Mobile Glossary

Browse 30 mobile terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

30 Mobile Terms

Android
An open-source, Linux-based mobile operating system developed by Google, powering the majority of the world's smartphones, tablets, and an expanding ecosystem...
Android vs iOS
The long-running cultural and practical comparison between the two dominant mobile ecosystems, often involving debates about openness, privacy, customization,...
APK Analysis
The process of inspecting Android application packages to understand code, permissions, embedded secrets, libraries, or malicious behavior. APK analysis may...
App Store Optimization
The practice of improving an app's visibility and conversion in app stores through keywords, screenshots, ratings, descriptions, and related listing factors....
Dart
A client-optimized programming language developed by Google, primarily known as the language behind the Flutter UI framework. Dart supports both ahead-of-time...
Deep Link
A URL that opens a specific screen within a mobile app rather than the app's home screen. Universal Links (iOS) and App Links (Android) handle the URL at the...
Deep Linking
A technique that uses URIs to link to a specific page or content within a mobile app or single-page application, rather than just launching the app's home...
Edge AI
Running AI models directly on local devices (phones, cameras, IoT) rather than in the cloud, reducing latency and keeping data private. The reason your phone...
Flutter
Google's UI toolkit for building natively compiled applications for mobile, web, and desktop from a single Dart codebase. Unlike React Native, Flutter doesn't...
Flutter
Google's open-source UI toolkit for building natively compiled applications for mobile, web, and desktop from a single Dart codebase. Uses its own rendering...
Hybrid App
A mobile application built with web technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) and wrapped in a native container to be distributed through app stores. Frameworks...
Kotlin
A modern, statically typed programming language that runs on the JVM and is fully interoperable with Java. Google designated Kotlin as the preferred language...
Landscape Mode
A display orientation in which the screen width exceeds its height, as opposed to portrait mode. On mobile devices, landscape is triggered by rotating the...
Native App
A mobile or desktop application built using platform-specific languages and frameworks (Swift/Kotlin), giving full access to device APIs and optimal...
Navigation
The system of routes, links, and transitions that enables users to move between views or screens in an application — encompassing URL-based routing in web apps...
Near Field Communication Security
The protection of systems that use short-range near field communication for payments, device pairing, badge emulation, or data exchange. NFC security concerns...
Offline-First
A design approach where an application is built to work without an internet connection by default, syncing data when connectivity is available.
Platform Channel
A Flutter mechanism for bidirectional communication between Dart code and native platform code (Swift/Kotlin/Java/Objective-C), using asynchronous message...
progressive web app
A web application that uses modern browser features (service workers, web manifests, HTTPS) to deliver app-like experiences including offline support, push...
Push Notification
A message sent from a server to a user's device without the user actively requesting it. Delivered via platform services like APNs (Apple), FCM (Google), or...
Push Notification
A message sent from a server to a user's device that appears even when the app isn't open. Delivered via APNs (Apple Push Notification service) on iOS and FCM...
PWA
Progressive Web App — a web application that uses modern browser features (service workers, manifests) to deliver app-like experiences including offline...
QR Code Phishing
A phishing technique that hides a malicious link or payment destination inside a QR code. It shows up in application security, identity, infrastructure, or...
React Native
A framework for building native mobile apps using React and JavaScript/TypeScript. Unlike hybrid apps (WebView), React Native renders using actual native UI...
Realm
An embedded, object-oriented mobile database (now part of MongoDB's Atlas Device SDK) that stores data as native objects rather than rows, supports real-time...
Responsive Design
Responsive Design is a web development approach where a website's layout and content automatically adapt to the screen size and orientation of the device...
Rubber Banding (UI)
The bouncy overscroll effect on iOS where content stretches beyond its boundary and springs back. Patented by Apple and religiously copied (or legally avoided)...
Swift
Apple's modern programming language for iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS development, designed as a successor to Objective-C. Swift combines high performance with...
Touch Event
A DOM event (touchstart, touchmove, touchend, touchcancel) fired when a user interacts with a touchscreen, providing a list of Touch objects each with...
WebView
An embeddable browser component (WKWebView on iOS, Android WebView, or Chromium Embedded Framework on desktop) that renders web content inside a native...

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