The popularity of android devices needs no introduction. According to a survey, Android devices occupy more than 86% of market share. Even after this immense popularity, it continues to expand more and more. There are some very popular and important android libraries every android programmer should know about them.
There are many reasons behind such an immense popularity. Some of the major reasons are: features, cost, constant improvements and updates, huge developer community and many more. Not to mention, there are endless features in an android depending upon the hardware it has. An android user can easily download an app from Google Play and start using it.
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We already know that android has a huge marketplace. The total number of apps in Google Play is over 2.8 million. Thus, an android user can choose the best app over a large number of apps in the same category. This gives rise to a competition in the Store. A user will definitely go for the app which perfectly meets his/her needs.
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In order to give advanced functions to your app, you need to implement something unique. But, to do something unique, you need to start coding from scratch. Most of the time, it is not possible for developers to build something from scratch. But, android developers are fortunate enough to get a good number of ready made libraries that are easy to implement. In this blog, we will discuss the best 7 android libraries an android programmer (developer) should know.
Toasty
As you already know, a Toast notification is the easiest notification ever. But, it looks quite traditional and does not get any official visual update. Toasty, brings you the power to give a visual meaning to the content of your Toast notification. It classifies the category of your Toast notification into success, error, info and warning. Each type of Toast has a different color that signifies the type of message your Toast displays.
Preview Seekbar
This seekbar is very different from the default seekbar. Preview Seekbar gives a glimpse of the video content at a particular time without immediately changing your position in the video. This is helpful if you are creating a video player that shows you the frame content before actually seeking to the position. This enables you to reach your position directly without doing any guesswork about the position you want to go.
Related: Best Android Navigation Drawer Libraries
Lottie
It is one of the most innovative libraries available in android, so far. This uses BodyMovin to parse Adobe After Effects animations and render it on your device. If you are a developer looking for a library to make a unique splash screen, your search ends here. Lottie will help you getting your work done with extreme creativity. This will also add a great impression to your android app.
Chuck
It is the best library you can use to monitor your app’s network activity using OkHttp. Chuck library records all the GET and PUT requests used by your application. Furthermore, it provides a user interface the content inspection. It can be the best library you can get to maintain your app’s network logs.
Related: Top 7 JavaScript Animation Libraries 2018
Swipeback Layout
If you used the UC browser for android, you already know what the name suggests. SwipeBack Layout is a great UI library that simulates the back button press when you swipe. It has the facility to be configure to respond to the swipe from the top, left, right and bottom. This can help you to a great extent if you want to add a unique control to your app.
Face Detector
Smart apps are a trend nowadays. If you are creating smart apps that require face detection, this library can reduce a major part of your work. This library detects faces real time on a camera preview. It is made to reduce hassle in face detection and focus on productivity.
Chatkit
Chatkit is a library exclusively built for the chat UI in an application. It provides a readymade chat UI for your application. If your android project contains chat feature and you don’t have enough time to make the chat screen UI from scratch, this library is an one stop solution. It has many inbuilt features like link highlighting, custom animation, chat history and many more. You can leave the chat UI tasks upon it and focus on productivity and efficiency of your app.
Conclusion
These were the best 7 libraries every android developer should know. These libraries are selected by keeping the most common demands in mind. There is a vast collection of android libraries on the internet. You can always choose the best one for your android project. Thank You.