If you’re managing a large-scale Android app — or hiring an Android app development company — you’ve probably come across the term ‘modularisation’ before. But what does it really mean? And why is this such a big deal for large apps? Let’s do it in simple terms.


The Trouble with Big Messy Android Code

So much is easy when an Android app is small. Everything is in one big file of code and it just works. But as the app gets bigger — new features, new designs, new teams — that big block of code becomes a big mess.

This is why big applications fail when they are not modular:

1. They are then incredibly slow to construct: For instance, it took Wayfair’s app 3­­­­–4 minutes to make minor updates. They cut these numbers in half after splitting up their app into modules! That’s equivalent to saving thousands of developer hours per year.

2. Developers waste time: Google Chat’s team enabled modular code and achieved 34% faster work. It made things like adding features or fixing bugs easier.

3. The app breaks easily: When everything is connected in one file, if you change one small thing, you will break the entire app. Slack experienced a lot of this pre-modularisation.

4. Testing becomes hard: It's really hard to test small parts of your app without modularisation. Companies like Yelp modularised their apps to test and ship small features fast and with ease.

5. It’s hard to maintain: Updating old code or implementing new features becomes a nightmare. Modular apps are basically much more easier to sweep, clean, update and also manage in the long run.



Why Modularisation is Super Useful

Let’s see why splitting the app into modules helps:

1. Faster Builds: That means when you modify one element of the app, you rebuild that element — not the whole app. Developers get hours back every week.

2. Collaborating Simple for Teams: One team takes on the login feature; another the payments — no confusion, no broken code.

3. Better for Testing: It's easy to utilise top test automation services via modules. Each fraction is isolated and tested alone. Less chance of bugs.

4. Less Maintenance Headache: It is much better easy to delete or replace the old code in any existing systems. It’s also easy to add new tools, like Kotlin or Jetpack Compose.

5. Great for Automation: Having your code modular, you can, for example, use intelligent automation solutions tools to verify errors, stream updates, and even automatically code part of the tasks.


Mistakes to Avoid

Watch out—modularity is great if you do it properly.

1. Too Many Modules:

Do not atomise everything into bits. It gets confusing.

2. Big “God” Modules:

A single, monstrously big module that can do it all? Bad idea. Defeats the purpose.

3. Chatty Modules:

Each module should keep its nose out of the other module's business. Otherwise, they are tangled again.

4. Skipping Tools:

Leverage tools such as Gradle to organise your modules correctly. If the former does not exist, then there is no modularisation.

5. Old Hardware:

You will need fast machines and build systems to make this work, as modules and parallel builds are heavy.


Android App Development Best Practices

Rules of thumb for a decent Android app development and custom RPA solutions service Here are some simple principles that the good companies and providers follow:

1. Plan Your Layers:

Isolate features, data and platform stuff. No mixing!

2. Automate Checks:

We need tools to prevent mistakes — like modules that call each other when they shouldn’t.

3. Use CI/CD Pipelines:

Life is made easy with automatic build and test tools (Like these top test automation services)

4. Watch Your Build Times:

Monitor to ensure modularisation is actually saving time.

5. Upgrade Your Machines:

On new computers, builds and tests were so much faster.


Final Thought: Why Modularisation Is Not Optional

If you are a wise Android app development company or an emerging mobile app development agency, you cannot even overlook modularisation. Without it:

  • Your builds slow down.
  • Bugs sneak in.
  • Testing breaks.
  • It takes forever to add new features.

But thanks to modularisation — and with a little help from smart automation software, top test automation services providers and custom RPA solutions — your app can be leaner, faster and easier to grow.

Want to future-proof your Android app?

Collaborate with professionals familiar with modularisation and see your app get faster, more secure, and manageable!