mobile/

iOS and Android apps, app stores, offline sync and push notifications.

10 results
mobile/list-recycling-why-a-phone-can-scroll-10-000-contacts-while-building-o.md List recycling: why a phone can scroll 10,000 contacts while building only 8 rows A phone can scroll through 10,000 contacts without building 10,000 rows. It builds only enough row views to cover the screen, then recycles… 5 min read · 25 Oct mobile/push-notifications-how-your-phone-buzzes-for-an-app-that-isn-t-running.md Push notifications: how your phone buzzes for an app that isn't running Your phone buzzes with a message from an app that isn't even running. How? Phones keep one shared connection to a push service (Apple's… 4 min read · 22 Oct mobile/offline-sync-what-happens-when-two-phones-edit-the-same-contact.md Offline sync: what happens when two phones edit the same contact You edit a contact's phone number on a plane. Your partner fixes the city on a tablet. Both devices are offline, then both reconnect. Which… 5 min read · 19 Oct mobile/deep-links-why-one-link-opens-an-app-and-another-opens-a-web-page.md Deep links: why one link opens an app and another opens a web page Tap the same link on two phones and one opens an app while the other opens a web page. Who decides, and how? This article explains deep… 4 min read · 16 Oct mobile/app-lifecycle-why-your-phone-forgets-what-you-typed-when-you-switch-ap.md App lifecycle: why your phone forgets what you typed when you switch apps You switch apps for a minute, and when you come back the message you were typing is gone. Nothing was broken: the phone needed memory… 4 min read · 13 Oct mobile/pixels-dp-and-points-why-a-button-of-48-is-tiny-on-one-phone-and-fine.md Pixels, dp and points: why a button of 48 is tiny on one phone and fine on another A button you size at 48 looks fine on one phone and tiny on another, because a sharper screen packs more pixels into the same space. This… 4 min read · 10 Oct mobile/how-does-a-push-notification-find-your-phone-when-the-app-is-closed.md How does a push notification find your phone when the app is closed? A push notification does not come from your app. Your phone keeps one connection to a service run by Apple or Google, and your app's server… 5 min read · 6 Oct mobile/two-phones-one-note-what-happens-when-edits-collide-offline.md Two phones, one note: what happens when edits collide offline? Phones lose signal all the time, so good apps keep a local copy of your data and sync with a server later. But what happens when two… 5 min read · 3 Oct mobile/native-web-or-cross-platform-how-apps-get-from-your-code-to-a-phone.md Native, web or cross-platform? How apps get from your code to a phone Every app idea hits the same fork in the road. Build it native in Swift for iPhone and Kotlin for Android, build it for the web with HTML… 9 min read · 1 Oct mobile/why-does-your-phone-ask-allow-this-app-app-permissions-explained.md Why does your phone ask "Allow this app?" App permissions explained Every app on your phone lives in its own sandbox: free to use its own files, but walled off from other apps and from personal things like… 18 min read · 1 Oct