The need for sustainable application development has risen due to the increasing digital dependency.
‘Sustainability’ is a broad term, so in this article, we'll focus on the part of sustainability that's most relevant to software development: global warming and greenhouse gases.
When we talk about ‘carbon,’ we're referring to the emissions and activities contributing to global warming. So, you'll see me use ‘carbon’ a lot—it’s shorthand for everything impacting our climate.
Burning fossil fuels, mostly to generate electricity, is the main source of carbon emissions. While we’re moving towards greener energy, technical and economic limits mean we can't completely ditch high-carbon sources just yet.
So, every time you plug in a device, it might seem clean, but the electricity behind it often isn’t. In this sense, electricity is like a stand-in for carbon.
The Interplay Between Software and Hardware
For years, the focus on tackling climate change was mostly on hardware—making refrigerators, cars, washing machines, light bulbs, and microprocessors more energy-efficient. While that’s important, we can't look at things in isolation.
Only recently has the industry recognized that software plays a huge role in this equation. Software drives the development of commercial hardware and dictates how it operates. If the code isn’t optimized, it makes the hardware work harder than necessary, leading to unnecessary carbon emissions. This points towards the need for following sustainable app development principles.
Software's Role in Shaping Global Warming
Many mobile app development companies must be aware that software-related carbon emissions are on par with aviation, shipping, and rail combined. While data centers often get the spotlight, end-user devices like laptops, tablets, and phones emit twice as much carbon as data centers—and these emissions are set to rise.
Monitoring and reducing emissions from these devices and their software is crucial for reaching net-zero goals. Software developers are ready to help tackle climate change. A Fast Company study found that 40% of millennials choose employers based on sustainability efforts, showing that sustainability in software development is both ethical and good for business.
To achieve carbon efficiency, we need to focus on energy efficiency. For data centers, this means maximizing server utilization and avoiding idle states. For mobile apps, it involves reducing unnecessary operations, renderings, and API calls. While some optimizations are done by the system, many are still our responsibility. There are some pivotal ways through which software companies can figure out how to build a mobile app that is sustainable.
6 Strategies That’ll Help Develop Eco-Friendly Apps
To build a sustainable app, here are some actionable strategies that can be helpful:
1. Location Tracking Optimization
Location tracking is notorious for draining device batteries due to constant signal reception from satellites, Wi-Fi hotspots, and cell towers, alongside hefty data processing. However, optimization strategies can minimize this drain without sacrificing business needs.
Mobile platforms offer geofencing functionality, triggering apps only when users enter or exit specified regions, eliminating constant tracking. Beyond this, tweaking tracking parameters tailored to specific business needs is key: reducing accuracy, opting for significant-change updates, or tracking only during specific activities like fitness sessions.
Consider a case from our experience: A client's location-based social network app drained batteries excessively due to unnecessary precision and frequency in tracking. By adjusting these parameters, we halved the battery impact.
Location tracking optimization not only conserves device battery but also enhances user experience by avoiding excessive battery drain and data usage. Moreover, it reduces unnecessary data transmission and processing, improving overall energy efficiency. This sets the stage for further discussion on efficient data management strategies.
2. Efficient Mobile Networking
Network operations in your app consume energy, mainly due to the activation and sustained activity of cellular and Wi-Fi radios. Factors like signal strength and bandwidth significantly impact energy consumption:
- Cellular networks consume more energy than Wi-Fi.
- Weak signals and limited bandwidth prolong radioactivity, reducing energy efficiency.
Optimizing networking can extend battery life through two key sustainable app development strategies - minimization and deferral.
Minimization involves caching, compressing data, and reducing media quality and file size. For example, video conferencing software adjusts streaming quality to conserve energy when bandwidth is low.
Deferral strategies focus on batching transactions to reduce radioactivity. Instead of downloading content incrementally, consolidate network operations. For instance, consider downloading multiple ads at once and displaying them gradually to minimize energy consumption.
3. Opt for Event-Based Triggers
Using timers to schedule recurring tasks like synchronization or downloads can unnecessarily wake up the system, consuming energy to activate the CPU and other components from low-power modes. Many apps use timers without genuine necessity, so it's crucial to assess their indispensability.
To create sustainable apps, consider shifting focus from fixed time intervals to event-based triggers. For example, in a streaming service app, instead of relying on timers to pre-download teasers for new episodes, use push notifications triggered by server updates for a more efficient and seamless user experience.
4. Prioritize Local and Deferred Notifications
To develop a sustainable app, utilize local on-device notifications whenever feasible to alleviate strain on network hardware.
Remote notifications offer two push priority levels:
- Immediate delivery
- Deferred delivery until an energy-efficient time
Unless immediate notification is absolutely essential, opt for deferred delivery to conserve energy.
5. Optimize Design for Energy Efficiency
If your app primarily uses standard windows and controls, system APIs are likely optimized for energy efficiency. However, for projects aiming for standout design, consider these sustainable app development practices:
- Minimize drawing when views are obscured, cropped, or offscreen.
- Reduce opacity usage, especially in views with translucent blur effects, and avoid opacity on frequently changing content.
- Transitioning from light to dark mode can reduce power consumption by up to 40% on modern displays, depending on design and brightness settings. Implementing dark mode is typically quick and cost-effective, offering resource savings and improved user experience.
6. Native vs Cross-Platform Development
Choosing between native and cross-platform development is a crucial decision for your app's energy efficiency. While both have their merits in terms of cost, development time, and technology compatibility, native development offers better sustainability.
Native apps are more optimized for their target platforms and don't rely on additional layers or bridges like cross-platform solutions do, resulting in better energy efficiency overall.
Sustainable App Development Cost
Contrary to common belief, sustainable mobile app development often doesn't require extra expenses compared to non-sustainable approaches.
While there might be initial costs like investing in development resources for application refactoring, these efforts lead to long-term savings due to increased efficiency and easier maintenance.
Moreover, green software helps companies meet ESG targets - crucial for investors and stakeholders. Additionally, for newer software engineers, a company's commitment to sustainability is becoming a key factor when choosing an employer.
Conclusion
In conclusion, more than a trend, sustainable mobile app development is a necessity in the tech-world. If you are following the right sustainable strategies, like location tracking optimization, choosing event-based triggers, mobile networking efficiency, etc., you can contribute towards reducing the carbon footprint of your applications.
What’s interesting is that the sustainable mobile app development benefits are not just limited to the environment; they also lead to a better user experience and operational efficiency. In this way, sustainability in application development not only acts as an ethical business responsibility but also as an intelligent business move.
Since the demand for sustainable solutions are growing, a business that aligns itself with sustainable app development trends can thrive in the market. This will also allow the businesses to attract talent that understands corporate responsibilities well.
Although, embarking a journey in sustainability may require decent investment but it will be worthwhile for the business in the long run. This practice will eventually lead to compliance with ESG goals and cost savings.
With the incorporation of these sustainable application development practices, companies will play a pivotal role in alleviating climate change. Now is the time that companies should respond to the call to promote a greener digital landscape.
By Jane Bondar
Mobile team, NIX
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