Half the world’s population uses a smartphone these days and this number is constantly on the rise. We use mobile phones at home, at work, on the streets, while traveling or eating and even in bed. With more than 85% of this mobile time spent on apps, it’s not a surprise that mobile app industry is growing so steadily.
According to a statistic, Android and iOS app revenue crossed $133 billion in 2021 and shows no signs of decline in the foreseeable future. Salaries of mobile app developers have been skyrocketing with limited people to fill the demand for iOS and Android developers. Data from StackOverflow suggests that iOS development and Android Development are two of the top three fields where demand heavily outweighs the supply of qualified candidates. So, there can be no better time to learn app development.
Whether you’re a newbie who wants to break into this field, or a current app developer looking to enhance skills to stay at the top of the game, you can consider taking an online mobile app development course or certification. With online learning becoming so accessible, it is possible to learn mobile development at home, even without leaving your current job.
We’ve rounded up below a list of best mobile app development courses, certifications and training programs that you can use to get started. Before you choose a course, you might want to consider the mobile app platform you want to excel in. In general, Android apps have the larger market share, while iOS apps tend to pay more. You may also consider cross platform app development, hybrid app development. These online programs are beginner-friendly, effective, affordable and some are even free. These include resources for building both native and cross-platform apps. So take your pick and get started towards building a successful career as an iOS app developer or Android app developer.
1. Meta Android Developer Professional Certificate (Coursera)
This Professional Certificate program from Meta imparts the learners necessary skills to build applications for Android devices and Google Play store. It covers top Android programming languages and frameworks used for building apps like Facebook and Instagram.
This Android development certificate is specifically designed to help learners get a job, rather than being just informational. To that end, it takes a very hands-on approach that allows learners to build a project-based portfolio to showcase to recruiters. The program comprises of 12 courses, with each course involving lab-based activities and applications where students are required to complete tasks such as designing a UI or editing layouts.
The program content covers the following topics:
- Understanding Android Studio and essential concepts of Android mobile app development
- Different version control systems and how to create an effective software development workflow
- How to use Android Kotlin Playground
- Fundamentals of User Experience (UX) research and design
- Create user interfaces (UI) for mobile apps using Android Studio
- Advanced programming concepts in Kotlin
- How to work with web technologies and persistent data on Android applications
- Best practices for designing the UI and experience for mobile applications
- Create cross-platform applications using React Native
- Gain experience with different tools and software including React.js, JSX, React, HTML, CSS, JavaScript and VSCode
- Capstone project that involves creating a native Android mobile app
This Android application development certificate is ideal for those looking to land a first entry-level job or those who want to transition into app development career. Upon completing the certificate, learners get access to an exclusive job-board where they can connect with over 200 employers who in partnership with Meta offer jobs to candidates with these Meta certificate programs under their belt. They can easily pitch for roles of an android app developer or a multi-platform mobile app developer.
Though the suggested timeline for the certificate program is around 8 months with part-time effort of 7 hours a week, it can easily be completed in less than 3 months with more dedicated effort.
Key Highlights
- Learn how to create your own Android application including how to build and manage the lifecycle of a mobile app using Android Studio
- Learn coding in Kotlin and the programming fundamentals to be able to create the user interface (UI) and best practices for design
- Beginner-friendly program that is 100% online allowing flexibility to fit in one’s learning schedule
- Prepare for technical interviews for Android developer roles
- Earn a shareable certificate that can be posted on LinkedIn profile
Duration : 8 months, 7 hours per week
Rating : 4.7
Sign up here
2. Meta iOS Developer Professional Certificate (Coursera)
This iOS App Development Certification from Meta is available on Coursera and aims to deliver skills required for an entry-level career as an iOS developer. It teaches how to create protocols in Swift, build a UI for an application, and develop your own apps for iOS devices from scratch.
The program is organized as a series of 12 courses that focus on applied learning. Each of these courses includes hands-on activities around implementation of concepts taught. These culminate with a capstone project to build a native iOS mobile app that can be published and sold on Apple store.
The courses in the certificate program cover the following topics:
- Essential iOS programming concepts and the tools needed to develop iOS applications
- How to use Swift playground and write code in Swift
- How to use Git for version control
- Learn the principles of UX/UI design and best practices
- How to build meaningful and functional user interfaces for iOS using Swift and UI frameworks
- Advanced programming concepts in Swift and SwiftUI
- Working with integrations like web frameworks, tools and asynchronous programming techniques
- Build cross-platform mobile applications
- Fundamental concepts of React and React Native
- Gain experience with various tools and software such as SwiftUI and MVC architecture, XCode, APIs, Core Data, iOS development tools and environments, Geolocation software, Application design and development libraries
The program is best suited for beginners looking to get hired at entry-level positions. It is also a great choice for professionals looking to get a raise or switch positions in their current job. Since, the program is fully online, learners can pace it to suit their schedules and timelines and location constraints.
Key Highlights
- Gain skills to launch career as an iOS app developer
- No prior experience in web development needed to enrol for the program
- Create a portfolio with projects that showcase ability to publish, deploy and maintain iOS apps as well as cross-platform apps using React Native
- Prepare for technical job interviews and learn best problem-solving approaches
- Get access to a consortium of 200+ employers looking to hire talent through Meta’s certificate programs
- Earn a career credential from Meta, recognized by hiring managers and companies worldwide
Duration : 8 months, 7 hours per week
Rating : 4.7
Sign up here
3. Become an Android Kotlin Developer Nanodegree Program (Udacity)
Android is the world’s most used mobile platform today and Android development has now become Kotlin-first. Code written in Kotlin means much less code to type, test and maintain, which enables developers to be more concise and productive.
This Android Developer nanodegree program offered by Udacity helps learners master Android app development with Kotlin. They learn to use Android development platform best-practices, Android Studio, Android Jetpack, and Kotlin to build their own Android apps.
This Udacity Android development program has been built in collaboration with Google. The content is world-class, most up-to-date and is taught by instructors with a significant industry experience. Since, the program is built by industry and for industry, it doesn’t just teach participants a programming language but gives all the skills needed to land a job. It features five real-world hands-on projects including an advanced Android application that utilizes Google Maps to provide key location-based updates. By the end of the program, a learner is fully prepared for a career as a professional junior to mid-level Android Kotlin Developer.
This Kotlin Android development nanodegree is structured as 4 courses that take about 4 months to complete with an effort of around 10 hours per week. Since, this is an intermediate level program, it requires students to have some prior object-oriented programming language experience. Each course in the program is a good blend of theory and practice with a project at the end of the course. Following topics are covered:
- How to build a basic user interface, handle user input and Android lifecycle events
- How to create dynamic and navigable interfaces using constraint-based layouts
- How to implement data persistence in your app
- How to use APIs to connect to, store, and retrieve data
- Best practices of material design to create a quality user experience
- How to make an app more accessible to as many users as possible
- How to use Android’s robust notification system
- How to build custom views, and use canvas drawing to allow for the update of a display based on user interactions
- How to create animations
- How to build an app with location awareness and Google Maps
- Best practices and techniques for testing to enable scalability and safety
- How to use Firebase for authentication and remote storage
Key Highlights
- Learn to build professional apps for Android using Kotlin and Android Studio
- Create a diverse portfolio of projects to show to potential employers
- Learn from the experts at Google
- Get feedback on your projects from experienced reviewers
- Get access to technical mentor support and career services
- Flexibility to take the program at your own time and pace
Duration : 4 months, 10 hours per week
Rating : 4.6
Sign up here
4. Become an iOS Developer Nanodegree Program (Udacity)
This iOS Developer program by Udacity prepares learners to build apps for iPhones, iPads and other iOS devices. Students learn best practices in mobile development, and gain mastery of Swift. The program is for complete beginners or those with little experience and does not require any prior knowledge or programming skills.
The program comprises of six courses that start with the basics of iOS app development using Swift programming language and Xcode, Apple’s development environment. They cover core skills like UIKit, API networking, and Core Data. Students are also exposed to a few frameworks such as AVFoundation, MapKit, and Core Location. Following topics are covered in details:
- Swift programming language basics
- Using AutoLayout, UIButtons, and UILabels to create an interface
- How to react to touch events in an app using ViewController and multiple views
- Developing apps with UIKit
- How to incorporate networking into apps, and using APIs to display images and retrieve data
- Creating asynchronous apps using Apple’s Grand Central Dispatch framework
- Concepts about simple persistence, the iOS File System, and the sandbox
The curriculum of this iPhone app development program is designed to get students jobs. Therefore, it focuses on practice and engagement by allowing students to work on actual iOS apps. They complete 6 hands-on real-world projects during the term of the program including building their own iOS app from designing and coding to finally publishing on App store.
The program requires a consistent effort of at least 10 hours a week to complete it in around 6 months time. But most learners are able to complete the nanodegree in lesser time with more dedicated effort.
Key Highlights
- Master essential knowledge and skills to become an iOS developer
- Immersive content and real-world projects to prepare for entering the job market
- Introductory program with no requirement of prior experience
- Support from knowledgeable mentors throughout the program and access to a vibrant online student community
- Access to a range of career development opportunities such as LinkedIn optimization and support with resume
Duration : 6 months, 10 hours per week
Rating : 4.6
Sign up here
5. Android App Development Specialization by Vanderbilt University (Coursera)
This Android mobile app development certification program has been developed by Vanderbilt University and is available on Coursera. It teaches learners to apply core Java programming language features & software patterns to build maintainable mobile apps comprising of core Android components. Students also learn the fundamental Java I/O & persistence mechanisms.
This specialization is suitable for those who are beginners to programming or those switching to Java and/or Android for the first time. During the course of the program learners explore and practice standard Android Studio development tools, such as the debugger, resource editor, & logging mechanisms, along with popular source code versioning & unit testing tools.
The program is structured as 5 courses that include video lectures, quizzes and assignments. Throughout the program learners work on a variety of hands-on projects. They write solutions to programming assignments that reinforce the material covered in the lecture videos. Also, there is a Capstone project where learners are required to create an Android app by applying knowledge and skills learned in the program. The five courses cover the following topics:
- Core features of Java programming language
- Android app components, such as intents, activities, and broadcast receivers
- Concurrency frameworks
- How to use Git source code management system
- Bound services, local inter-process communication (IPC), and content providers
- Methods for engineering maintainable Android apps, including test-driven development methods
Key Highlights
- Master the knowledge and skills necessary to develop maintainable mobile computing apps
- Learn to develop or run automated testing frameworks for Android
- Learn to successfully apply common Java/Android software patterns to improve the extensibility and clarity of Android apps
- Earn a shareable certificate upon completion of the program
- Flexible timelines that allow learning to fit your work or personal schedule
Duration : 5 months, 4 hours per week
Rating : 4.5
Sign up here
6. Meta React Native Specialization (Coursera)
This React Native training program has been created by the industry-recognised experts at Meta and is available for all learners on Coursera without any prior web or app development experience requirement. It teaches how to develop, test, and maintain cross-platform mobile apps using React Native, the industry-standard framework used by the world’s largest brands.
The program comprises of 8 courses that teach learners to build and write code for apps that are hosted on Android and iOS mobile devices. Course content covers everything from creating the app to debugging it after deployment, along with designing interactive and attractive user interfaces (UIs) to ensure the best possible end-user or customer experiences.
The key topics/skills covered in this React native certification include:
- Essential cross-platform programming concepts and the tools needed to develop apps
- Web technologies such as HTML, CSS
- JavaScript Programming
- Basics of React
- React Native
- Code editing programs, such as Expo and Visual Studio Code
- How you access, store, retrieve and present data within React Native applications
- GitHub repositories for version control and content management systems (CMS)
- Fundamentals of User Experience (UX) and UI design
With a lot of focus on applied learning, the program includes a range of practical lab-based exercises that offer opportunities to practice and implement the concepts being learnt. Participants get to enrich their portfolio with projects that demonstrate their mastery of the subject. The capstone project at the end of the program involves building a dynamic mobile app using a responsive design.
This specialization is suitable for anyone new to the field of mobile application development and looking to build a career or anyone already working as a mobile developer and looking to further advance skills by learning new concepts in this field.
Key Highlights
- Gain the expertise to advance your career in iOS or Android app development
- Learn the framework used by the biggest brands in the world such as Facebook, Instagram and Microsoft
- Learn to develop reliable, scalable and user-friendly mobile apps for multiple operating systems
- Become an expert in React Native, React, JavaScript, GitHub repositories and version control
- Get support in job search post completion of the specialization
Duration : 8 months, 6 hours per week
Rating : 4.8
Sign up here
7. Top App Development Online Courses & Training (Udemy)
Udemy offers a range of online mobile development courses and trainings on its platform. Through these courses learners can quickly gain valuable skills in Android and iOS app development, and learn various tools, programming languages and frameworks including Kotlin, Swift, Google Flutter, React Native, SwiftUI, Android Studio, Ionic, Xcode, Unity, Xamarin, Dart, Apple watch Development and more. Whether you’re a beginner or have some experience in app development, you can easily find a course to suit your level. There are several advanced courses for professionals who want to upgrade their skills.
Udemy courses are developed and taught by experts with notable experience in real-world. Once you sign up for a course, you get lifetime access to it, including all future updates. Upon completion, you get a shareable certificate that you can showcase to potential employers.
Let’s take a detailed look at some of the most popular Udemy app development courses:
iOS & Swift – The Complete iOS App Development Bootcamp
This course by Dr Angela Yu is the most popular Udemy iOS app development course. It includes a comprehensive curriculum covered in almost 60 hours of video lectures and 25 real-world app projects. It enjoys a stellar rating with more than 330K student enrolments.
This iOS developer course is suitable for absolute beginners and includes step-by-step instructions to build successful iOS apps using Swift and XCode. It covers the basics of programming gradually progressing to intermediate and advanced concepts. It includes comprehensive modules on the latest and greatest technologies that Apple has released – SwiftUI iOS, iPadOS and macOS app interface design, ARKit for making Augmented Reality apps as well as CoreML & CreateML for making intelligent apps with Machine Learning. There are full modules on app design and app marketing, so students get a well-rounded knowledge of how to design, build and publish apps on app store.
Learners get access to private student community where they can ask questions, seek advice, learn from mentors and work through the course together.
The Complete Android Oreo Developer Course – Build 23 Apps
This Complete Android 8.0 Oreo Developer Course on Udemy has been developed by Rob Percival and Nick Walter. Rob is Udemy’s best-selling coding instructor having taught over half a million students to code successfully.
In this course students learn Android App Development with Android 8.0 Oreo by building real apps including Twitter, Instagram and Super Mario Run. They explore all new features in Android Oreo, like Adaptive Icons, Picture-in-Picture, Downloadable Fonts and Virtual Reality with Daydream. They also learn about implementing Augmented Reality and other essential skills like Bluetooth, game development, and sending users notifications.
Upon signing up for this course, participants get bonus material which includes a mini course on Kotlin and $500 WORTH of exclusive app templates, images and audio resources to use in their apps.
Flutter & Dart – The Complete Guide [2024 Edition]
Flutter is a framework developed by Google and allows development of native mobile apps using Dart programming language. With Flutter one needs to write code only once to create apps that can be published on both Google play and Apple App Store.
This course is the most comprehensive & bestselling Flutter course that teaches Flutter & Dart from scratch. Learners explore the full set of features that Flutter provides including rich widget suite to add common UI elements like buttons, switches, forms, toolbars, lists and also learn to build their own widgets.
This Flutter course is apt for both beginner and experienced developers who want to learn mobile app development using only one language for both Android and iOS platforms.
The Complete React Native + Hooks Course
This course by Stephen Grider is one of the best resources online for learning React native and Redux. It teaches how React Native works by building multiple apps of increasing complexity. It starts with an in-depth walkthrough on basic React and then delves into working with AJAX requests to fetch data, native APIs, hooks, navigation, code reuse between Android and iOS, user authentication and Redux. The course quickly gets the learners up to speed with React design principles and methodologies and helps them discover mobile design patterns used by seasoned developers.
This Flutter certificate course is spread over 38 hours of on-demand video, several articles, downloadable resources and includes content on both v0.62.2 and the legacy v0.30.x, which is widely used in industry.
The Complete Android 12 & Kotlin Development Masterclass
This course taught by Denis Panjuta teaches the essential skills that learners need to build successful android apps using Kotlin. It starts with the basics of Kotlin. And then covers topics like how to build fully customizable interfaces, how to interact with apps on different levels, features like SQLLite, text to speech, cameras, timers, gallery, maps etc, how to use third-party libraries such as GSON, Retrofit, Google Places, Google Firebase and more.
Throughout the course, students get plenty of exercises to practice and implement the skills learnt. They build 8 applications that they can use as projects for their portfolio.
Duration : Self-paced
Rating : 4.5
Sign up here
8. Mobile App Development Training & Classes Online (LinkedIn Learning)
LinkedIn Learning platform is a great choice to learn mobile development online. It hosts a wide array of courses and training resources on android development, iOS development and cross-platform development. For those who are just starting out, there are several beginner-friendly courses that teach the essential skills needed to work as mobile app developers. While existing developers can upgrade their skills and learn new tools and frameworks to advance in their career.
Here are some popular mobile app development courses on LinkedIn Learning:
- Learning React VR
By: Emmanuel Henri
Duration: 1h 10m - iOS Development Tips Weekly
By: Steven Lipton
Duration: 23h 31m - Android Development Tips
By: David Gassner
Duration: 5h 24m - Flutter: Part 01 Introduction
By: Angela Yu and London App Brewery
Duration: 1h 33m - Flutter Essential Training: Build for Multiple Platforms
By: Pooja Bhaumik
Duration: 7h 40m - Building Your First iOS 16 App
By: Todd Perkins
Duration: 46m - Android Studio Essential Training
By: David Gassner
Duration: 2h 50m - UX Foundations: Multidevice Design
By: Diane Cronenwett
Duration: 1h 4m - React Native Essential Training
By: Samer Buna
Duration: 4h 20m - Ionic 4.0 Essential Training
By: Sani Yusuf
Duration: 5h 4m - Android Development Essential Training: 1 Your First App
By: Annyce Davis
Duration: 1h 22m - iOS 16 Development Essential Training
By: Todd Perkins
Duration: 1h 51m
Key Highlights
- Courses available for all levels of learners – beginner to advanced
- Get to learn from top experts and industry professionals with notable experience
- Learn tips and best practices used by experts
- Get a shareable certificate to showcase knowledge gained from the course
- Flexible learning options that allow students to learn at their own pace
- One month free access to all courses as part of trial
Duration : Self-paced
Rating : 4.5
Sign up here
9. Professional Certificate in Mobile App Development with Swift by Curtin University (edX)
This iOS mobile app development certification has been developed by Curtin University and is taught by Dr David A. McMeekin and Tristan W. Reed. The program teaches the tools, techniques and concepts needed to build a basic iOS app from scratch using Swift.
The Swift programming language was first introduced by Apple in 2014 and has since become one of the fastest growing programming languages. Swift has been adopted by Apple for iOS, tvOS, MacOS, WatchOS and allows us to develop apps that are incredibly fast and safe by design.
In this certification students learn how to program in Swift and utilise the iOS Software Development Kit (SDK) and Apple developer tools (Xcode, debugger, analyzer and iOS Simulator) to create mobile apps. There are three courses in the program that focus on Swift programming and teach various aspects of app development. Each course includes several exercises and projects that provide learners with the practical, hands-on skills needed to thrive in app development career.
The three courses cover the following:
- In the first course, students learn about building their first iOS app and the basics of Swift programming language
- In the second course, students are introduced to Augmented Reality, along with working with web within the apps
- The third course looks at building an app from start to finish, testing it, as well as preparing it for the App store
Key Highlights
- Discover how real-world developers use Swift to build impressive apps
- Learn to implement a range of features in Apps using the Swift programming language
- Learn how to utilise the Apple developer tools to build mobile apps
- Understand how to distinguish well-written code from poorly-written code and follow programming best practices in Swift
- Earn a professional certificate upon successful completion of the course
- Understand the process and steps required to get an app to the App store
Duration : 6 months, 8-10 hours per week
Rating : 4.5
Sign up here
10. Mobile Development Online Training Courses (Pluralsight)
Pluralsight offers hundreds of courses and lessons on mobile app development for all skill levels – beginner, intermediate and advanced. These courses are taught by subject matter experts and focus on applied learning, providing students opportunities to implement what is learnt and build apps to showcase in their portfolio.
Apart from individual courses, Pluralsight offers several curated learning paths. Some of the top-rated skill paths and courses in the field of mobile app development include:
-
Build Mobile Web Applications With Flutter
This skill path is a series of 13 courses in which the students learn the foundational knowledge needed to get started with Flutter and how to expand upon those features.
-
iOS App Development — Fundamentals
In this skill path comprising of 14 courses, students begin with the Swift programming language, explore Apple’s Xcode IDE and cover all the essential concepts, architectural patterns and techniques to build iOS apps.
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Developing Android Applications with Kotlin
This path comprising of 13 courses provides the core Kotlin and Android skills required to effectively create apps that develop an interactive user experience. It combines App Fundamentals, Storage & Data, and Enhancing App Experience to provide the necessary learning tools to fulfil the role of a Kotlin Android app developer.
Key Highlights
- Master the foundational skills to start a career in App Development
- Access to hands-on quality content and coding challenges & projects
- Curated learning paths and channels
- Free trial access for 10 days and 200 minutes of viewing
- 100% online courses that allow completely flexible learning
Duration : 8 months, 7 hours per week
Rating : 4.5
Sign up here
