We
previously published an article on using
Parse
to provide a backend for iOS apps and thought we should write one for
the Android developers who want to know how to integrate the Parse SDK
in their app.
If you read the previous article, you can skip the introduction. We
wanted the articles to be stand-alone tutorials, so you don’t have to
read the previous one to follow along with this one
Introduction
With the increased use of mobile devices, it is common for
applications to offer features such as backup storage, data sync, data
sharing etc. Building stand alone applications that only function and
save their data on the device they are installed on is at times not
feasible. A backend is usually needed where data can be saved and
manipulated for the app to provide the service it was intended for.
Building this requires time, a different skill set and other
resources (e.g. servers, push notification services, etc). Fortunately,
there are several platforms that provide ready-made customizable
backends that you can integrate with your apps. These are known as
‘Backend as a Service’, or BaaS in short.