Data is the prime aspect on which technology thrives on and safeguards. Data transferring is one of the most time-consuming tasks and also an important part where developers require this function to test, run, integrate or even automate a particular software or technological device to a domain or a system.

Due to the emergence in the number of smartphone users, there is a rise in the number of Android and iPhone users, in particular, the number of mobile app development services have been taken to the next level and that is one reason why IOS is one of the most used and developed operating systems.

Data transfer has proven to be highly beneficial not only to businesses but individuals as well in a quite similar way, data transfer extends the accessibility of data, safety and security of data and also increases the scope of usability of data not only across two smartphones but now also across different devices, solutions and even applications.

Data sharing amongst apps is one of the most new-age modes of data transfer and that is what we are going to focus on in this blog...

Let us go through the procedure of transferring data from an Android app to its App extension:

• Creating Intent and Intent Filters
• Intent processing to the other app
• Receiving output from the other app
• App integration in other apps
• Data sharing through intent chooser

The mechanism of this task is more like a messaging system of sending and receiving messages.

Now, let’s not forget the IOS developers here is a brief tutorial of transferring data from IOS app groups to their extension through different methods:

• Commands in the UIActivityViewController enabling data transfer through AirDrop for IOS6 and above
• Writing functions in AppDelegate class in URLScheme app through Safari
• Posting content in-app extension section through the share extension feature for IOS8 and above
• Storing data in the app group sharing the same app ID prefix
• Sharing the same keychain access through multiple apps for IOS3 and above
• Writing data on the pasteboard and copy, pasting, or requesting duplicate programs to the user interface.

There are various other ways of transferring data from one app to the other such as configuring app with secure filehandles through file providers, directories and ledgers, sharing data across devices, using cross-app communication technology such as ValueSet or even using basic activities such as copying, linking, embedding or merging commands. You can also use XML communicator or WCF to carry on data from one application to the other.

"Data sharing is one of the greatest boon of technology in today’s time, as important as data security and as technology and software advancements go on progressing in the race with time, there are going to be simpler and more user-friendly also development-friendly ways of data shifting making the technological world a smaller yet diverse domain, where accessibility and usability of data will be at the peek, increasing human ability towards Technology."