Okuzeka
Mobile App Development vocabulary · Networking, Data and Offline Storage

API

Meaning in mobile app development, with examples

/ˌeɪ piː ˈaɪ/abbreviationCore term

In mobile app development, API means: Application programming interface: a defined way for programs to talk to each other; in mobile work, usually the server endpoints an app calls to get and send data.

In Turkish: API, uygulama programlama arayüzü

How it is used

Mobile developers call an API, wait for the API response and handle API errors. The word also covers platform features that apps use, such as the camera API or the location API on iOS and Android.

Example sentences

  1. The app is fast, but the API takes four seconds to return the search results.

  2. The back-end team changed the API without telling us, so the old app version broke.

Common collocations

  • call an API
  • API response
  • API endpoint
  • API key
  • REST API
  • network requestA message an app sends over the internet to a server, for example to load a list or save a form, together with the response it waits for.
  • SDKSoftware development kit: a set of tools, libraries and documentation for building apps for a platform or for adding a service, such as payments or analytics, to an app.
  • cacheA temporary store of data, such as images or API responses, kept on the device so the app can show it again quickly without downloading it.
  • syncTo make the data on the device and on the server the same by sending local changes and downloading new ones; short for synchronize.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Networking, Data and Offline Storage

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