7 Mobile App Development Security Best Practices That You Should Follow
Date: 4/2/2020

A critical area of consideration during your mobile app development pertains to security. Unfortunately, this is one aspect of mobile app development that often goes neglected.

Here are our top tips on how you can make security a top area of focus all through your mobile app development stage.

Focus on Security from the Start

Don’t wait until after your mobile app is developed to focus on security. As soon as your mobile app development plan takes off, make security a priority – consider potential risks or threats that can impact your mobile app. And you should do this not just from the developer’s perspective, but more so from the point of view of your target audience. Plug those loopholes and find solutions to any perceived or potential risk you can foresee.

Integrate Authentication in the Early Stages

Ensure you incorporate authentication into your mobile app at the very beginning instead of delaying the process. In addition, lock on the kind of authentication you want to incorporate in addition and the complexity and type of data users will have to input for authorization. It is best to input a two-step authentication process to ramp up your mobile app security.

Secure Data Privacy of Users

If your mobile app allows users to communicate and share any kind of information, then data privacy security should be a priority. Keep in mind this is directly linked to your app security – so any kind of data sharing or communication be it local or cloud-based should be 100% secure at all times. Employ data encryption into your app in the development stage to prevent during development to prevent any third-party app, or hackers from decrypting private data of users without their permission.

Be Careful with API Integration

If you are not careful, then integration of API (application programming interface) can compromise the security of your mobile app. A few things you should do:

• Ensure integration of robust coding and authorization of APIs.
• Carefully consider APIs loopholes that could be leveraged by attackers.
• Strictly monitor the number of permissions you allow for such tools.

Limit Risks from Third-Party Libraries

If you are going to incorporate third-party libraries into your app, keep in mind they could lead to security risks. Anytime you plan on incorporating an open-source, third-party library ensure you carefully test its code beforehand – this can help prevent security breaches down the line.

Ensure Everyone is Moving in One Direction

Mobile app development is a team effort – everyone on your mobile designing and development team is on the same page at all times. There needs to complete clarity with your mobile app development vision, direction, and goals which also includes critical mobile app security parameters. This will help ensure seamless functioning of your team and help reduce process delays or issues through the entire phase of developing your mobile app. Another advantage of having everyone on the same page is that it can help improve security.

You might also want to consider forming a team dedicated to foreseeing the security aspects of your mobile app.

Test You Mobile App All Through the Development Phase

The biggest benefit of continuously testing your mobile app is that you will be able to identify security vulnerabilities and potential risks as well as identify loopholes in the functioning capabilities and features of your app early on. If you know what these issues are, you can then quickly correct them while they are easy to address and fix.