The disclosure generally describes computer-implemented methods, software, and systems for creating and using two-tier mobile applications. A computer-implemented method includes identifying at least a portion of a database to be associated with a mobile application, retrieving a set of metadata associated with the at least a portion of the identified database, automatically generating a set of mobile application source code for directly accessing the at least a portion of the database based on the set of retrieved metadata, and compiling the set of mobile application source code into a distributable mobile application, the distributable mobile application configured to directly access the identified database associated with the mobile application. In some instances, the identifying, retrieving, generating, and compiling operations are performed at design time, while at runtime, the mobile application is executable by a mobile device and, during runtime execution, can request database-related information directly from the identified database.