98% of my time is spent developing iOS apps and most of them talk so some sort of web-service. Most of the web frameworks that exist today written in PHP, Python and Ruby abstract a lot of “boiler-plate” code the is tedious and error prone. They saves us valuable time and headache. However, many mobile developers still had to setup a server, database, security and create the endpoints for their app to communicate with.
This is not fun to say the least.
Below is a short, but excellent list of available mobile back-end solutions that allow users to setup, in most cases 5 minutes, a mobile back-end with out-of-the-box solutions for model relationships, PUSH notifications, user management, ACL and geo-location. I have used all of them at some point or the other and have saved me HOURS and HOURS of setup, server side coding and maintenance. In addition, any questions, comments or bugs that I sent to their support were answered promptly and with an adequate fix or recommendation.
Unless there is a pressing need for you to roll your own back-end solution I highly recommending using any of these services.
Parse
Parse is the new kid on the block and though it doesn’t have as many features compared to StackMob, what it does excel in its simplicity, outstanding support and turn key solutions for common tasks such as table lists views. There are still some features that needed to be added, such as cache invalidation, model archiving and better console management, but I have spoken to their support staff and the was told that these will be added in soon.
If you have a straightfoward model structure and need a backend setup ASAP then Parse is by far the best solution. Though they have some growing to do, but they are well are there way and their service has been a pleasure to use.
Unless there is a pressing need for you to roll your own back-end solution I highly recommending using any of these services.
Parse
Parse is the new kid on the block and though it doesn’t have as many features compared to StackMob, what it does excel in its simplicity, outstanding support and turn key solutions for common tasks such as table lists views. There are still some features that needed to be added, such as cache invalidation, model archiving and better console management, but I have spoken to their support staff and the was told that these will be added in soon.
If you have a straightfoward model structure and need a backend setup ASAP then Parse is by far the best solution. Though they have some growing to do, but they are well are there way and their service has been a pleasure to use.
Features:
I wish that StackMob had been around a few years for some of the larger projects that I worked on because it would have been the back-end solution I would have used...hands down. Besides all that standard features that most back-end service platforms offer they also provide tremendous additions such as API versioning, phone support, API extensions and dev/production environments for your API just to name a few.
StackMob’s solutions are where you need to me be for larger API needs. The setup is easy and the service is feature rich.
Features:
- User managment
- Relational Queries
- iOS/Android SDK’s
- Facebook Integration Wrapper
- Push Notifications
- GeoLocation Services
I wish that StackMob had been around a few years for some of the larger projects that I worked on because it would have been the back-end solution I would have used...hands down. Besides all that standard features that most back-end service platforms offer they also provide tremendous additions such as API versioning, phone support, API extensions and dev/production environments for your API just to name a few.
StackMob’s solutions are where you need to me be for larger API needs. The setup is easy and the service is feature rich.
Features:
- API Extensions
- API Versioning
- Push Notifications
- Social Networking Integration
- Analytics
- S3 Support
No matter if your backend requirements are larger or small there is no need for most cases anymore to roll your own. Services such as Parse and StackMob have really positioned themselves as the frontrunners in the PaaS and SaaS solution providers. The advantage that they have is that they came in and built their companies from the ground up tailored for mobile, but flexible enough to server any data client.