When it comes to developing mobile applications, you’ll need a mobile CMS app that can create and handle apps through iOS, Linux, and other common app platforms—but that’s not all that you’ll need.
Other crucial elements includes CMS hosting, the ability to easily link the mobile app to other systems, such as CRM, the ability of non-technical consumers to engage in the content development process, and the ability to archive your software in a manner that helps you to re-use and redistribute it to other devices where appropriate.
What people actually mean by a mobile CMS
A mobile CMS (Content Management System) is a software platform that allows businesses and developers to create, manage, and deliver content to mobile applications.
It enables users to control the content, functionality, and design of their mobile apps, without requiring them to have extensive coding knowledge.
In essence, a mobile CMS streamlines the process of app development, making it faster, more efficient, and more cost-effective.
It provides a centralized platform for content creation, editing, and publishing, and ensures that the content is consistent across all devices and platforms.
To further elaborate on the different forms of mobile CMS, let’s take a closer look at some specific examples.
Mobile app content backend:
A CMS for content management in a smartphone app(s), possibly multiple devices (iPhone + iPad) and/or multiple channels (iOS + Android)—from a single tool.
A responsive version of the mobile website:
CMS for handling content on a website that is mobile-friendly—that is, sensitive, presenting information accurately, no matter the size of the device.
A mobile admin application with an integrated CMS setup:
A CMS that runs as a smart app on a handheld device—a smartphone or a tablet—which can be used to build and organize content on the go.
How you can choose a CMS for your mobile application
Ensuring you choose the right CMS for your mobile app is key to your brand’s progress. Here’s how to pick the right content management framework for mobile applications:
- It’s got to be “hybrid”
- It can slot neatly into the architecture of microservices
- It must encourage the re-use of content
- It must be a framework-agnostic
- It has to be an agnostic computer
- It must be an industry-agnostic
- Intelligent management of content workflow
- It needs to be scalable
It’s got to be hybrid
A hybrid CMS (sometimes referred to as a decoupled CMS) blends the API-driven headless architecture with the front-end elements of a conventional CMS, so you’ll get the best of both headless and traditional CMS.
This is in stark contrast to the more conventional coupled CMS, which has the front-and back-end combined, which limits what you publish and when.
Of course, if you produce the same content, over and over for the same channel, then a simple coupled CMS would be appropriate and substantially cheaper than headless alternatives.
It should slot neatly into the architecture of microservices
They must be broken down into their constituent parts: each service may be deployed and redeployed independently, without losing the credibility of the system as a whole.
They are more manageable: one community of developers can understand each service in its entirety, while no one can completely understand the whole monolithic architecture.
They are more resilient: due to enhanced security and fault isolation. Bugs and violations should be ‘contained’ in one service.
They are easy to update and modify: this leads to more versatility and agility.
They are essentially scalable: individual programs can be scaled up and down individually.
It must encourage the re-use of content
“Content reuse” is the process of reusing pre-existing content chunks, several times to create something different. The advantages are obvious:
Reduced costs of content development, revision, and maintenance: instead of duplicating content several times over, which is a massive waste of money, teams may spend their efforts on creating new content that can be replicated at a later date.
Reduced translation and evidence of costs: material can be translated and checked once and reused several times.
Improved Content Consistency: As content is shared repeatedly across various platforms, the message can become more consistent, improving brand identity.
Increased content quality: every time a piece of content is repeated, it is updated and mistakes are found and eliminated.
It must be a framework-agnostic
Some of the popular mobile development frameworks are given as follows:
React Native: Open-source, developed by Facebook. Ideal for quick development of both Android and IOS applications with a single codebase.
Flutter: Open-source, developed by Google. A popular cross-platform developer framework with an active community.
Ionic: open-source and well suited for developing hybrid applications (those that combine elements of both native and web applications).
It must be an agnostic device
The CMS for smartphone applications needs to be device-agnostic too-completely machine-independent, operating just as effectively on a tiny smartwatch as on a huge smart TV, and all in between, without any specific modifications.
Device agnosticism sounds fantastic, but many mobile app developers are designing their applications for particular operating systems.
If you’ve created a smartphone app for Android and you’re an iPhone user, you’re out of luck before the developer makes an iOS update.
It must be an industry-agnostic
If it’s publishers, financial companies, or healthcare organizations, most of the businesses have CMS applications customized to their needs.
But the best CMSs for mobile applications are industry-agnostic-quick and scalable enough to perform dynamically and intelligently in an ever-changing marketplace.
Intelligent management of content workflow
Information workflow is how content is requested, sourced, created, reviewed, approved, and delivered.” When content within the organization is regularly delivered late or lost in limbo, then your content workflow may be blamed.
Both basic or complicated, the workflow needs to be specifically defined within your CMS in order to achieve the highest degree of communication and performance.
It needs to be scalable
Seasonal usage variations, abrupt traffic surges, and company-wide expansion and contraction all influence the consumption and specifications of the smartphone applications and the CMS behind them.
In order to maintain productivity in the face of such transition, you need a CMS that scales in accordance with varying patterns of use. Monolithic CMSs have historically been bad for scaling.
To control the ebbs and flows that are part and parcel of modern industry, you need to create substantial flexibility into the system-a loss of money that you have to pay for.
Cloud-based SaaS solutions shine when it comes to scalability, and SaaS application development on the cloud is no different. You may raise or decrease capacity on a pay-as-you-go basis by offering resilience in the face of transition.
It’s an easier, more versatile, and agile way of operating that doesn’t require a dedicated IT maintenance unit.
Top 5 CMS for mobile applications
1. Contentious
Contentful has a clean interface and modular APIs that allow content to populate any amount of mobile apps instantly. Editors make news notifications once and Contentful releases content updates everywhere, concurrently.
2. Contentstack:
Simple and intuitive, also for non-technical eyes (marketing team), Contenstack draws the CMS strings of many high-profile clients, including Shell, Sky, and Walmart.
3. Core DNA:
An all-in-one web interface that acts as the perfect CMS for smartphone applications, integrating content management with eCommerce, intranet, and marketing.
4. Kentico content:
Focusing on all things CaaS (content as a service), Kontent provides a distraction-free, interactive writing environment while producing content for mobile applications.
5. DotCMS:
An open-source option, with a free version to download (business plans available too of course), dotCMS can be hosted either on-prem or in the cloud.
