Guidelines for Architecting Android Apps: A Mixed-Method Empirical Study

Abstract

For surviving in the highly competitive market of Android apps, it is fundamental for app developers to deliver apps of high quality and with short release times. A well-architected Android app is beneficial for developers, e.g. in terms of maintainability, testability, performance, and avoidance of resource leaks. However, how to properly architect Android apps is still debated and subject to conflicting opinions usually influenced by technological hypes rather than objective evidence. In this paper we present an empirical study on how developers architect Android apps, what architectural patterns and practices Android apps are based on, and their potential impact on quality. We apply a mixed-method empirical research design that combines (i) semi-structured interviews with Android practitioners in the field and (ii) a systematic analysis of both the grey (i.e., websites, Online blogs) and white literature (i.e., academic studies) on the architecture of Android apps. Based on the analysis of the state of the art and practice about architecting Android apps, we systematically extract a set of 42 evidence-based guidelines supporting developers when architecting their Android apps.