Python and Android APIs. This API allows developers to retrieve information from different parts of the mobile device. B. Vibrate, Pause, Restart.

5. PyQt5

The PyQt5 set is built around the Qt framework, a cross-platform framework for building many applications for different platforms. The PyQt5 package contains a complete set of Python wrappers based on v5, the latest version of the Qt application framework. Like the Qt5 framework, PyQt5 is fully cross-platform. By controlling PyQt5, the developer can create applications for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android and other platforms.

6. Tkinter

Tkinter is often cited as the preferred GUI toolkit by most Python developers. It was designed to provide the modern developer with a standard Tk GUI toolkit bound to a Python interface. In the world of Tkinter, most of the visual elements we know are called widgets, and each widget offers different levels of customization. Tkinter is built into the Python installers of all major operating systems today and shares some common elements that you should be familiar with.

7. Falcon

Falcon is a powerful and secure Python networking framework for building rich application backends and microservices. Falcon applications run on ASGI or WSGI servers and run on yPy version 3.5 or higher and CPython version 3.5 or higher. Additionally, Falcon has an extensible code base and is highly optimized. Falcon provides intuitive routing, including REST-inspired resource classes and URI templates. Also, you can easily access the headers and body through the request and response classes. Falcon allows for quick unit testing via WSGI helpers. It also handles DRY request handling via middleware components and hooks.

8. CherryPy

CherryPy is an object-oriented web framework built in Python. Web apps can be created in the same way as any other object-oriented Python program. This tool can also run multiple HTTP servers simultaneously.

CherryPy is also known for its flexible plugin system. Additionally, it integrates tools for encoding, caching, authentication, static content, sessions, and more. CherryPy has built-in support for coverage, profiling and testing. Works with Python 2.7+, 3.5+, Android, PyPy, Jython.

What is Kivy and How to Practice it for Python Mobile App Development?

This cross-platform Python framework can be extended to Windows, Mac, Linux, and Raspberry Pi. Kivy supports multi-touch functionality in addition to traditional keyboard and mouse functionality. Kivy uses OpenGL ES2 which supports GPU acceleration for graphics. This project uses the MIT license to use this library in free or commercial software. Kivy has a custom UI toolkit that looks and behaves the same on Android, iOS, Linux, and the Raspberry Pi, but doesn't take advantage of platform-native features.

Building an application in Kivy means building a Natural User Interface (NUI). The natural user interface allows you to quickly learn how to use the software without having to learn almost anything. Kivy makes no effort to use native controls and widgets. All widgets are drawn individually. This means that Kivy applications look the same on all platforms. However, this also means that the application will look different than the user's native application. For some users, this is both a concern and a problem.

The Most Crucial Features of Kivy

• One code for all platforms

• Robust graphics engine built on OpenGL ES 2

• It is issued below the MIT license and is free for business use.

• Custom UI Toolkit

• The single code base for all platforms

• BSD license released for business use

• Native look and feel applications

• A vast community of invested developers

• A collection of multiple projects, not a single tool

• Fast, easy, accurate

Things to Remember for Python App Development

Although Python is very versatile, developers should keep a few things in mind when using Python to develop mobile apps.

• There is a dynamic COOP for evaluating expressions. That is, the interpreter looks for variables in the current block and all functions. The problem is that every word must be validated in every possible context.

• Lambda functions are restricted in Python. It can contain only one statement at a time and must be written on one line. This means that, unlike regular functions, you cannot use an explicit return statement.

• Python acts more as an editor than a compiler. If your app has an error, this will only appear during execution. So it slows you down and you have to write another test.

Conclusion

Python has become the world's most versatile programming language. Now that resources and tools are available for developing Python apps, projects can bring the simplicity, richness, and flexibility of Python to the mobile app development process. It's quick and can potentially save you money as well as time. If you're looking for a Python developer for the superstar, our recruiting team can help. Please send us a message with your detailed requirements. We will contact you shortly. We can help you hire a talented remote Python developer within two weeks.