How to integrate an SDK into your app

Finding and implementing software development kits (SDKs) in apps is a common practice.

It opens up a world of possibilities, allowing you to add new and complex features and speed up development.

But, integrating an SDK into an app can be surprisingly tough, especially without a plan.

Rushing into integration can lead to unexpected issues, bloat your app with unnecessary code, and make it difficult to pinpoint the cause of any emerging problems.

So, if you’re looking for a reliable way to seamlessly integrate SDKs, read on.

We’ll outline some key practices that will help ensure a smooth and efficient process.

Before integrating any SDK, we need to ensure not to add it to an app blindly.

Imagine finding a mobile SDK that enables crucial app functionality.

Excited, you might jump straight into implementation, barely testing its features—thinking it’ll automatically solve your problems and boost your app’s performance.

This impulsive approach can lead to a range of issues, from minor bugs and performance hiccups to more severe problems.

The worst is introducing code that breaks your app entirely.

To prevent such problems, we want to define our objectives beforehand.

This includes both high-level goals for what you want to achieve with the SDK and specific functionalities you intend to use.

The general goals help measure whether an SDK will have the needed impact and justify being added to your project.

For instance, if your primary goal is to streamline development and reduce coding time, but you find that a specific SDK introduces unnecessary complexity and requires extensive customization, you might opt for another solution.

After these high-level goals, it’s equally important to define more specific ones, like increasing revenue by a certain amount.

This goal can help narrow your search to types of SDKs that offer ad implementation. Then, going deeper, you can also define the specific features you require from these SDKs.

You could then start comparing the features of certain SDKs based on these specific requirements.

Here’s an example.

Say you want to increase ad revenue for your mobile app. You could compare popular SDKs like Google AdMob and Meta Audience Network.

This detailed analysis can ultimately help you to make an informed decision, selecting the SDK that best aligns with your app’s needs and maximizes its potential for success.

Overall, a step-by-step process where you define vague goals and the specific functionalities you need from an SDK can help ensure a smooth integration process down the line.

By the end of the previous step, you’ll have a rough idea of the features and tools offered by your chosen SDK.

Now, it’s time to thoroughly understand its inner workings. This deeper understanding is crucial for smooth integration, efficient troubleshooting, and maximizing the SDK’s potential within your app.

Luckily, the majority of popular and well-developed SDKs offer comprehensive resources to guide you, as illustrated below.

Having access to these resources is immensely beneficial, enabling you to quickly grasp the SDK’s functionalities and help your team start integrating them with confidence.

Vedant Kahirnar, the co-founder of trebal, a government engagement platform, echoes this sentiment with the following quote.

As Khairnar explains, documentation is an invaluable resource for developers, but also a sign of a well-maintained and reliable SDK.

It shows that the SDK developers have invested time and effort into creating a quality product and supporting its users, suggesting a commitment to long-term maintenance.

Consider the resources offered by Firebase, a mobile and web app development platform, as an example.

Firebase provides neatly organized documentation for building and running apps, along with quick-start guides for adding the SDK to your project.

It also offers a detailed reference section with information on every class and method, complemented by practical code samples to get started.

Now, it’s important to acknowledge that not all SDK tools have such robust documentation.

If you’re choosing between two similar SDKs, opting for the one with more detailed resources is generally recommended.

But, when that’s not an option, you can also do some independent searches.

Look for user forums, community resources, and online tutorials, and even reach out to the SDK creators directly.

Make sure to do this step right, as understanding how an SDK works is arguably the most important part of the integration process.

With a thorough understanding of the SDK, you might be tempted to implement all its features directly into your app.

Although this seemingly offers faster deployment and quick access to all the SDK’s capabilities, these perceived benefits come at a significant cost, potentially impacting various aspects of your app’s functionality, performance, and stability.

After all, this practice can introduce unnecessary features that never get used, hidden bugs, and conflicts with your existing codebase and functionalities.

Think of it like adding a major new feature to your app—thorough testing is a must.

Take a look at how gradual SDK implementation can address several aspects of your app and user experience.

Even if an SDK appears perfectly functional in isolation, you can’t fully predict how it will interact with your specific app environment and how any new features will affect user behavior and overall app usage.

But, by implementing changes incrementally and continuously monitoring and testing, you can identify and address potential issues early on, preventing them from escalating into major problems.

In turn, this allows you to make necessary adjustments, optimize performance, and ensure a seamless user experience.

Therefore, this should be your SDK implementation process.

First off, you want to set up a separate testing environment specifically for SDK integration, so you don’t affect your main app just yet.

Within this environment, identify the specific SDK features you want to implement.

Prioritize them based on your project’s needs and goals.

Next, integrate the first feature.

Thoroughly test this feature within the testing environment, simulating various user scenarios and edge cases.

Monitor your app’s performance closely, looking for any unexpected changes, performance degradation, or conflicts with existing features.

Then, address any issues before implementing the next SDK feature.

After integrating all desired functionalities, you can release your updated app, preferably to a limited group of beta testers or a small segment of your user base.

This controlled release allows you to gather real-world feedback and identify any remaining issues before deploying the update to your entire user base.

To summarize, following this gradual implementation process is crucial.

It lets you have full control over the integration process, catch potential problems early on, and, ultimately, successfully integrate all the necessary SDK features.

Monitoring and testing SDKs and their features isn’t a one-time task.

Apps get new features and updates, SDKs receive revisions, and real-world usage introduces unpredictable factors.

What worked flawlessly once or during testing might act unpredictably in real-life environments.

What’s more, as backend developer Morgen Peschke notes on Quora, some SDKs can only reveal their issues after extended use.

For all these reasons, continuous monitoring of your SDK’s performance is crucial.

This ongoing assessment is critical to identify bottlenecks, crashes, or compatibility issues that might arise from the SDK’s interaction with your app and its users.

One effective approach for monitoring is to utilize an in-app bug and crash reporting tool like Shake.

Shake is also an SDK, but it can help you monitor your app’s performance in real time.

It can be integrated into your app in minutes and contributes minimally to your overall app size.

Once set up, you get a powerful tool.

For example, whenever a bug occurs, testers and users can just shake their devices or tap a button to create a detailed bug report directly within an app.

These reports automatically include over 70 relevant metrics, providing a wealth of information for debugging.

With this data, developers can easily pinpoint the root cause of an issue and determine whether it stems from an SDK feature, a conflict with existing code, or some other defect.

Plus, even if a faulty SDK feature causes a complete app crash, Shake’s Black Box feature records everything that happened in the minute leading up to the crash.

This detailed recording provides crucial context for understanding the sequence of events that led to the crash, enabling developers to effectively diagnose and resolve even the most elusive SDK-related issues.

Finally, just as you regularly update your own app to maintain stability and performance, do the same for your integrated SDKs.

Updating SDKs involves incorporating the latest versions released by the SDK developers, which often include bug fixes, performance enhancements, new features, and security patches.

Some large SDKs, like the Android SDK, actually mandate these updates, typically with an annual deadline, to ensure compliance with crucial security standards.

Beyond security, frequent SDK updates also provide access to cutting-edge features and improvements to existing functionalities.

Consider the Windows App SDK, a comprehensive platform for building modern Windows applications.

The team at Microsoft releases frequent SDK updates that offer developers both performance enhancements and entirely new capabilities.

To avoid missing out on these valuable performance and functional upgrades, regularly track new releases from the SDK developers you rely on.

Follow relevant industry blogs, subscribe to developer newsletters, and monitor the official SDK documentation or repositories for announcements.

Staying informed about the latest SDK updates allows you to plan and implement them strategically, maximizing your app’s benefits.

When it comes to actually performing these updates, proceed gradually and carefully, just as you would when implementing a completely new SDK.

Keeping your SDKs up to date is a continuous process.

So, stay informed, update strategically, and test thoroughly to ensure your SDKs contribute to your app’s success.

With that, we’ve wrapped up our guide on integrating SDKs into your app.

Hopefully, these practices have shown that this process doesn’t have to be overwhelming with the right approach.

By applying these insights, you’ll be better equipped to integrate SDKs effectively, enhancing your app’s functionality and delivering a smoother user experience.

So, take these principles forward and transform your SDK integration process!