BACKEND-FIRST MOBILE DEVELOPMENT: BEST PRACTICES FOR BUILDING SECURE AND ROBUST APPS

Intro

Backend-first mobile development, the design pattern when the backend is built before the frontend, is gaining traction right now. To wit, in 2022, the worldwide backend-as-a-service (BaaS) market was valued at $3.1 billion, and is expected to reach $28.7 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 25.3% during the forecast period.

At Touchlane, we also prioritize backend-first mobile development that presupposes aligning infrastructure and core logic early in the process. This results in more robust, scalable, and maintainable mobile solutions that focus on aspects such as data management, security, and real-time features.

Here’s an overview of key benefits that make us opt for backend-first mobile development:

• Accelerated development. The backend-first strategy prioritizes backend design and architecture, at the same time allowing parallel implementation of the frontend via mock interfaces. This reduces integration issues, i.e. waiting for backend completion before frontend development can begin.
• Rock-solid security. When mobile backend architecture is prioritized, data validation, authentication, and security measures are implemented at the core, resulting in more consistent and secure data handling across platforms.
• Better stability and scalability. When you design the backend first, you centralize core logic and data management on the server, allowing smooth updates and resource allocation as well as easier scaling of backend services to deal with increased user loads. 

BACKEND-FIRST PRINCIPLES AT TOUCHLANE

To make the above-mentioned benefits work for us, we at Touchlane establish concrete principles and mobile backend best practices.

1.

MOBILE ARCHITECTURE PATTERNS

At the architectural level, we implement the following principles:

• Modular client-server separation means we design the client (mobile app) and server as independent components with clearly defined boundaries and interfaces, but at the same time maintaining effective communication through well-defined APIs (for instance, REST or GraphQL). Such separation gives us flexibility in scaling separate components based on load and allows for smooth changes in the backend without impacting the frontend (and vice versa).
• Microservices are used to build  the backend in the form of  independent services that are responsible for a specific  feature each (it can be payment processing, user authentication, etc.). The implementation of microservices  gives better resilience, as if one service fails,  it will not affect the whole mobile  app. Besides,  microservices facilitate faster product launch (as teams can deploy and update services independently), technology diversity (optimal techs for each particular  task), and greater maintainability (smaller codebases are easier to test and maintain).

https://medium.com/@360technosoft/what-is-the-microservice-architecture-for-mobile-app-development-708839585e6f

• Cloud-native and serverless approaches. The combination of these approaches gives particular business value. Namely, rapid iteration, as serverless functions allow quick updates and deployment without infrastructure worries, scalability and in turn improved UX, because cloud-native architectures foster well-defined, scalable backend APIs, and better cost management, especially with the serverless approach where the costs scale depending on resource usage.

2.

API-FIRST DEVELOPMENT

As part of backend-first mobile development, we create the API interface before building the very mobile solution or client-side components. By focusing on APIs early on, we make sure the app will reliably communicate with the backend, supporting not only current, but future needs.

• Design before implementation. We build detailed API specifications and data structures upfront, before writing any code — with tools like Swagger/OpenAPI, Postman, and Stoplight. This is needed for ensuring clear contracts and communication between the backend and frontend teams, as well as introducing a robust blueprint to guide the development process, making integration more seamless and efficient.
• Parallel development. Since we first define the APIs, our backend engineers can work on implementing these APIs independently of the mobile app development, using mock data or API stubs. Moreover, the API-first approach facilitates the support of multiple clients (third-party integrations) since all consume the same well-defined interface.
• Versioning is another key aspect we use in API-first development. As the backend API evolves over time — for example, when new features are added or data structures are changed — assigning different version identifiers helps us maintain backward compatibility. The frontend client or other consumers can continue using a particular API version until they are ready to migrate. Among the common versioning strategies we use is URL versioning (/v1/, /v2/), header versioning, or query parameters.

Source: https://www.intercom.com/blog/api-versioning/ 

TECHNOLOGY STACK

The choice of techs we use in backend-first mobile development depends on specific project requirements, industry, and scalability needs, but the most effective combinations in our practice are the following.

1.

BACKEND

• Java and Spring Boot. The combination of Java with Spring Boot provides a robust, production-ready framework for smooth building of RESTful APIs. The Spring Boot’s extensive ecosystem and modular architecture offers secure user authentication, smooth data management, and easy integration with databases. Besides, we accelerate development and enhance app maintainability through Spring’s modularity, dependency injection, starter dependencies, auto-configuration, and other capabilities.

Source: https://github.com/oguzaktas/spring-boot-android-news 

• Docker offers containerization that allows us to isolate dependencies, operating systems, runtime environments, and configurations into a single portable container — to ensure consistency across environments without compatibility and drift issues.
• NoSQL Databases help us store, manage, and sync app data, ensuring persistence, efficient retrieval, and smooth updates. With this tool, we optimize data access and enable secure handling of sensitive information. Databases also support offline capabilities and help scale the app as data needs grow.

2.

MOBILE

• Native iOS. For native iOS development, we usually use Swift. This framework ensures native performance and seamless integration with iOS native APIs, and this means a greater UX for our end users. Swift’s safety capabilities help minimize bugs, making it reliable for complex backend-driven features. And by employing Swift, we always have direct access to the latest iOS features, hardware, and services.

Source: https://www.swift.org/getting-started/swiftui/

• Native Android. For native Android development, we choose Kotlin due to utmost performance and full access to Android APIs. Kotlin’s concise and expressive syntax helps decrease boilerplate, making development faster and less error-prone. And its coroutines notably facilitates asynchronous programming, which is very important for responsive mobile apps that gravely depend on the backend.
• Cross-platform development is made easier with Flutter, because it simplifies building, connecting to, and maintaining apps aligned with a mobile backend architecture. For example, the framework’s hot reload feature speeds up iteration and testing, which is key when aligning frontend features with backend APIs and logic. Flutter apps easily communicate with backend services and its comprehensive package ecosystem simplifies connecting to backend APIs, while handling authentication, and data synchronization.

3.

INFRASTRUCTURE

• Kubernetes. Due to its nature, Kubernetes allows running backend services in containers (ensuring consistency across environments), automatically scaling services based on demand, ensuring minimized downtime due to self-healing capabilities, and implementing CI/CD pipelines for seamless updates.
• Cloud services such as AWS (Amazon Web Services) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) are  used by our teams due to its ability of automated data synchronization, authentication, and real-time updates. They offer fully managed services (which reduces overhead), extensive infrastructure for low latency, and robust auto-scaling options. AWS, in particular, gives more flexibility and provides an enterprise-ready infrastructure. GCP is suitable for mobile projects Firebase tech, ensuring a fast start.

Source: https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/gcp/how-to-build-mobile-apps-on-google-cloud-platform/

CHALLENGES OF BACKEND-FIRST MOBILE DEVELOPMENT AND HOW WE SOLVE THEM

As any development paradigm, backend-first mobile development has its peculiarities.

• Evolving API design. When you design APIs upfront, it might lead to rigid interfaces requiring constant changes. To avoid such a negative impact on the overall mobile app development, we leverage API versioning and flexible API design principles (for example, RESTful, GraphQL), as well as engage our mobile developers early in the API design (to make sure it fully addresses client needs).
• Breaking clients caused by API versioning is another challenge you might encounter during backend-first mobile development. To avoid this, we employ URL or header-based versioning to allow multiple API versions concurrently, design APIs that support older clients to maintain backward compatibility, as well as continuously document and communicate versions for smooth transitions and minimized disruption.
• Offline scenarios and data conflicts handling is easily addressed by our teams through the implementation of local data caching with conflict resolution strategies such as last-write-wins or version vectors. We also ensure smooth synchronization by detecting conflicts upon reconnection and automating resolution based on predefined rules. Our backend teams design APIs in the way it could support small, incremental changes, as well as recognize and intelligently merge conflicting updates.

Source: https://buttercms.com/blog/caching-strategies-everything-you-need-to-know/ 

BACKEND-FIRST MOBILE DEVELOPMENT: REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE

Now, when you know the principles, mobile backend best practices, and techs we use, let’s delve into a specific use case.

PROMO APP

One of the leading Saudi Arabia’s beverage producers challenged Touchlane with renovating their advertising mobile app for Android and iOS. We were responsible for the full-fledged development, including the rework of the app’s backend and multiple integrations.

One of the challenges was implementing all the processes — by the client’s request — on the Realtime Database that is slow and expensive in operation. To address that, our team performed the following backend integrations:

• The Mapbox integration empowered administrators to better and faster manage hotspot locations and quantities via the admin panel, allowing users to faster find these hotspots, scan barcodes, and gain points.
• Pairing up with the in-memory platform Hazelcast allowed us to increase the number of possible requests from end-users through caching data on the backend side. The implementation of such a distributed cache solution resulted in $4000 savings per month for the client.
• The integration with Okta enabled fast and secure authorization for the administration panel.
• Touchlane specialists also introduced the automatic search of the barcodes scanned by the app through seamless integration with Tetrapak.

Alongside the backend implementation, our frontend team renovated the UI through a variety of new features (like language switch, notifications, user profiles, etc.) — thus, boosting user experiences.

As a result, the renewed app was successfully released for iOS and Android, allowing the client to optimize the operational flow more than 10 times, improve UX, boost brand recognition and sales, as well as notably cut on expenses.

Conclusion

As you can see from previous sections, although <backend-first mobile development has its challenges, they’re quite manageable, and by using mobile backend best practices, you guarantee tangible tech and business benefits.

The adopter of this approach, Touchlane has already helped a variety of clients accelerate time to market, ensure better app scalability, and enable utmost security for their mobile apps. So if you need to enhance your development team or fully delegate the whole backend development process, we’re here to assist.

The content provided in this article is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered legal or tax advice. Touchlane makes no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information. For advice specific to your situation, you should consult a qualified legal or tax professional licensed in your jurisdiction.