Handbook
Mobile Engineering
Reusable, **project-agnostic** blueprint for **Mobile Engineering** — the discipline of building performant, reliable mobile experiences across platforms and devices.
Mobile Engineering
Reusable, project-agnostic blueprint for Mobile Engineering — the discipline of building performant, reliable mobile experiences across platforms and devices.
Mobile Engineering answers "how do we build performant, reliable mobile experiences across platforms and devices?" — a platform-specific discipline that spans the entire SDLC and connects to PDLC through app store lifecycle, user engagement, and mobile-specific metrics.
| Document | Purpose |
|---|---|
| MOBILE.md | Platform strategy (native/cross-platform), architecture patterns, app lifecycle, performance, offline-first, deep linking, competencies |
| Mobile Engineering ↔ SDLC ↔ PDLC bridge | How Mobile Engineering maps across SDLC phases A–F and PDLC phases P1–P6 — emphasis on Build, Release, and Grow |
| patterns/ | Deep guides: navigation patterns, offline-first, push notifications, deep linking, background processing |
| platforms/ | Platform-specific guidance: iOS/Swift, Android/Kotlin, React Native, Flutter, KMP |
Relationship to other packages
| Package | How Mobile Engineering relates |
|---|---|
| SDLC blueprint | Mobile delivery follows SDLC phases but adds platform-specific gates — app store review, staged rollouts, hotfix constraints. Release (F) is more complex than web due to binary distribution. |
| Product development lifecycle (PDLC) | PDLC P4 (Launch) includes app store submission and review. P5 (Grow) involves mobile-specific engagement (push notifications, deep links, in-app messaging). P6 (Sunset) must handle installed base with no forced updates. |
| UX / UI Design | Mobile UX has distinct patterns (gestures, bottom sheets, haptics, edge swipes). Apple HIG and Material Design provide platform-specific design guidance. |
| Frontend / Web Engineering | Cross-platform frameworks (React Native) share concepts with web frontend. PWAs bridge web and mobile. Code sharing strategies connect the two disciplines. |
| Software architecture | Architecture decisions (monolith vs modular app, BFF for mobile, API versioning) shape mobile implementation. Offline-first architecture is a mobile-specific concern. |
| Testing & quality assurance | Mobile testing adds device fragmentation, screenshot testing, app store compliance testing, and device farm management. |
| Security / Cybersecurity | Mobile security includes certificate pinning, secure storage (Keychain/Keystore), biometric authentication, jailbreak/root detection, and app transport security. |
| DevOps | Mobile CI/CD includes build signing, device farm integration, app store deployment automation (Fastlane), OTA updates (CodePush). |
Scope
This package covers Mobile Engineering as a discipline — not just framework tutorials. It includes:
- Platform strategy — native (iOS/Android) vs cross-platform (React Native, Flutter, KMP) decision framework
- Architecture — MVVM, MVI, Clean Architecture, modular apps, feature modules, dependency injection
- App lifecycle — launch, backgrounding, termination, state restoration, memory warnings
- Offline-first — local storage, data sync, conflict resolution, optimistic updates
- Navigation — stack, tab, drawer, deep linking, universal links, deferred deep links
- Push notifications — APNs/FCM, notification channels, rich notifications, silent pushes
- App store lifecycle — submission, review guidelines, staged rollouts, phased releases, hotfixes
- Performance — startup time, frame rate, memory, battery, network efficiency
- Device fragmentation — screen sizes, OS versions, hardware capabilities, manufacturer skins
- Mobile security — certificate pinning, secure storage, biometrics, app transport security
- Mobile testing — device farms, screenshot/snapshot testing, UI testing, performance profiling
Reference bodies of knowledge: Apple Human Interface Guidelines, Material Design for Android, OWASP Mobile Top 10, mobile-specific DORA metrics.
Keep project-specific mobile configuration in docs/development/mobile/ and architecture decisions in docs/adr/, not in this file.
Canonical source
Edit https://github.com/autowww/blueprints/blob/main/disciplines/engineering/mobile/README.md first; regenerate with docs/build-handbook.py.