11 of the best Android developer tools to get you started in Android development

Every Android developer needs the best tools to improve their skills and efficiency. We hope these 11 Android development tools can help you become a good developer.

According to Statista survey data, the number of apps available on major app stores as of Q3 2018 is as follows: There are 2.8 million in the Google Play Store. There are 2.2 million in the Apple App Store. There are 6.9 million in the Windows Store. Amazon has 600,000. There is also 234,500 in the BlackBerry App Store.

As the official Google App Store, Google Play has the largest share of the app market, with an average of 6,140 Android apps published daily. This is not surprising given that Android will account for 85% of the global market share in 2018.

As of July 2018, the world’s best-selling Android apps include popular gaming apps like Pokemon Go and Candy Crush Saga.

According to the latest statistics, there are 12 million mobile application developers worldwide, which is more than half of the global developer community. Almost half of them focus on Google Android. By 2020, the total number of developers is expected to reach 14 million.

Being an Android developer is arguably one of the most popular jobs in the world. To become an Android developer, you need to learn the basics of Android development (Java infrastructure, Android components, Android network programming, Git / Svn version control software, databases, XML, etc.).

To do this, you need to get the most out of Android developer tools. In fact, learning how to use these tools is an important first step in your Android development journey.

This article collected 11 of the best Android developer tools to point you in the right direction.

1. Android Studio

Android Studio is the official Android IDE and it contains everything you need to create an Android app. Completely designed for Android, it helps speed up the development process and create high-quality apps for all devices. Also known as Google’s official Android development environment. It contains countless features like visual layout, APK analyzer, smart code editor, fast simulation, flexible building system, real-time analyzer and more.

The latest and most stable version, Android Studio 3.2, is the best way for app developers to get the latest version of Android 9 Pie and create new Android app packages.

Download: https: //developer.android.com/studio/

2. Android SDK

The Android SDK is an Android development kit. It contains a complete set of development and debugging tools.

The Android SDK consists of modular packages that can be downloaded individually using the Android SDK Manager. The current version is 26.1.1 and the toolkit includes:

  1. SDK Tools
  2. SDK platform tools
  3. SDK documentation
  4. Android SDK Resource
  5. SDK example
  6. Google API
  7. Android support

3. Android Debug Bridge

ADB is a popular debugging tool in Android development environment. An indispensable tool, client server software for Android developers, it has three components:
The customer sends the order
Daemon (adbd) program that executes commands on the device
A server that manages the connection between the client and ADBD
ADB is included in the Android SDK Platform-Tools package. This package can be downloaded using the SDK Manager installed at android_sdk / platform-tools. Alternatively, if you need the standalone Android SDK Platform-Tools package, you can 

4. B4A

Basic4android is a simple yet powerful Android application development environment. Its language is similar to Visual Basic and supports more objects. Basic4android translates your code into a native Android app without the support of any other operating environment. This tool is specially developed for Android applications and does not support other platforms.
Feature:
  • Developing Android applications using a simpler programming language (BASIC)
  • A visual editor to manipulate the presentation as you like
  • Wireless correction
  • In short, B4A provides an IDE and a convenient compiler that allows you to write applications in simpler programming languages.

Download: https://www.b4x.com/b4a.html

5. The fabric

Fabric is a tool that helps mobile app development teams build better apps, get to know users in real time, and grow their business based on analytical data. From development to release, Fabric provides everyone on the development team with complete, real-time application performance and health status. It also provides developers with data about user activity and where users are most likely to interact with your app.

Download: https://get.fabric.io

6. Mock Plus

As a great app prototyping tool, Mockplus is one of the best tools for Android development. You can easily create an Android prototype interface with rich interactive features in 5 minutes. It also provides a library of Android components for download and several application prototyping templates.

7. Assistant

AIDE is an integrated development environment (IDE) for developing real Android applications directly on Android devices.
Feature:
  • Become a professional app developer by following our interactive coding lessons
  • Visually design coding applications with a feature-rich editor, including code completion, real-time error checking, refactoring, and smart code navigation.
  • Launch your application with one click and use the Java Debugger to find the error
  • AIDE supports building applications using Java / XML and the Android SDK, building applications using C / C ++ and the Android NDK, and pure Java console applications.
  • AIDE is fully compatible with Eclipse projects.
  • If you are just starting your career in app development, you will need to know how to use AIDE. You can use the token to view, learn and test tutorials in real time on your mobile device.
8. Stito
Stetho is an advanced debugging bridge for Android apps. Connect your Android app to Chrome and use Chrome Developer Tools to debug Android app errors.
Feature:
  1. Network check
  2. Database checking
  3. View hierarchy
  4. JavaScript console
  5. Dumpapp

9. Canary spill

“A small leak will sink a great ship” Benjamin Franklin
LeakCanary is Square’s open source MAT memory leak detection tool. When a memory leak occurs, LeakCanary automatically displays the leakage information so that developers can solve the problem right away.

10. Eclipse

Eclipse is an open source Java based integrated development environment. Eclipse is primarily written in the Java language for developing Java applications, but it can also be used to develop applications in other programming languages. This is done using plugins like Ada, ABAP, C, and C ++. Google no longer provides support for Eclipse, but many developers still use Eclipse to create Android and other multi-platform apps. 

11. InstaBug

All developers hate bugs when developing Android apps. This is why Instabug is an essential tool for all developer weapons. Used for beta testing and bug reporting. Instabug allows beta testers and user groups to share detailed screenshots and bug logs with developers while ensuring quality and debugging.
Many popular Android apps such as Yahoo, PayPal, Lyft, BuzzFeed, Dubsmash, Scribd, and Kik InstaBug are used for “vulnerability queries”.

conclusion

Every Android developer needs the best tools to improve their skills and efficiency. We hope the 11 Android development tools we shared can help you progress as a professional developer.