Android App Development Masterclass using Kotlin

What do you get in this course?

In this course, you will discover the power of Android app development, and obtain the skills to dramatically increase your career prospects as a software developer. You’ll also have a head start over other developers using obsolete tools and earlier versions of Android.

Android is continually being updated and you’ll learn how to target but users of current versions of Android and older versions as well.

With this course, you get the best of both worlds. You’re taught to write code for Android that works with the current version and older versions of Android by using the AppCompat library. That way, the apps you build will work with more versions of Android, giving you access to a wider audience of users.

Starting is easy because no previous programming experience is needed. NONE! If you do have it, great. Or maybe you just want to brush up on your Android development skills, and that’s fantastic too.

The course is presented using a combination of video, slides and diagrams, all designed to teach you everything you need to know.

Should you write Android apps that target only the very latest version of Android?

If you have an iPhone or iPad, chances are high that you update each year to the latest iOS release – most users do.

The situation is completely different with Android. Only a relatively small percentage of Android users update their phones annually.

If you write your apps to only support the latest version of Android, you will ensure 95% of your potential user base will never see your app.  The Google app store will only show apps that a users Android device can run, so if their device is not running the latest version of Android, they won’t even be able to find your app on the Google play app store!

How do you make sure your app targets older versions of Android?

Android development is less about making sure you are creating apps that work with the latest version of Android, and more about ensuring your apps work with whatever versions of Android your users are running.

Google are aware of this problem and have something call the AppCompat library.  Which is a way for you to ensure your apps work on older devices.

This is not enabled by default.  Meaning that if you do not specifically configure your app to use this library and target older devices and newer ones, it either won’t show up at all for users searching for your app, or older Android devices running your app might crash because they are trying to access features that do not exist in their version of Android.

The key is to use this library.  And that’s what you will learn in this course.

Does that mean that your apps can only use features from really old Android versions?

No it does not.  The AppCompat library is constantly updated by Google.  They go back and add features to the library which allows older Android devices to access newer features of Android.

But again, this is not turned on by default.  You have to create and write your Android apps in a particular way to have your Android app be able to work correctly for current and older versions of Android.