What Is IOS App Development?

Category: Total VDO Date Published: August 25,2022

What is iOS app development?

iOS application development is the process of making mobile applications for Apple hardware, including the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. The software is written in the Swift programming language or Objective-C and then deployed to the App Store for users to download.

If you’re a mobile app developer, you may have reservations about iOS development. For example, each developer needs a Mac computer—and Macs are generally more expensive than their Windows-based counterparts. In addition, once you complete your app, it faces a stringent quality review process before it can be distributed through the App Store.

Nevertheless, if your organization’s employees, customers, or partners are among the hundreds of millions of Apple iPhone and iPad users around the world, you have obvious reasons to engage in iOS app development. And despite potentially high barriers to entry, developing an iOS app can be as easy as (in some cases easier than) developing for Android. With proper planning and the right resources, you can join the ranks of iOS app developers.

Meet the developer requirements

Before you write a single line of code in the iOS app development process, you need:

   1)  An Apple Mac computer running the latest version of macOS.

   2)  Xcode, which is the integrated development environment (IDE) for macOS, is available as a free download from the Mac App Store.

   3)  An active Apple Developer account, which requires a $99 annual fee.

These three requirements work together: Only active members of the Apple Developer Program can post an app to the Apple App Store. Only apps signed and published by Xcode are eligible for submission to the App Store. Xcode runs only on macOS, and macOS runs only on Apple computers.

The good news is that Xcode offers much more than just the ability to sign and publish your completed app. The IDE contains a user interface designer, code editor, testing engine, asset catalog, and more—virtually everything you need for iOS app development.

Test locally, test globally

Even the best developers don’t write perfect code — at least not the first time around. Once you’ve completed your iOS app development, you’ll need to test it. Fortunately, you will not need to test mobile devices from multiple manufacturers, as you might when developing for Android. iOS is Apple’s proprietary mobile operating system, which runs only on Apple iPhones. Although you might want to test your iOS app on several generations of iPhones (with multiple operating systems), there are still fewer devices to test than with Android.

Your first line of testing is in Xcode itself. In addition to the standard unit tests you’re used to, Xcode features automated UI testing. You can write tests that navigate through your UI, interacting with your app like a user would locate any issues. The UI testing doesn’t use APIs to interact with your code—it simulates a real user’s interaction with your app. As long as you write tests that cover every aspect of your app, you can automatically get UI testing that’s often more thorough than what any human can accomplish.

Publish your app to the App Store

Once you’re done with iOS app development and testing, you’ll need to submit your app to the App Store. You can submit and sign your app directly through Xcode. Be patient: The app review process can be lengthy, frequently requiring multiple iterations of rejection-revision-resubmission-rejection until you get your final approval.

Once you’ve passed all approvals, you can build your App Store page by using a program called App Store Connect and push your app to the App Store. If you’re planning on selling your app, remember that Apple takes a 30 percent cut of your sales, in addition to the $99 annual fee they charge to participate in the Developer Program.