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You are more likely to read this post on your mobile phone screen. Mobile phones are integrated into our lives like never before. We use mobile phones for small utility tasks like alarms, calculators, and calendars. A report by Hitwise reveals that 60% of all searches are performed on mobile devices.
Also, we have seen the rise of mobile apps in the last decade. Today, we have mobile apps for almost every operation or task. We have a feature-rich mobile app for everything, from playing games to shopping online, managing a portfolio, and assessing health and wellness.
Regarding mobile app development, businesses can either go for Android or iOS. Apple is a renowned brand, and Apple users are considered to be loyal to the brand. Apple devices are of the highest quality and highly regarded for their speed, performance, and user experience. Today, there are 1.81 billion mobile apps and 472,000 gaming apps on the Apple App Store.
Developing an iOS mobile app can help you reach a diversified Apple user base. You only need an iOS app development company with a promising portfolio and an experienced iOS developer team. With more than 1.46 billion iOS devices in the world, the potential reach of your iOS app is staggering.
The programming language is the first thing developers think of when starting a mobile app development project. A programming language is the fundamental building block of any mobile app. These programming languages consist of tools and instructions to build high-quality, feature-rich, and excellent mobile apps that offer a seamless user experience to your target audience.
This post discusses all the programming languages, their pros and cons, and how they can help build future-ready iOS mobile apps for your business.
An iOS programming language is a specific programming language that developers use to build platform-specific applications that can run smoothly on Apple's devices, like iPhones, iPads, iWatches, and Apple TVs.
We have to refer to two types of app development methodologies when we discuss programming languages for iOS devices.
Native app development
Cross-platform app development
Before that, let's discuss why you should go for iOS app development for your business.
As a business, an iOS app opens a floodgate of opportunities and possibilities for you. Let's discuss compelling reasons why you should hire iOS app developers to build a next-gen iOS app.
iOS users are highly loyal to Apple devices. You don't have to make extra effort to win their loyalty. All you need to offer them is the best product in the market. The iOS user base is gigantic and superiorly engaged. You can reach out to a large audience with an iOS app.
iOS users are an elite class of consumers willing to spend money on mobile apps. If you have an iOS app that offers an immersive experience with value-added services, it will bring a fortune in revenues for your business.
Do we need to discuss the quality and performance of Apple devices? They are known for their impressive designs, highly intuitive and immersive user interfaces, and robust performance. You will have a brilliant foundation for your app to start with.
The iOS development environment is highly advanced with hi-tech tools, resources, and tutorials, including Xcode, Swift, SwiftUI, etc., to simplify and streamline the development process. With the right iOS development team, you can build a highly engaging and feature-rich app that can offer a stimulating user experience to your target audience with good engagement.
The Apple App Store is highly advanced and well-organised, and it would be smooth sailing for your app to become visible to millions of users.
Choosing the correct programming language for your iOS app is crucial. Let's discuss some factors to consider while doing it.
First of all, you need to define your project's requirements and complexity. What type of app are you building? Does your app require complex animations, third-party integrations, and real-time data processing features? Different programming languages have different strengths, so you must choose one that perfectly aligns with your project requirements.
When choosing the programming language, you must also consider your app's performance requirements. For example, will your app handle heavy calculations while ensuring smooth performance? How well does your app manage resources? These questions must be answered before choosing the programming language.
What goals do you have in mind regarding scalability? Do you want to add more features and functionalities in the future? You must choose a programming language that perfectly meets and adapts to your scalability needs.
For example, if you have selected Swift for your iOS app development project, are your developers familiar with the language? Do they have prior experience developing advanced apps with Swift? You also need to keep in mind the expertise of your developers.
Does the programming language have enough resources and tutorials? Can your developers get instant help through tutorials, forums, and libraries when needed? A programming language with robust community support helps developers troubleshoot issues and learn new updates.
Does the language have pre-built components and tools to quicken the development process? You will need a rich ecosystem with pre-built libraries and frameworks to accelerate the project.
Also, you need to know whether the creators maintain the language actively and regularly to ensure its stable future, long-term support, and device compatibility. Ensure that the programming language stays relevant and has a sufficient talent pool in the future.
Let's discuss the top iOS programming languages in detail to determine which is most suitable for your project.
Swift is one of the most preferred iOS programming languages for building highly impressive, immersive, and feature-rich iOS apps for iOS mobile devices, iPads, macOS, and itvOS. It is a general-purpose, modern programming language known for its user-friendly nature, safety features, performance, and strong community support. Swift has been used by 2.1 million iOS developers worldwide.
Advantages
Readability:
Swift's code is easy to read and comprehend with a simple and concise syntax. Also, developers can easily understand and maintain the code without any effort.
Safety
Swift's type safety feature allows developers to prevent errors, bugs, and functional issues. It makes the code more reliable and robust.
Performance
Swift is built specifically for Apple devices, offering high-end performance and speed.
Modern Design
To build well-designed modern apps, Swift has robust design features like closures, generics, programming paradigms, etc..
Large Community
Swift offers massive community support, with hundreds of thousands of developers contributing to making it a global programming language. Developers will find plenty of support and learning opportunities with Swift.
Limitations
Let's discuss some critical limitations of this powerful language.
Limited Legacy Support
Swift can easily interact with Objective-C, but you will need expert iOS developers to manage and maintain large legacy apps built with Objective-C.
Maturity
Swift is a new and still-evolving programming language. Resources are limited compared to other programming languages, such as C++.
Apple Ecosystem Lock-In
Swift is built explicitly for Apple apps. However, it does not support cross-platform compatibility. If you want to reach out to Android users, Swift is no longer an option.
Not For All
Though Swift is the ideal choice for mobile app development projects, some projects have better choices. You should think of other programming languages in certain use cases that require high performance.
Before the inception of Swift in 2014, Objective-C was the most popular choice to build iOS apps. Even though Swift has become the primary choice for iOS mobile app projects, Objective-C has retained its glory. Mostly, developers use Objective-C to maintain legacy apps and learn the foundation of iOS frameworks.
Objective-C is an open-source, general-purpose, object-oriented programming language used for iOS app development. It consists of object-oriented concepts, such as classes, objects, inheritance, etc. Even in 2024, Objective-C will hold 2.34% of searches on Google.
Let's check out some of the benefits of Objective-C.
Dynamic Typing
Its dynamic data typing and runtime allow developers to develop apps rapidly, reducing the development time. However, it might lead to runtime errors.
Manual memory management:
Here, developers allocate, release, and manage memory manually. It requires careful memory management to avoid memory leaks.
Rich standard library:
Developers can find essential building blocks to perform everyday tasks quickly and efficiently, such as file I/O, data structure management, networking, etc.
Cocoa Touch frameworks:
Apple offers many independent APIs to build powerful iOS mobile apps with Objective-C.
Maturity
Objective-C is a mature programming language with extensive frameworks, developer tools, and community to help developers build world-class mobile apps.
Interoperability
The best benefit of Objective-C is that it is quickly and actively interoperable with programming languages like C++ and Swift.
Not Suitable for New Projects
If you want to start a new iOS project, there are better choices than Objective-C, as Apple actively encourages developers to use Swift.
Steeper Learning Curve:
The learning curve of Objective-C is difficult with its highly complex syntax and manual memory management. Beginners might need help learning Objective-C compared to other modern programming languages.
Error Possibilities
Though dynamic typing and manual memory management are Objective-C's strengths, they might lead to runtime errors and other functional issues.
Now, let's check out some iOS programming languages when you go for cross-platform app development.
React Native was made open-source in 2015, and it has become one of the most popular cross-platform frameworks to build mobile applications for iOS and Android.
React Native has a simple structure and a linear learning curve. If you are good at React, a JavaScript library, you can efficiently work with React Native. Facebook backs it, and you can expect regular updates and newer versions with excellent community support. In 2023, React Native was used by 32% of developers worldwide.
Features of React Native
Hot Reload Feature
The hot reload feature of React Native allows developers to see code changes in real-time without the need to refresh the app. It reduces the app development time.
Write Once, Use Anywhere
Developers don't need to write separate codes for Android and iOS platforms. They just need to write once and reuse the code for multiple platforms.
UI-Centric
React Native is a UI-centric framework for designing a high-quality, impressive app that catches everyone's attention.
Strong Community Support
React Native has a great, active community, with developers contributing daily. Developers can get instant support with various resources.
Third-party Support
React Native offers dynamic support for third-party libraries to build highly innovative apps.
Flutter is a Google-backed cross-platform app development framework to build user-centric Android and iOS apps. The latest Flutter version, Flutter 3.16, was released in November 2023.
In 2023, Flutter was used by 43% of developers worldwide.
ARM Compilation
ARM compiles the Flutter code to make the development process quicker without system restrictions.
Multiple Screens
Flutter apps offer a seamless user experience on multiple devices with different screens. A Flutter app will deliver the best experience on iOS devices like iPhones, iPods, and Macs.
Widgets and Libraries
Flutter has many widgets and libraries to build feature-rich mobile apps.
Development Tools
Flutter has various development tools, including automated testing tools, to simplify the development process.
All these iOS programming languages have pros, cons, and use cases. You can select a programming language based on your iOS project's requirements and scalability goals. Hire a mobile app development company to help you select the correct programming language.
For example, if you want to build a native app, Swift is your primary option. You can use Objective-C to maintain and update your legacy apps. If you have cross-platform app development, Flutter or React Native are your best choice.
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Olivia Manek is the Marketing Manager of ManekTech, a global ranking Custom Software, Web and Mobile App Development Company in USA . With 12+ years of experience of enabling Startups.
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