Java used to dominate the Android app development area but not anymore with Google announcement in its I/O 2017 Developer Conference that Kotlin is now the official language for Android development.
Since the launch of the Kotlin programming language, its usage has only increased. As per the 2019 Stack Overflow developer survey, Kotlin secured the fourth position in the list of the most loved programming languages. Thus, no wonder why Google extended its support for Kotlin.
Today, there are many giant companies that have successfully migrated to Kotlin from Java. In this post, we’ll help you explore the top 15 popular apps built with Kotlin. Most of them have been developed by leading companies with millions of users from all over the world.
But before we get to that, let’s first have a quick overview of the Kotlin programming language and why developers and companies alike choose Kotlin over Java.
A Quick Overview to Kotlin
Kotlin is an open-source, general-purpose, statically typed and cross-platform programming language developed by JetBrains. It ensures 100% interoperability with Java, implying developers can use Java frameworks and libraries in Kotlin and vice-versa.
There are many reasons why Kotlin is being preferred over Java; which include:
More Concise
Kotlin is more concise than Java, implying it can address more problems and issues with fewer lines of code. It enhances overall code readability and maintainability. Features like smart casts, properties, type interface and data classes make the Kotlin more concise.
Interoperability with Java
As mentioned above, Kotlin is fully compatible with Java. You can simply add all Java frameworks and tools to your Kotlin app development projects with ease and no need to alter the entire project in Java. So, the process to migrate your project from Java to Kotlin is hassle-free.
Built-in Null Safety
“I call it my billion-dollar mistake. It was the invention of the null reference in 1965.” – Tony Hoare
As per JetBrains Developer Survey, 62% of developers migrated to Kotlin because of its built-in null safety feature.
Kotlin programming language helps to address one of the pain points of Java i.e. null pointer exceptions, which often cause Java applications to crash. Kotlin enables developers to place null right in its type system, eliminating errors related to nulls entirely.
Safer Code
As far as safety is concerned, Kotlin is quite safer than Java. Kotlin empowers developers to write robust code, resulting in fewer programming errors. Moreover, thanks to the null-safety feature, the variable in the Kotlin code can’t hold a null value until and unless marked “nullable”.
Multi-Platform Support
Kotlin is not just limited to Android app development. With JavaScript interoperability support, Kolin empowers developers to move the frontend development to Kotlin.
In addition to that, Kotlin enables developers to write Gradle codes in Kotlin. This further empowers developers to develop iOS applications. This way, developers are able to build apps in Kotlin with native-like performance.
Kotlin By Numbers: Stats You Should Know
- As per JetBrains Developer Survey, Kotlin is among the top-5 programming languages that developers are planning to migrate to or adopt.
- The same survey reveals that Kotlin is one of the fastest-growing languages.
- Kotlin is listed among the top 20 programming languages by RedMonk, the developer-focused industry analyst firm.
- Though Kotlin has many uses, 81% of developers recommend it for Android application development.
From Coursera to Airbnb: Top 15 Popular Apps Built with Kotlin
Without further ado, let’s now get deeper into the top 15 famous apps built with Kotlin.
1. Coursera
Category: E-learning
Coursera is a world-renowned e-learning platform that offers online courses, certifications and degrees across various disciplines from top universities and institutions. The app available for both Android and iOS users is partially built on the Kotlin programming language.
Read Also (That Might Interest You): Create an LMS Website Like Coursera?
2. Evernote
Category: Productivity
Evernote is an app for note-taking, task organization, archiving and more. The company integrated Kotlin programming language into their Android client to bolster the Evernote app’s existing capabilities. Thanks to Kotlin, the app now comes with additional features for users such as handwritten notes scanning, photos, audio, to-do lists and more.
3. Zomato
Category: On-Demand Food Delivery
The popular food delivery app, Zomato uses Kotlin programming language to write more concise, safer code. Kotlin helped the company significantly cut down the number of lines of code in their application and leverage a fail-fast system in their app.
4. Netflix
Category: On-Demand Video Streaming
Netflix is the world’s leading video streaming platform with more than 214 million subscribers all over the globe. The company has revamped the current UI player in the Netflix Android application using 100% Kotlin. You can learn more about it here.
5. Pinterest
Category: Lifestyle
Pinterest is one of the popular photo-sharing social apps that enable users to upload, share and save images. The company officially moved from Java to Kotlin in 2016 as well as showcased the advantages of this initiative at Droidcon NYC 2016.
6. Square
Category: Business
The online payment platform, Square embraced Kotlin to bolster the developer experience of Square’s open-source libraries. In early 2015, the company gave the Android developers approval to make use of Kotlin for its Android applications. You can learn more about it here.
7. Uber
Category: On-Demand Ride Sharing
Uber is one of the famous on-demand ride-sharing apps built with Kotlin. The company embraced Kotlin app development for its internal tooling processes such as Gradle plugins, annotation processes and more.
8. Swiggy
Category: On-Demand Food Delivery
Another popular on-demand food ordering and delivery app, Swiggy is also based on Kotlin. In fact, 74% of the Swiggy app is written in the Kotlin programming language. After migrating all-new feature development to Kotlin, the company witnessed a 50% reduction in app crashes.
9. Trello
Category: Productivity
Trello is a popular collaboration tool used by millions of worldwide users including giant companies like eBay to manage projects and organize tasks efficiently. The team at Trello Kotlinized primary functions and built new features based on the Kotlin programming language to enjoy its benefits.
10. Corda market
Category: Events
An open-source Blockchain platform that empowers Blockchain app developers to build interoperable blockchain networks, Corda is also built entirely using Kotlin. They picked JVM because of its thread-safe architecture, cross-platform runtime and scalability.
At the same time, Kotlin was embraced by Corda due to the language interoperability with Java, easy learning curve thanks to excellent documentation and functional programming support.
11. Basecamp 3
Category: Productivity
One of the famous project management and team communication tools with millions of users, Basecamp 3’s Android application is written in 100% Kotlin. The developers at Basecamp witnessed a significant difference in speed, performance and code quality since they migrated from Java to Kotlin.
12. Duolingo
Category: Education
A popular language learning app, Duolingo for Android is one of the apps built with Kotlin. Since they migrated Duolingo’s Android to 100% Kotlin, they witnessed a huge success in terms of their Android developer’s productivity & happiness and stability.
You can learn more about Duolingo’s migration to Kotlin here.
13. Kickstarter
Category: Social
The popular crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter helps creators like artists, filmmakers, musicians and more get the support they would need to turn their visions into a reality. The app is also built on Kotlin due to its compatibility with Java and functional programming support.
14. Postmates
Category: On-Demand Food Delivery
Postmates is another on-demand food delivery app migrated to Kotlin for its Android app. There are many reasons for making this switch with two primary ones; to achieve high scalability and leverage the fail-fast approach of the language.
15. Airbnb
Category: Travel
A popular online marketplace for homestays, experiences, tourism and lodging, Airbnb leveraged Kotlin programming language in a new android product framework (MvRx) to achieve a seamless experience.
Also Read: Top Online Marketplace Ideas for Entrepreneurs
In Need of Kotlin Developers? Hire Faster with InfoStride!
You have an app idea like Coursera, Netflix, Evernote or Zomato. We have a dedicated full-stack team of Kotlin developers with expertise across varied business industries to help turn your vision into a successful product.
When you decide to hire Kotlin developers from InfoStride, you can relish the following benefits:
⦁ Pre-vetted and trained tech experts
⦁ End-to-end support from technology consultation to development and maintenance
⦁ Local infrastructure setup for your remote developers or full-stack development team
⦁ Deployment of time zone aligned developers for your project
⦁ Full support starting from recruitment and onboarding to offboarding resources
⦁ Affordable and flexible engagement models to meet your scalable business requirements
Sound Interested or still have any concerns? Remember, we’re just a few clicks away to get started or clear any doubts you may have regarding hiring remote developers for your next project.
hbspt.forms.create({
region: “na1”,
portalId: “20184836”,
formId: “c108011c-3782-41c8-afeb-3034f8ff361d”
});
Conclusion:
As you can now see that there are many Android apps that have switched to Kotlin from Java to leverage the benefits of the Kotlin programming language.
Migrating to Kotlin helps address many pain points of Java, especially null pointer exceptions while enhancing your app’s performance. You should also know that these are not only apps built with Kotlin. You can find more here.
Do you know an awesome app that migrated to Kotlin apart from our list? If so, let us know in the comments below.
Few hand Picked articles for you
