Benefits of Serverless Architecture for Mobile App Development

Many mobile app development companies are going for serverless architecture for their mobile app development projects. In this blog post, we attempt to find out why serverless architecture is becoming more popular and the benefits it brings about for mobile app development. 

Serverless architecture relies on third-party services (Backend-as-a-Service or “BaaS”) or on custom code running in ephemeral containers (Function-as-a-Service or “FaaS”). It is a type of cloud computing and the best-known vendor host is AWS Lambda. The name serverless is misleading as it does not mean running the code without servers. It only means freedom from server systems that are always on and sitting behind an app.

What is Serverless Architecture?

As mentioned earlier, the term ‘serverless’ does not mean the absence of servers; however, you only specify app functions and upload them to the cloud. A cloud vendor like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, etc., will retain the server and ensure its flawless performance at reasonable prices.

A real-life example of the serverless architecture is the filtering of chat comments in real-time. All chat messages have to be sorted and filtered before delivery to customer support.

If a chat setup works with server architecture, the message should first go to a server and then be parsed before reaching a chat room. This works ok when the number of users is small. But if the number of users is large, then it is difficult for the app to process the entire load. 

Read our blog “The Serverless Microservices Architecture”.

Here, a serverless app works better. You only have to write a single function to sort the messages, the cloud vendor containerised it. Now, this container can be cloned, monitored, or distributed to any number of servers. Here, chat messages go to the vendor and if required, the vendor increases the number of containers if you want to scale it up.

Let's Explore the Advantages of Serverless Mobile App Development

1: Lower Operational Costs

When using serverless architecture, you can save revenue because fewer human resources and computing power are only required. It terminates the need for managing, deploying, and maintaining an organization’s servers. You also do not have to maintain “always-on” servers. Operating costs from sharing hardware and networking infrastructure with other users on an outsourced serverless system are also reduced.

2: More Attention to user Experience

When developing your mobile app, with less infrastructure monitoring, you can devote more time to improve the app user experience and the features of the app.  Developers can devote more attention to those elements influencing user experience. You now have the liberty to use a cloud server to engage the users with a feature-rich interface.

3: Additional time for Marketing

It is possible to develop serverless apps in a short time and easily integrate it with a cloud platform. Developers can make use of third-party service integrations such as Facebook for social, Google for maps, OAuth for authentication, and much more. This will reduce the time required for developing the app. This will give you extra time that you can devote to marketing campaigns and app promotions.

4: Improved Scalability

When AWS serverless architecture is used for mobile app development, this app becomes capable of handling peak loads reliably. You can scale horizontally to any extent if you choose serverless. According to the load, AWS Lambda can quickly clone and distribute computing resources in a way that expenses turn out to be a minimum.

5: Easy To Use

When web-based APIs are used, cloud-based services become very easy to handle. You just have to coordinate and hold on to the different cloud services in accordance with the app’s user interface. This tells you that you can develop highly scalable mobile apps without the use of any servers at all.

Also Read “Serverless Computing - The Truth behind the New Business Trend”

6: Enhanced Geolocation and Latency

The scale of any app depends on many factors such as the number of users, their location, and network latency. Network latencies can sometimes decimate user experience to a certain extent. Therefore, by going serverless, you will eliminate these latencies and allow the app to perform well, irrespective of where the user's geolocation is.

An example is that of Catalyst, a serverless platform used by Uber. This platform allows Uber to place an abstract platform between its users, developers and infrastructure. The serverless architecture comes in handy when geo-tracking its customers in low-latency locations in real-time.

Conclusion

Serverless architecture has become a standard approach for app development because of heavier data loads. Serverless architecture is an ideal choice for dashboards handling massive amounts of data and also works to minimize cost, complexity, and latency.

We believe in long-term win-win relationships with our strategic partners. If you want to migrate to Serverless Architecture, call us today!