Top Android Libraries for 2024

Selecting the right Android library for your project is crucial for its success. This guide provides a seven-step evaluation procedure to help you make an informed decision.

Consider the library’s popularity, as a high number of stars and serious issues on GitHub indicate its quality and reliability. Opt for open-source libraries to access the source code for performance evaluation, debugging, and security.

Retrofit

Retrofit simplifies the process of making network requests in Android apps by turning HTTP API into a Java interface. It supports synchronous and asynchronous calls, handles JSON or XML data parsing, and integrates seamlessly with various converters for serialization and deserialization.

Glide

Glide is a powerful image loading library that simplifies the process of fetching, decoding, and displaying images in Android apps. It supports various image formats, provides memory and disk caching, and offers options for image transformations and animations.

Room

Room is a database library that acts as an abstraction layer over SQLite. It provides compile-time checks of SQL queries, simplifies database operations, and integrates smoothly with LiveData to observe changes in the database.

Dagger-Hilt

Dagger-Hilt is a dependency injection framework designed specifically for Android, making it easier to manage dependencies in Android apps. It reduces boilerplate code and provides a standard way to incorporate Dagger dependency injection into an Android application.

Jetpack Compose

Jetpack Compose is a modern toolkit for building native UI in Android apps using a declarative approach. It simplifies UI development, promotes reusability, and integrates seamlessly with other Jetpack libraries.

Coroutines

Coroutines are a Kotlin feature that simplifies asynchronous programming by providing a way to write asynchronous code in a sequential manner. They are lightweight and efficient, making them ideal for handling background tasks in Android apps.

LiveData

LiveData is an observable data holder class that is lifecycle-aware, meaning it respects the lifecycle of other app components, such as activities, fragments, and services. It ensures that the UI matches the app data state and helps prevent memory leaks.

Navigation Component

The Navigation Component simplifies the implementation of navigation in Android apps. It provides a visual representation of the app’s navigation flow and handles common navigation tasks, such as fragment transactions and handling the back stack.

OkHttp

OkHttp is an HTTP client that’s efficient and easy to use. It provides features like connection pooling, transparent GZIP compression, and response caching, which improve the speed and performance of network requests.

Moshi

Moshi is a modern JSON library for Android and Java, designed to parse and serialize JSON with minimal effort. It works well with Kotlin, supports custom type adapters, and is lightweight compared to other JSON libraries.

ExoPlayer

ExoPlayer is a media player library for Android that provides an alternative to the standard MediaPlayer API. It supports features like adaptive streaming, playback of various media formats, and customization options for the player’s UI.

Coil

Coil is an image loading library for Android that uses Kotlin Coroutines. It is lightweight, easy to use, and supports modern image loading features like memory and disk caching, image transformations, and placeholders.

Firebase SDK

The Firebase SDK provides a set of tools for integrating Firebase services into Android apps. These services include authentication, real-time databases, cloud storage, analytics, and more, which help in building scalable and feature-rich apps.

Material Components

Material Components provide a set of UI components that help implement Material Design in Android apps. They include components like buttons, text fields, navigation drawers, and more, which ensure a consistent and modern user experience.

RxJava/RxAndroid

RxJava and RxAndroid are libraries for composing asynchronous and event-based programs using observable sequences. They provide a powerful way to handle data streams and concurrency in Android apps, with a focus on functional programming principles.

How To Select?

To make this easier for you, we have included the evaluation procedure. Take into account these seven steps before selecting a library.

The Library’s Popularity

One can view the candidate library’s stars. Followed by the quantity and seriousness of issues that have been reported for that library. A library’s popularity among many developers is a reliable sign of its high calibre.

Author Trustworthiness

It will be preferred if developers do their research for the libraries. Verify whether they have published many libraries or are active on GitHub.

Excellent Library

Please examine their code to see how effectively it is written and organized. Verify whether or not the libraries have a thorough and current README file. The README file will make integration straightforward.

Proper licence

The ability to sell a product may be subject to several limitations. Because illegal libraries may restrict the use of libraries, the licence is another aspect that may influence the choice. Ensure you abide by all the conditions of any libraries you intend to use in your app.

Free Software

To evaluate a library’s performance or quality and debugging, you must have access to its source code. A lack of transparency also puts security at risk.

Look for Established Libraries

Consider well-known libraries like Retrofit, Butterknife, Picasso/Glide, and RxJava, which are renowned for their quality, maintenance, and documentation. These libraries offer a lower risk of integration while maintaining independence. However, it’s still important to conduct thorough research to understand their strengths, weaknesses, and functionalities.

Examine the Core Features

The code should be entirely under your control. Libraries make the sacrifice to support a variety of use cases. Since the main features are libraries, there is no difference in the trade-offs. The core features can compromise performance. Thus, attempt to rely on already-validated libraries.

Summing Up

At Nestack, we understand the importance of using the right Android libraries to enhance app functionality and streamline the development process. Our developers are well-versed in selecting and implementing the most suitable libraries for your specific project requirements, ensuring optimal results.

If you’re looking to develop a high-quality Android app with efficient and secure execution, Nestack is here to assist you. Contact us at info@nestack.com to learn more about how we can help bring your app development project to fruition with our expertise and resources.