Mobile App Architecture Patterns Cheat Sheet

Updated 2026-05-16

Next Topic: Mobile App Design Cheat Sheet

Mobile app architecture patterns provide structured approaches to organizing code, separating concerns, and managing complexity in iOS, Android, Flutter, and cross-platform applications. Unlike web or backend architectures, mobile patterns must address platform-specific constraints like limited resources, offline-first requirements, lifecycle management, and tight coupling between UI and platform APIs. The choice of architecture dramatically impacts testability, maintainability, and the ability to scale features without creating "massive view controller" or "god activity" anti-patterns. Understanding these patterns helps teams build apps that remain flexible and testable as complexity grows, while leveraging platform-specific capabilities like SwiftUI's declarative approach or Jetpack Compose's state hoisting.

What This Cheat Sheet Covers

This topic spans 13 focused tables and 101 indexed concepts. Below is a complete table-by-table outline of this topic, spanning foundational concepts through advanced details.

Table 1: Foundational Presentation PatternsTable 2: Layered Architecture PatternsTable 3: Feature-Modular Architecture PatternsTable 4: State Management PatternsTable 5: Reactive and Asynchronous PatternsTable 6: Dependency Injection PatternsTable 7: Navigation and Flow CoordinationTable 8: Data Layer PatternsTable 9: Testing Architectural LayersTable 10: Modularization StrategiesTable 11: Error Handling PatternsTable 12: Cross-Cutting ConcernsTable 13: Common Anti-Patterns to Avoid

Table 1: Foundational Presentation Patterns

Pattern	Example	Description
Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM)	`class UserViewModel: ViewModel() {` `val user = MutableLiveData<User>()` `fun loadUser() { ... }` `}`	• ViewModel exposes observable state and commands • View binds to ViewModel updates • most popular pattern for Android (Jetpack) and iOS (SwiftUI/Combine).
Model-View-Intent (MVI)	`sealed class Intent` `data class ViewState(val items: List<Item>)` `fun reduce(state: ViewState, intent: Intent): ViewState`	• Unidirectional data flow with explicit user intents triggering state reduction • emphasizes immutability and predictable state transitions
Model-View-Presenter (MVP)	`class UserPresenter(val view: UserView) {` `fun loadUser() { view.showLoading() }` `}`	• Presenter mediates between View and Model • View is passive interface • common before MVVM rose to dominance • better testability than MVC

Table 1: Foundational Presentation Patterns

Pattern	Example	Description
Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM)	`class UserViewModel: ViewModel() {` `val user = MutableLiveData<User>()` `fun loadUser() { ... }` `}`	• ViewModel exposes observable state and commands • View binds to ViewModel updates • most popular pattern for Android (Jetpack) and iOS (SwiftUI/Combine).
Model-View-Intent (MVI)	`sealed class Intent` `data class ViewState(val items: List<Item>)` `fun reduce(state: ViewState, intent: Intent): ViewState`	• Unidirectional data flow with explicit user intents triggering state reduction • emphasizes immutability and predictable state transitions
Model-View-Presenter (MVP)	`class UserPresenter(val view: UserView) {` `fun loadUser() { view.showLoading() }` `}`	• Presenter mediates between View and Model • View is passive interface • common before MVVM rose to dominance • better testability than MVC