{"id":4465,"date":"2021-09-20T07:30:13","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T07:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/codewaveinsdev.wpengine.com\/?p=4465"},"modified":"2023-07-03T07:59:16","modified_gmt":"2023-07-03T07:59:16","slug":"ios-tech-stack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/codewave.com\/insights\/ios-tech-stack\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech Stack To Build Scalable iOS Apps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are you not able to decide on the iOS tech stack for your app idea? No worries, we got you covered. By the way, today is a special day for iOS fans as Apple iOS 15<\/a> is going to be available for everyone starting today. Isn\u2019t that good news? Yeah? Cool. On that happy note, let\u2019s get back to the main topic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are 3.48 million+ apps available on Google Play Store and nearly 2.2 million apps on App Store<\/a> in 2021. This insight is on scalable iOS tech stacks but first understand why all this frenzy in the app-market, why the app-economy is unstoppable, and what really makes an app a success story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why everyone wants to develop for iOS?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/
iOS 15<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The App Store surpassed 184 billion+ app downloads<\/strong> back in 2017 itself. Google Play Store definitely has more apps than The App Store but the revenue generated from the apps on the App Store is almost twice that of Google Play Store apps. Yes. Apple Store leaps ahead with iOS apps commanding USD 19 Billions<\/strong> compared to the USD 10.3 Billions by Android apps. Don\u2019t confuse these numbers with the revenue generated from within the apps. The quoted revenue is what users pay in aggregation to download apps from these platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The above number$<\/strong> make it clear why entrepreneurs are after the app market. The profit and impact making opportunity is limitless in the digital economy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But not everyone is equally successful. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes an iOS app a success story?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Some spend millions on app development and yet fail to make the apps usable. Some apps get crushed in the cut-throat competition without even turning profitable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You already know these. Right? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what really differentiates apps, what factors decide an app\u2019s fate? Is it just the idea, the product-market fit? Not really. The app\u2019s UIUX<\/strong>, its scalability, security, <\/strong>and performance <\/strong>matters too!<\/strong> To boost up the success chances of your app, you (we) need to take care of all these aspects while developing mobile apps. But it could be a cumbersome job to handle the tech, the business, and the customers too. So, we recommend you finding a reliable iOS development services partner<\/a>, or dev team augmentation partners who can take care of the entire iOS app development lifecycle, who are apt at building highly intuitive apps by applying design thinking principles<\/em><\/strong>, who have experience building 100s of secure and high-performance apps<\/a>, and lastly \u2013 a team who is accessible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s get to the basics of finding an appropriate tech stack for your iOS app idea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to choose the right tech stack for your iOS app?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"iOS
Apple<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Your tech stack can either make iOS development highly complex and time taking, or it can simplify things for you and speed up the time to market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first question you should be asking while developing an app is whether you want it to be iOS only or you want to <\/em><\/strong>build for both iOS and Android<\/em><\/strong><\/a>?<\/em><\/strong> When you are building for just one platform, it\u2019s suggested to use native technologies, and if you\u2019re building for multiple platforms then we recommend using cross-platform technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer to the aforementioned question highly depends on you, and the users for the application that you are willing to introduce in the market. If your users are on both iOS and Android, it makes sense to develop for both the platforms. Why leave a significant share of the market for competitors? And if only a negligible size of users are on Android then why not invest the Android budget on improving iOS app\u2019s performance, design, and security? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using cross-platform technologies<\/a> can save you plenty of time and revenue compared to native platform technologies if you\u2019re developing for both Android & iOS. So, your market research is going to play a critical role here in deciding whether you need an iOS only app or a cross platform application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: <\/strong>Should you allow your available talent resources to influence your tech stack decision? I mean, let\u2019s say you have only SWIFT developers (Swift is an iOS only app development technology). Then would you go for an iOS only app and ignore the Android market? Nope, right? What can you do? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have 3 sensible options here:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Outsource entire project to cross-platform development teams<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Outsource native android app development, and build in-house iOS app<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Augment your team with temporary developers, test MVP, and then hire full-time developers or let an external team handle the app code maintenance work.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s all get on a common ship<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \"iOS
    Apple<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Native, cross-platform, or hybrid \u2013 Every app stack comprises Frontend technologies, Backend technologies, Platform to host and run apps, Database to build interactive transaction based applications, and of-course, the design & development tools. Here\u2019s a one-liner explanation for these technical terms so that we are all on the same ship<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Frontend<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Client side interface, more popularly known as User Interface (UI)<\/a>. For example, the app design that you see and interact with when you use an app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      1. Backend<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        The data inputs, or your interactions with the website needs to be processed, backend scripts and code logics take care of all such processing. For example, you search for a particular product on an ecommerce store, and the backend code of your application scans the database and returns a set of available products with details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        1. Database<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          The tables with rows and columns, or documents that store all the information about a website. For example, a vendor database of an eCommerce website<\/a> would include all the seller details along with the products they sell, contact info, and other relevant data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \n
          1. Platform\/Hosting<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

            Platform is what serves your app to the user\u2019s device. Hosting servers are where your app\u2019s backend logic resides and where all the computation happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Now, let\u2019s understand on a high-level about what comprises of native iOS tech stack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Native iOS App Development Tech Stack<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
            \"iOS
            Apple<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

            Native apps mainly work with device\u2019s Operating Systems in a way that enables full device integration (hardware functionalities) and access to root level APIs. This results in better performance compared to using hybrid technologies like Xamarin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Here we list down the pros and cons of going for native iOS tech stack \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Pros<\/strong> of Native iOS App Development Stack:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              \n
            1. Enables you to render native device functionalities \u2013 like recording videos in HEIF\/HEVC format, stream content on multiple devices, drag and drop content, native voice controlled screen recording, etcetera.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            2. Fast and Responsive .<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            3. Native SDKs for a better iOS experience.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            4. Less exposure to third party libraries means strong security. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

              Cons<\/strong> of Native iOS App stack:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                \n
              1. Single platform.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              2. Coordination between multiple teams<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              3. It takes extra effort to maintain consistent experience across platforms.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                iOS-only App Development Stack<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                \"SWIFT
                SWIFT<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n