Whether working remotely or in an office together, mobile developers can leverage the multiple features in collaboration tools to improve communication, stay on the same page, and, in the end, minimize mistakes and increase productivity. This guide will feature some of the best collaboration tools for mobile developers to keep you in sync with your colleagues and other software development teams.
Looking for other types of developer tools? Be sure to check out our round-up of the Best Tools for Java Mobile Development.
Collaboration Software for Mobile Developers
Below you will find some of the best collaboration software and tools for mobile developers, including the following options:
GitHub
GitHub is one of the top collaboration platforms for software developers. With it, mobile developers can store the complete history of a project’s code, plus make it accessible to colleagues so they can make their own contributions. The open-source, cloud-based tool is a mobile developer favorite since it makes life easier via various collaborative features, which include:
- Code review and visual code change views
- Automated merging
- Customized notifications
- Public repositories
- GitHub Discussions for advanced collaboration
GitHub’s code review lets mobile devs review new code, view visual code changes, and merge any changes with automated status checks. Developers and project managers can receive notifications on specific GitHub activities they subscribe to, plus get notifications from contributors when changes are pushed to a repository via the pull requests feature. Other GitHub collaborative highlights include capabilities for multiple assignees and reviewers, public repositories, code review assignments, and multi-line comments.
GitHub Discussions implements even more collaborative features into the mix than GitHub does on its own, allowing mobile developers to connect, share ideas, and ask questions as needed right next to their code. Discussions looks and functions like a message board or online forum. Each discussion is a new topic, and you can group like discussions together into different custom categories for quick access.
Its threaded conversations keep everything organized, and programmers can even highlight quality responses or pin discussions at the top so your team members can quickly find the content they were looking for. By offering a dedicated space for conversations, GitHub Discussions eliminates the clutter that comes with managing active work in pull requests and issues.
GitHub pricing starts with a Free forever plan for individuals and organizations. It also offers a Team plan starting at $3.67 per user, per month with more features. The Enterprise version costs $19.25 per user, per month and unlocks the full power of GitHub. Check out the GitHub pricing page for a full list of features for each pricing tier.
Check out our GitHub Issues Review for more details about what GitHub has to offer developers.
Google Workspace
Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) gives mobile developers several avenues to collaborate. It includes the following collaboration features for programmers:
- Gmail and customized email accounts
- Advanced calendar and scheduling
- Online conferencing
- File sharing and storage via Google Drive
- Office suite to create documents, spreadsheets, and slideshows
Google Workspace has Gmail for good old-fashioned email communication, courtesy of its Gmail product. It also has Google Calendar to coordinate meetings and workloads, Google Chat for direct messages and group conversations, Google Meet for online video calls and conferencing, Google Drive for file sharing and storage, Google Sheets for spreadsheets, Google Docs to create and edit documents, Google Slides, Google Sites, and Google Forms, all which do what you think they would do. If you are a mobile developer who enjoys Google products, Workspace is a no-brainer for collaboration with its wide variety of features, familiarity, and user-friendliness.
Google Workspace has four pricing tiers:
- Business Starter: $6 per user, per month
- Business Standard: $12 per user, per month
- Business Plus: $18 per user, per month
- Enterprise: Contact sales for pricing
You can learn more by visiting their Google Workspace pricing page.
Slack
Most mobile developers may associate Slack with collaboration via text-based direct messaging. And, while it is great for that via real-time chat through streams separated into channels according to topic, department, or team, Slack offers even more ways to collaborate, including:
- Video conferencing
- Voice calls
- Create private channels or topic channels
- File sharing
- Third-party app integration
- Very user-friendly
Yes, programmers can connect with colleagues through Slack’s video conferencing and voice capabilities, too, making Slack a solid choice as a tool for mobile development teams looking to stay in touch and share progress and ideas.
Slack’s channels consolidate relevant info into one place, eliminating the need to sift through massive email inboxes or threads to find what you are looking for. You can join whatever channels pertain to you to communicate with different departments or comment on various topics, and Slack also lets you share files and integrate with over 2,000 popular third-party apps. Best of all, the collaboration tool is quite user-friendly.
Slack has four pricing tiers, which include:
- Free: Limited features
- Pro: $7.25 per month
- Business+: $12.50 per month
- Enterprise Grid: Contact sales for pricing
Check out Slack’s pricing page for more details.
Loom
Mobile developers can collaborate via Loom’s video messaging capabilities regardless of location. It works on any device, either desktop or mobile, plus it has a Chrome extension for those who prefer to work directly via Google’s browser. Loom has the following features:
- Record screens and conference calls
- Link sharing to people outside of the organization
- Time-stamped comments
- Built-in call-to-action and drawing tools
Loom lets mobile developers record screens to keep recordings of video meetings on hand for future reference. There is no need for others to log in or create an account to view a video, either, as Loom allows for fuss-free link sharing. Other Loom features worth mentioning include time-stamped comments, emojis, and interactive ways to respond to videos to keep conversations going.
The collaboration tool works particularly well in accelerating the mobile development cycle.
Use it to review and submit code with added clarity and context. You can record yourself while working on an application or code and add narration to avoid confusion. You can also avoid waiting for the next standup to supply feedback by recording yourself while you review code. With calls-to-action, drawing tools, rich reactions, and enhanced security, Loom gives you an excellent avenue to collaborate with your developer colleagues.
Loom has three pricing tiers:
- Free: Limited features
- Business: $12.50 per user, per month
- Enterprise: Contact sales for pricing
Jira
If you are a mobile developer working as part of an Agile team, Jira may be your go-to for collaboration. In fact, developers listed Jira as their top tool for collaboration. It has the following features:
- Scrum boards
- Kanban boards
- 3,000 third-party app integrations
- User-friendly
Jira has Scrum boards to help your team break a complex project down into smaller, more manageable tasks, plus Kanban boards for visualizing workflow and maximizing efficiency. Jira’s roadmaps keep mobile development teams informed, and they can be shared with stakeholders to keep them in the loop as well. Jira also integrates with over 3,000 apps, so you can extend its collaboration functionality even more by connecting it to Slack, Gmail, Zoom, and more.
Jira has four pricing tiers, including:
- Free: Free for up to 10 users
- Standard: $7.75 per user, per month
- Premium $15.25 per user, per month
- Enterprise: Contact sales for pricing
Zoom
Not to be confused with Loom, Zoom is a highly popular collaboration tool that helps mobile developers communicate face-to-face via video. Here is a list of Zoom’s features, followed by a more detailed breakdown:
- Conference and voice calling
- Record calls
- Virtual workspaces and meetings
- Whiteboards
- Closed captioning
Zoom can record calls so you can interact and converse without feeling interrupted or distracted by note-taking, and if you choose a Zoom One plan, you can enjoy virtual meetings, team chat, VoIP calls, email and calendar, virtual workspaces, and an online whiteboard for creating and brainstorming. Add in features like closed captioning, screen sharing, file sharing, and real-time transcriptions, and it is no wonder why Zoom is a top name in collaboration.
Zoom has five pricing plans, including:
- Basic: Free, with limited features
- Pro: $149.90 per year, per user
- Business: $190.90 per year, per user
- Business Plus: $250 per year, per user
- Enterprise: Contact sales for pricing.
Miro
Many collaboration tools for mobile developers focus on chat and video conferencing, but what about something even simpler? Miro is a whiteboard tool that works on the web or any device and serves several collaborative purposes. Miro has the following features:
- Drawing features
- Brainstorming tools
- Diagram and mapping
- Scrum features
Use Miro to brainstorm with mind maps, videos, drawing capabilities, and sticky notes. Use it to map and diagrams so you can visualize projects via swimlanes, flowcharts, and the like. You can hold meetings and design workshops to interact with other mobile developers and stakeholders through icebreakers, live reactions, sticky notes, and voting, and you can also use Miro to hold Scrum events.
Miro has four pricing plans:
- Free: Limited features
- Starter: $8 per user, per month
- Business: $16 per user, per month
- Enterprise: Contact sales for pricing
Krisp
Krisp is a tool for mobile developers that leverages the power of AI in two distinct ways to make collaboration clearer and easier. It has the following features:
- AI-powered voice and noise cancellation
- Accent localization
- Artificially Intelligent meeting assistant
- Automatic transcripts
First, it offers an AI-powered Voice Clarity feature that ensures audio for your meetings stays as crisp as possible. It does this via background voice cancellation, noise cancellation, and echo cancellation so you and other mobile developers can hear every single detail without worry. Krisp’s Voice Clarity also provides accent localization, which can come in handy when working with mobile developers from other countries. Accent localization dynamically changes the agent accent into your natively understood accent, so nothing gets lost in translation.
Krisp also has an AI Meeting Assistant. It offers automatic meeting transcription and notes so you can concentrate on the actual conversations instead of worrying about jotting everything down.
Krisp has three pricing plans:
- Free: Limited features
- Pro: $8 per user, per month
- Enterprise: Contact sales for pricing
MindMeister
A mind map can promote brainstorming and help mobile development teams see how ideas fit together. MindMeister is a mind-mapping tool that lets you not only visualize ideas, but also manage tasks, collaborate with your team, and share those ideas with others. It has the following mind mapping features:
- Custom notifications
- Embedded media
- Custom styles and layouts
- Meeting management and project planning tools
MindMeister takes mind mapping to the next level with comments and notifications, embedded media for added context, mixed map layouts, and custom styles. Beyond mind mapping, MindMeister works well for project planning, meeting management, and, as mentioned, brainstorming.
MindMeister has four pricing levels:
- Basic: Free with limited features
- Personal: $6.99 per user, per month
- Pro: $11.49 per user, per month
- Business: $18.99 per user, per month
