Mobile Apps

Build scalable iOS, Android, and Windows apps

Mobile Services provides a scalable and secure backend that can be used to power apps on any platform–iOS, Android, Windows or Mac. With Mobile Services, it’s easy to store app data in the cloud, authenticate users, and send push notifications. Built from the ground up to be flexible and extensible, Mobile Services lets you code your app backend in C# or Node.js. You can save app data either on-premises or in Azure SQL database, blob storage, table storage and MongoDB.

Build mobile apps for your employees

With Mobile Services, you can easily authenticate your users with Active Directory, securely connect to on-premises resources like SAP, Oracle and SQL Server, and leverage cross-platform frameworks like Xamarin and PhoneGap to build enterprise-grade apps for your employees, whether they are using iOS, Android or Windows and whether they are in the office, airport or customer site.

Broadcast push notifications to millions in minutes

Notification Hubs is a massively scalable mobile push notification engine capable of sending millions of push notifications within minutes. You can easily hook Notification Hubs into any existing app backend, whether that backend is hosted on-premises or in Azure. With Notification Hubs, you gain the ability to send cross-platform (iOS, Android, Windows and Windows Phone) mobile push notifications at extremely high volumes and with incredibly low latency.

Learn more about Notification Hubs

Send personalized notifications to your audience

Notification Hubs provides two very important personalization and localization tools—tags and templates. You can use tags to send notifications to particular customer segments based on interest, location, device etc. and templates to localize content. With tags and templates, you have the tools you need to make sure that each customer receives the right content at the right time and in the right format.

Learn more about Notification Hubs

Make your app social

Mobile Services makes configuring user authentication via Facebook, Google, Microsoft, or Twitter accounts as simple as a few clicks. Once users authenticate, not only can you personalize their experience based on social APIs, but also increase engagement and sharing.

Auto scale to fit your business

Easily configure built-in auto scale for both Mobile Services and Notification Hubs to match your app needs. With auto scale you can spin up/down resources based actual usage and pay only what you need. With access to the global network of Microsoft managed data centers, allowing you to reach users anywhere in the world.

Learn

Learn the basics of choosing a cloud-connected backend for your app: download whitepaper

Learn how to build consumer mobile apps that scale: view webinar

Learn how to build secure mobile apps for the enterprise: view webinar

Create your first mobile app backend

You can create a mobile backend capable of powering cross-platform applications within seconds.

Create using the Management Portal

Select the New->Compute->Mobile Service option within the Management Portal:

Enter the name of the Mobile Service, select an existing SQL database or create a new one, designate the region to which you’d like to deploy and choose either a JavaScript or .NET backend.

Once you enter your database settings and click the check mark, your app backend will be ready to use in moments.

Create using Command Line

You can also create and configure a new Mobile Services using our command line interface:

~$ azure mobile create <service-name> <server-admin>
<server-password> --location ["data center name"]