Today, Mobile has become an essential part of our lives and businesses. If you’ll dig deeper, a report suggested that 56% of people go online via mobile phones whereas the rest are divided between desktops and tablets. Surprisingly among that 56%, the total count of iOS users is nearly 27% and undoubtedly this figure is going to increase more in the upcoming days. The demand and loyal customer base have made it possible for them to surpass a 1+ Billion active user base. Well, this figure is quite extinguishing and the potential of earning is also high as compared to other OS.
Every year millions of apps are being published on the iOS platform supported by Apple’s App Store but the way to make it out is not as simple. They do have certain checklists, a selection of languages, and a set of guidelines which has to be followed by every developer. Talking of which today we’re going to highlight the Top 6 programming languages for iOS app development. Let’s have a look at them one-by-one.
1. Swift
Since its release, Swift has become one of the most popular languages used for crafting iOS, iPadOS, macOS, WatchOS, itvOS. It was introduced in 2014 by Apple as a substitute for Objective C and ever since it has been highly used by iOS developers. According to the PYPL Index (Popularity of Programming Language), Swift ranks at number 8 worldwide in terms of popularity and it captures a market share of about 2.03%. The reason that makes it so popular for its three major characteristics:
- Speed: Apple introduced Swift as a replacement for Objective-C, C, C++, and if you’ll compare them Swift is way too fast and smooth and throws astonishing performance for most of the tasks.
- Security: Working on swift is much cleaner and safer as compared to others. If you’re working for a project then safety is the biggest concern and keeping this in mind swift cannot be “nil” by default and its compiler will terminate you from using “nil” and will prevent your app from any unwanted crashes.
- First Language choice: If you’re at a beginner level, swift can be a good choice for you as it offers free tutorials for developers in a very interactive way and is available for an iPad currently named Swift Playground.
2. C#
It was introduced by Microsoft in 2000 as a standing competitor of Java. It’s an object-oriented programming language that is integrated with the .Net framework. Over the period of time, C# has gained popularity due to its simple and high-level architecture and has been ranked 7th ranking globally, and has been used by 31.4% of programmers today. Besides this, there are certain factors that will let you decide more about this programming language.
- Open Source: Due to its demand among developers it became open-source in 2014
- Responsive: When it comes to execution speed, C# delivers extensive fast response timing during compilation
- Library: C# offers an extensive range of libraries with pre-defined functions which makes it faster compared to others.
3. Objective-C
Objective-c was introduced back in 1984 by Tom Love and Brad Cox with an aim to provide an extension of OOPS along with similar properties. Today, it is one of the best solutions for iOS app development and has been actively used among developers way before Swift was introduced. Besides this, just because there is a lot more potential in the iOS market in monetary terms, an Objective can likewise be implemented while developing an iOS app after taking several things into consideration.
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Derived from C/C++: The very fundamental of using Objective C is that it is being derived from C/C++ which enables it to compile any C program using its compiler and you can also add C language code within an Objective-C class which makes it simple, flexible, and scalable for mobile app development.
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Community Support: It’s possible that you’re working on any language and there can be sometimes when you’re stuck somewhere and cope with such a situation. Since Objective-C came into existence way before swift language, it offers extensive support of the forum, and every day thousands of queries are being posted and you get instant support for your query.
- Easy to Go: Due to its simplicity and superior run time, Objective-C is one of the most basic programming languages today especially if you’re using powerful SDKs then Objective-c is the right choice.
4. Flutter
What if we say that you get a chance to pick a language that is extremely fast and can fit in today’s digital era. Yes, Flutter offers a fast experience and instant reload which enables the user to view all the recent changes without losing any relevant data. Those who are looking to get into iOS app development might consider learning this comprehensive app development kit a.k.a SDK which was introduced by Google in 2015 and was launched in 2017.
There has to be a solid reason while using Flutter, have a look at them:
- Widgets: Flutter offers a wide range of ready-to-go widgets which allows developers to implement them while developing any iOS application.
- Implementation Flexibility: Flutters offers any user to use any complex implementation via custom UI which can be deployed cross-platform. It enables developers to save time and effort.
- Less Code: Google introduced Flutter in 2017 with the concept of saving time and business manpower. Flutter was prepared on Dart programming language which uses JIT and AOT which enables it to save extra time. Not only this, flutter enables UI to refresh without making any unwanted changes.
5. React Native
React Native is widely used to create apps for iOS platforms. It’s offered by Meta and has a large community base. It also allows you to deploy your app to the Android platform. Besides this, being one of the most easy-to-learn programming languages makes it the first choice for developers who wish to become an ios app developers. Because it uses well-known javascript and typescript. So developers who are already familiar with these programming languages can easily shift to React Native to build mobile apps. You can build beautiful iOS apps using React Native.
React Native comes with many advantages:
- Large Community base: Whenever you are stuck somewhere, you can find solutions online.
- Reusable: In React Native, everything is a component which makes it reusable.
- Hot Reloading: It allows you to see your changes in real-time. You don’t need to compile your app again and again just to see small changes.
6. HTML5
Last on this list is HTML5 (HyperText Markup Language) which holds accountability for about 89% of the websites as of now. It is used to create applications by adjoining CSS & Jscript. Today, small-scale startups are using this language as it does not consume time and is also considered a highly cost-effective toolkit. Being a beginner, you can also start with HTML5 for learning and developing iOS apps development. However, before you jump to its conclusion, you might check out some of these highlighters beforehand.
- Limitations: As I’ve mentioned earlier, it can be a good fit for beginners so it comes up with limited functionality and can be trouble while working on complex items.
- Popularity: As per a survey by Stackflow, it is considered the 2nd highly used language by developers globally.
- Accessibility: If you’re looking for technology that can create applications in less time and can be accessible offline then HTML5 is for you.
- Compatibility: Although HTML is highly used among developers but still cannot be a perfect choice due to its compatibility issues with old browsers and also HTML5 support to build Native apps. This makes it issues with flexibility and with limited functionality with custom designing.
Conclusion
If you’re going to start your project with iOS app development or want to learn any language then this might be helpful for you to figure it out. It is very crucial for you to decide what could be the best language for starting your career or business depending upon the requirement. It’s all about your priority and the requirement of a particular language.