We have compiled the top 34 Android library layers to help developers. Before we get on to the details, let's briefly review the basics of Android libraries.
What are Android Libraries?
Android frameworks and Libraries (or simply libraries) are, in short, a collection of behavior implementations written in programming languages. They also have an interface.
These libraries typically include documentation, configuration data, message templates, help data, and pre-written code.
Why are we using Android Libraries?
These libraries are used to speed up and optimize the Android app-development process. This allows you to create amazing apps without extra work. The new Android libraries provide developers with prewritten code and other essential elements that can be used immediately rather than making these codes from scratch.
This article will help you if you are starting your career in Android app creation.
34 best Android Libraries
We are the best Android app development company. We use the most recent technology and Android libraries to create efficient mobile apps. You may doubt the cost of developing an Android app if you're planning on building one.
We have compiled the best Android libraries to help you develop mobile apps that are more efficient and provide a better user experience. Take a look.
1. LiveData
LiveData notifies Observer objects when the underlying data changes. You can then consolidate your code and update the UI in these Observer objects. The observer will automatically update the UI according to data changes. This is a great way to save memory.
Suppose the observer's lifecycle is inactive, such as when it is a back-stack activity. In that case, no LiveData events are sent to that observer.
2. ViewModel
The ViewModel library can store and manage UI-related information according to its lifecycle. The ViewModel class allows storing data that can withstand configuration changes such as screen rotations.
ViewModel manages the entire lifecycle of UI Controllers, including their fragments and activities. The framework can create or permanently remove device events and user actions. This event will be dynamically created and is not under your control.
3. Android DataBinding
Android data binding library allows you to use a declarative style to connect UI components to data sources in your apps. Layouts can be defined using the UI framework function with code.
The code below, for example, uses findViewById() to locate a TextView Widget and link it with the ViewModel variable's userName property.
TextView textView = findViewById(R.id.sample_text);
textView.setText(viewModel.get username());
4. Pager2
Viewpager2 is an improved version of Viewpager. Google released the library on February 7, 2009, and the recycler view was unavailable in the original version of Viewpager.
Viewpager2 lets you add items dynamically. It will also be easier to use ViewPager2 if you are familiar with RecyclerView.
5. Navigation
Navigation is a tool that allows you to move quickly between destinations within your Android app. It is much easier to use Navigation Library in your Android app. It only works with apps that offer a good API, regardless of destination implementation.
Add Activities, Fragments, or other components to your app to make this component available. To add dependencies to Navigation, you can use the Google Maven repository.
6. Koin
Navigation is a tool that allows you to move quickly between destinations within your Android app. Navigation Library makes it easy to add Navigation to your Android app. It only works with apps that provide a good API, regardless of destination implementation.
Add Activities, Fragments, or other components to your app to make this component available. To add dependencies to Navigation, you can use the Google Maven repository.
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7. Hilt
Hilt, also known as the dependency injection librarian, reduces the work required to inject dependency in an Android project manually. Manual dependency injection involves the creation of each class and its dependencies. Containers will also help you reuse and organize dependencies.
Hilt makes it simple to integrate Dagger dependency injection in Android apps. Hilt's goal is to make Dagger-related infrastructure easier to use for Android apps. A standard set of components and scopes was created to make setup, readability/understanding, and code exchange between apps more accessible.
8. WorkManager
WorkManager is for tasks that must be run even when the app is closed. This Android library performs deferrable background tasks when the work's requirements are met.
Android WorkManager is a background processing library that predictably runs background operations. WorkManager can be used to automatically start background operations without the need for us to open the app.
9. AndroidX
AndroidX is the most recent Android support library and includes Android Jetpack libraries. Namespace (collection and storage of names) is similar to support libraries. It transfers independently from the Android platform to avoid conflicts between elements. It also provides backward compatibility with every Android version.
These are the steps to follow if you plan on using AndroidX in your next project.
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Set the compile SDK for Android 9.0 (API Level 28 or higher OR).
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In the gradle.properties.file, set Android Gradle plugin flags as true
10. Android Testing Support Library
This framework is used to test Android mobile apps. You can use this API set to create and test your apps. This includes functional UI tests, JUnit 4, and JUnit 4. You can also run tests created using Android Studio IDE or command APIs.
You can access the Android SDK Manager to view the Android testing library. These are the automation tools that the testing support library contains.
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UI Automation is a framework for user interface testing. It can test cross-app functional UI across installed apps and the system.
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Espresso can be used to test functionality in an app's user interface.
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Android/JUnitRunner supports JUnit 4.
11. MyLittleCanvas
MyLittleCanvas, one of the best Android libraries for developers, is MyLittleCanvas. This library was created to make it easier to work with canvas on Android. However, instead of using methods, objects can be used now.
You can use this Android library to create custom underlines on TextViews. You can also implement RectShape and RoundRectShape on a TextView, LineShapes, TextShapes, LineShapes, DrawableShapes, PathShapes, and CircleShapes with Canvas methods.
12. ExpansionPanel
Florent Champigny's ExpansionPanel library is another rich feature-rich one. It allows developers to implement Expansion Panels. This includes creation flows and lightweight editing. This library will enable you to create multiple expansion layouts, allowing only one at a given time.
The library is easy to understand, and developers can also check the sample application included in the project. The entire code of the library is available under the Apache 2.0 License. A sample app can also be found on Google Play.
13. Kotlin-math
Kotlin-math is another excellent library for Android. A complete Kotlin set of APIs makes graphics math easier to write. These APIs were primarily modeled after GLSL (OpenGL Shader Language) to make it easier to port code to and from shaders.
This library only offers value types. Many APIs are presented as top-level functions, not methods.
14. EventBus
You might encounter different issues when developing Android applications with multiple active components communicating. EventBus, the best Android library, was primarily created to solve this problem using the subscriber/publisher pattern.
This library simplifies communication between components and decouples event senders and recipients. It works well with Activities, Fragments, and background threads. The code is simpler and easier to maintain and debug because all the classes are decoupled.
It also has advanced features such as delivery threads or subscriber priority. It avoids complicated and error-prone dependencies as well as life cycle issues.
15. Lottie
As suggested by one of our senior Android developers, Lottie is an Android animation library that parses Adobe After Effects animated files exported as JSON and Bodymovin and renders them natively to mobile.
This library allows designers to create beautiful animations and send them out without needing an engineer. It supports solids and shapes layers, masks, and alpha mattes. Trim paths and dash patterns are also supported.
The library also allows developers to move forward and backward. Most importantly, it will enable program animations to respond to any interaction.
16. EasyPermissions
EasyPermissions wrapper library is used to simplify basic system permissions logins when Android M or higher is being targeted. EasyPermissions allows users to check whether the app has the necessary permissions. This method can accept any number of licenses for its final argument.
Moreover, requesting permissions with EasyPermissions#requestPermissions. This will ask for system permissions and show the reason string if needed. The request code must be unique for this request.
17. ObjectBox
ObjectBox, the most widely used Android library, allows developers to focus their time on what makes their Android apps stand out rather than storing and retrieving data. This library is an object-oriented embedded databank and an excellent alternative to SQLite. It is also well-defined and suitable for IoT.
It allows users to eliminate repetitive tasks and provides a simple interface to their data. ObjectBox was designed to be fast and easy to use, so app developers don't have to deal with SQL.
18. Android Retrofit
Square has developed Retrofit, a type-safe HTTP client that works with Java and Android.
Retrofit is the best library to connect to HTTP-based APIs from Android apps. It uses the OkHttp core functionality and adds many features while eliminating unnecessary code.
Retrofit can be used to receive data structures other than JSON. It is also a type-safe REST Client for Android and Java. It will map an API to a client interface by using annotations.
Read More: Developing IoT applications: Challenges and Frameworks
19. Dagger 2
The Dagger is a critical component of the list. Dagger is different from other dependency injection libraries. The dependency injection library allows you to add smaller pieces to a model while ensuring they remain compatible.
It can be challenging to manage dependency injection when developing large applications. Dagger can help you with this task as it creates dependency injection graphs in compile time via annotation processors.
20. Zimmer
The Room makes it easy to create offline apps using the official ORM Android library. You can also use SQLite to handle data.
Because it uses simple SQL syntax and annotations and is more straightforward than ORMs that have complicated APIs, this library is easy to understand. This library also supports Rx and functions very well.
21. Glide
Glide provides an API that lets you transform your image in any way you want. Suppose it has become challenging for the Android image to load and handle API and resize images without getting "OutOfMemoryException". In that case, this image-loading library will help.
Glide also offers animated GIF support as the image loads. It also supports functions such as fetching, decoding, and displaying video calls.
22. ThreeTen
ThreeTen is a library that helps with Android dates and times. This is a backport to JSR-310. It was previously included in Java 8 as a "java. time" standard. *" package.
Although the standard Android Calendar API can be difficult to use, ThreeTen is a great resource. This library is smaller in size and counts than JodaTime, but it has a more concise API than JodaTime.
23. ZXing
ZXing is a barcode-image processing library. ZXing can be implemented in Java and also supports other languages. It supports 1D products, 2D industrial, and 2D barcodes.
Google also uses ZXing to access millions of barcodes via the web indexable. It also creates the foundation for Android's Barcode Scanner App, combined with Google Product Search and Google Book Search.
24. CAMView
CAMView is an Android camera library that allows for simple access to the camera and embeds a QR scanner. This Android library will enable you to leverage the device camera in simple but powerful apps. The library is composed of views (views), which can be added to layout files to allow developers instant access to the following features.
The live preview video stream is displayed right away from the device camera. CAMView hides all the complexities and mangles involved in low-level operations, such as camera configuration, streaming, orientation changes, camera compatibility, threading, and device and camera compatibility. The app can be used by adding the view component to its layout.
25. Stetho
Stetho, an advanced debugging bridge Facebook has built for Android apps, is available. This library lets you use chrome debugging tools to troubleshoot traffic on the network. This library also provides an intuitive debugging experience for Android developers.
It can be considered a systemic bridge for Android app solutions, as developers have access to Chrome Developer Tools' features when enabled.
Developers can use the dump app tool. This tool will allow you to access the internals of your specific app from a command-line interface. The dump app tool has many capabilities, including database inspection, JavaScript console, and network inspection.
26. RxJava2
Before we can understand the API differences, it is essential to note that RxJava2 relies on ReactiveStreams. This standard allows for asynchronous stream processing without blocking backpressure. This library is used to develop custom Android apps. ReactiveStreams can be considered a specification to create Reactive libraries. Reactive programming can also be done using RxJava. This standard also allows interpolation with other reactive libraries.
RxJava2 can be used to start using RxJava2 while you are using RxJava1 to fix your code. There is no need for breaking any changes between versions.
This package style matches Square Libraries' versioning strategy (Retrofit2, OkHTTP3, etc.). This package style is excellent if you have to run both versions. If you are migrating simultaneously, you must transfer all imports to the new package. Android studio's replacement/find feature should solve most of these problems.
27. API for Activity Recognition
This API allows users to identify their current activity, such as walking, driving, or standing still. Android developers who use this library can request updates on activity by pressing 'Request updates' and then stop receiving updates using the 'Eliminate updates' button.
Additionally, the sample utilizes an IntentService to handle identified activity changes, which are sent utilizing ActivityRecognitionResultobjects. The IntentService will compile a list of all likely exercises and broadcast them via a BroadcastReceiver.
28. Picasso
Square maintains Picasso, an Android image library that is trusted and well-used. Picasso claims that it allows for easy image loading within the application, often in just one line of code.
Picasso addresses some of the problems with ImageView recycling and downloading cancellation. This adapter allows for complex image transformations that use minimal memory, automatic memory, and caching.
Picasso is also famous among Android app developers for its -
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Picasso automatically detects adapter reuse or a previously canceled download.
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It transforms images quickly and effectively to fit into layouts better and reduce memory size.
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You can also specify custom transformations for more complex effects.
29. ButterKnife
ButterKnife, a well-known view-binding Android support tool, was developed by Jake Wharton. It allows you to assign ids to your views quickly and easily, thus avoiding excessive use of findViewByid. Butterknife is similar to Dagger but infinitely sharper. This is because view binding is a form of dependency injection. ButterKnife annotations can be used to generate boilerplate code.
Below is the code that shows how ButterKnife replaces onClick or onTouch with auto-injected code.
30. Object Box
Object Box, a popular Android data binding library, allows you to spend your time on various USPs instead of storing or retrieving data. This library is an object-oriented embedded database that can be used as an alternative to SQLite. It is an ideal fit for IoT (Internet of Things), as its documentation and portfolio are well-defined.
31. Hyperlog-Android
This class is a standard Android Log and can be used to store logs in an Android database library and then push them to remote servers for debugging. This library also contains utility loggers.
This library allows for end-to-end visibility and can be used to help debug issues. HyperTrack SDK pushes logs out to the Hyperlog server. The server uses the ELK stack for processing the records and displaying them on Kibana.
32. MPAndroidChart
MPAndroidChart, an excellent Android chart/graph view library, is a great choice. It supports line, bar, bubble charts, pie, and candlestick charts.
Charts is the iOS equivalent.
33. Holo Graph library
This is yet another graphic library becoming a favorite of many Android app developers. This library is perfect for adding graphs and charts to Android apps. It also includes:
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LineGraph view (which appears something like this).
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BarGraph View
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Paragraph View
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MultiSeriesDonutGraph View
34. AnimatedPieView
AnimatedPieView can also display pie charts and ring diagrams on Android.
This library has many benefits, including alpha animation on touch and proper text field position during animations, the transformation between a pie chart and a ring chart, energy while drawing diagrams, etc.
Why use Android Libraries to Develop Apps?
2023 will set new standards in digitization. The digital revolution is incomplete without developing innovative, high-performing, and bug-free mobile apps. Libraries are an excellent resource for Android app developers who want to speed up and optimize their app development.
App developers don't have to give up on creating great apps when they can do it with just a few steps using Android libraries. It is worth noting the possibility of creating highly responsive apps with minimal resources and bugs-free.
New developers can use the pre-written code and other elements immediately, which is much easier than creating them from scratch. New developers can use the Android libraries for quick, easy, precise, feature-rich app development. Let's now look at the best Android libraries developers can use in 2023.
How do you choose the best Android Library?
It can be challenging to find the correct library for your Android app development project, given all of the options in the Android libraries. This guide will help both beginners and more experienced Android app developers.
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Author's Reliability:
It is essential to check the background of any Android library. This helps to avoid getting stuck with a poor-quality library. You can verify this by checking the author's reliability on Github or looking at other Android libraries.
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License Authentication:
Using the correct license to make Android libraries accessible to multiple developers is essential. This helps to determine the terms of the library and how it can be integrated into apps.
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Library Recommendations:
The library recommendations are well-documented and high-quality. This is why many developers use them. These libraries are low-risk and can be used with library packs.
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Library's Popularity:
It is recommended that you choose the most popular Android libraries. This can be determined by star ratings and the reported issues' severity. It would help if you decided on the Android libraries most recommended by other developers.
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Core Features:
It is essential to review the Android libraries' important features, just like any other decision. This helps developers to find the perfect product for their app's needs.
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Open-Source:
Accessing library codes is essential. Open-source libraries offer transparency and eliminate risks.
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Well-Written Library:
It is essential to review the code of the Android library. Integration should be easy and smooth if the library codes include a current README file.
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Wrapping up
Without the use of various libraries, Android app development would be incomplete. Android developers must create more apps in a shorter time and without compromising the quality of their apps. This is why the various Android libraries are so important.
Developers may feel confused after reading the list of top Android libraries that will be available in 2023. Developers don't need to worry about choosing the correct Android library. This quick guide will help them make an informed decision.
Android app development is rising, with over 3.48 million apps available on Google Play by 2021. It is, therefore, essential to accelerate the development process, lower initial investments, and improve app quality by leveraging other developers' experience.
