Take a pause and think about how many times you use different apps in a day? Multiple times, multiple apps isn’t it? In fact, there is probably an application waiting to be discovered in your app store for every possible human need. Therefore, it is no wonder that the demand for mobile applications has been on a constant rise ever since the smartphones came into existence.

Keeping in mind the ongoing developments, no one doubts the future of mobile application development and mobile programming languages. Businesses ignoring mobile users is a thing of past now. Having crossed a milestone already, if a business isn’t mobile-ready, its future is in trouble.

The year 2020 has given a substantial boost to digital technologies and stimulated the demand for developers and programmers. However, given the dynamic nature of the technology landscape, new technologies surface each day. If you are taking the plunge to build your mobile app to secure the user’s attention – you need to focus on making the right choice to create a robust, innovative and user-friendly app.

With several mobile programming languages to choose from, you have to consider multiple factors, pros, and cons, as well as the popularity of the language, before making your decision to build the most popular mobile app.

In this article, we have briefly discussed a list of top mobile app programming languages which are best languages for apps: 

1. JavaScript

JavaScript mobile programming language is best for cross-platform app development, mobile apps used for various platforms, and web browsing. It smoothly runs in other environments, outside of browsers, and can be compiled from a wide array of programming languages. According to William Ting JavaScript will stay relevant as long as people use the internet. So, the trophy for the best programming language goes to JavaScript.

2. Python

Python mobile development language is a widely accepted programming language, Python is used for developing web applications, desktop apps, media tools, machine learning, network server, and more. Some of the best examples of Python are YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest. The language provides excellent library support, robust integration, and enhanced control capabilities. If you are a start-up planning to develop your own app – Python is the best choice. Python is a high-level programming language used for analyzing, computing scientific and numeric data, and for software development. It supports GUI applications and is an interactive language used to build scalable apps. Python is popular also because it supports multiple systems and platforms.

3. PHP

PHP mobile development language is excellent with content-heavy apps and loads quickly even with a slow internet connection. It has in-built security features for protection against complex security threats. PHP is one of the most recommended programming languages for mobile apps that require database access. It is an open-source language used for server-side scripting, command-line scripting, and coding applications. Widely used for creating eCommerce applications, content-heavy apps, dynamic web applications, and mobile apps. It is a flexible language that can be easily embedded into HTML or HTML5. A few of the popular websites built on PHP are Wikipedia, Facebook, and Yahoo.

4. Swift

Swift mobile development language is a potential game-changer in the mobile app development space – Swift is an open-source programming language specifically designed to work with iOS, OS X, and tvOS platforms. The language is flexible, scalable, can easily adapt a safe programming pattern to add modern features to any app and can execute on Cocoa and Cocoa Touch platforms. It requires little maintenance, and avoids some of the bugs of Objective-C. Swift is an expressive and fun to work with scripting language, along with having the first industrial-quality systems. Examples of apps developed in Swift are Lyft, LinkedIn, Hipmunk, and more.

5. Kotlin

Kotlin mobile development language is known to be the advanced version of Java. Kotlin is a statistically typed programming language used for developing modern Android applications. Kotlin is a really best language for apps. Kotlin has the potential to influence other programming languages such as JAVA to make high-performing and robust apps. Kotlin is known for its ability to generate compact, simple, and cleaner codes as compared to JAVA. Some reknowned apps built in Kotlin are Trello, Evernote, Coursera, and many more.

6. C++

When it comes to mobile app development, C++ mobile programming language is most popular choice. It has a huge pool of ready-to-use in-built libraries and compilers and is fast and stable. It is a general-purpose, object-oriented language with generic and low-level memory manipulation features. Used for Android App and Native app development, C++ is used for developing games, GUI-based applications, real-time mathematical simulations, banking apps, etc. C++ is popular with Cloud computing apps as it can quickly adapt to changing hardware or ecosystems.

7. C#

C# mobile programming language pronounced as ‘C-sharp’ is another object-oriented, general-purpose programming language extensively used for mobile development, majorly for cross-platform and windows app development. C# has everything you want to achieve using other programming languages such as Swift, Objective-C, and JAVA programming languages. If you are planning to develop an interactive and high-performance gaming app, then C# is the best language.

8. Objective-C

Objective C mobile programming language is an extended version of C language, Objective-C is a general-purpose, object-oriented programming language with added features like Smalltalk-style messaging. A well-updated and mature programming language, Objective-C is mainly used for macOS and iOS app development and operating systems.

9. JAVA

Java mobile programming language is an official Android development object-oriented programming language and is highly popular for code reusability and portability. It has an in-built open-source libraries readily available for users to choose from, JAVA is easy to handle and offers the best documentation and community support. With JAVA’s vast gamut of features, you can develop the best cross-platform apps, Android apps, games, server apps, embedded space, websites, etc. JAVA codes are compatible to run in multiple environments, virtual machines, browsers, and different platforms and protects developers against issues inherent in native code, memory leaks, etc.

10. HTML 5

HTML 5 mobile programming language is compatible with all the browsers and new features and standards already emerge. The fifth version of HyperText Markup Language – HTML 5 is an ideal option for you to build web-fronted apps or location-based apps for mobile devices. It is a markup language that uses tags to structure and present the content on the webpage. The latest updates of HTML 5 highlights exceptional features like media elements, multi-platform functionality for different programs, and quick market deployment. Some of the best examples of HTML 5 are Google Docs and Google Drive.

11. Ruby

Ruby mobile development language is a back-end object-oriented scripting language used in the development of web applications and supports dynamic typing to make changes on the go without affecting the overall result, servers, system utilities, and standard libraries. Over a period of time, Ruby has evolved into general-purpose, high-level multiple-paradigm, interpreted programming language. It is a functional language that directly executes the instructions rather than compiling the program in machine language. Allows duck typing that focuses on operations rather than class objects. A few of the renowned websites developed using Ruby are Twitter, Bloomberg, Airbnb, and Shopify.

12. Rust

Rust mobile development language has been Stack Overflow’s most loved language for four years in a row. It encourages developers to write optimized and high-performance codes. Sponsored by Mozilla, Rust is a system programming language having syntax almost similar to C++. With strong compile-time correctness, fast-performance, intuitiveness, and safe memory, Rust is useful in a time-constrained scenario and to develop applications across different fields. Examples of Rust are Dropbox and Yelp.

13. SQL

SQL is a mobile development language and stands for Structured Query Language used for assessing, communicating, and manipulating the standard database for most applications. SQL can handle a large number of transactions in a single query and is one of the most popular query languages designed to meet specific standards, both ANSI and ISO, and there is extensive support for both on a community and enterprise level. Strength – Relational data model and referential integrity between data, data query, data manipulation, and data access control. With well-defined standards, SQL is widely used in business intelligence tool platforms.

14. Lua

Lua mobile programming language is a light-weight mobile-first enterprise communication solution. Lua C API is very well documented and can be easily integrated with C and reduces API and lower learning curve. It is a cross-platform multi-paradigm programming language that powers in-built messaging for businesses and is instant, secure, and keeps developers accountable. It is popular for real-time secure messaging, analytics dashboard, easy file sharing, and two-touch conference calling. If you want to improve the speed, extensibility, portability, and reliability of your apps, Lua is perfect for embedded applications.

15. Action Script

Action Script mobile programming language is a popular programming language for Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR runtime environments and is a tool in the tech stack – languages category. It is an object-oriented programming language derived from HyperTalk – the scripting language for HyperCard. ActionScript versions 1.0 and 2.0 can run on the same machine and supports custom classes like external text files structured in a particular way. For data-based applications and basic robotics – ActionScript is the most suitable language.