In the last decade, mobile applications have become an essential part of almost every aspect of people’s daily lives, including health, business, creativity, education, travel, and more.
In this abundance of digital products, Apple App Store remains to be the most appealing marketplace because of users who are more inclined to pay for premium packages and buy apps that have, although simpler, but free, analogs.
In 2021, App Store gross app revenue has surpassed Google Play Store by almost $10 bln despite having a far smaller market share. The iOS mobile application market is tough to both newbies and veterans. Competition is intense, almost no niche is left untapped, the number of products is terrifyingly large, and there’s no shortage of great ideas. But what really makes some products stand out while others fail is the quality.
A lot of people could get creative and get into coding. But we in Diversido know that delivering a product that will maintain optimal performance and meet users’ needs is often a collaborative effort of a team of qualified programmers that you could assemble yourself or find in a reputable development agency. But if you want to do it all yourself, here’s a detailed list of programming languages you’ll need to choose from for the tech stack of your project.
- Swift
An official iOS programming language was first introduced at a Worldwide Developers Conference in 2014 as an alternative to Objective-C language. Aimed for easy and flexible object-oriented programming, it has since gained a reputation for being an accessible language for beginners. As an open-source language since 2015, Swift has built a large community of users and contributors, operating with a wide array of third-party tools and frameworks. The updated version of a binary interface of the Swift 5.0 introduced in 2019 allows for a stable and smooth operation within Apple’s dedicated platforms, including macOS, iOS, tvOS, watchOS, and iPadOS. The development is made faster through an LLVM compiler framework that optimizes the code. Great performance and scalability have made it into the go-to language for iOS development. Swift operates with an Objective C codebase as well as an array of app frameworks like Cocoa and Cocoa Touch.
Swift for IOS: Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Open source
- Fast development process
- Active community and regular updates
- Easy to read and code
- Easy to scale and introduce new features
- Simpler to avoid errors and crashes
- Codebase can be shared and reused
- Interoperable and compatible with Objective C
- Automatic memory management
Cons:
- Limited by native tools and libraries
- Limited talent pool compared to Objective C, JavaScript, and Python
- Cannot be used on older OS versions
- Limited cross-platform support
2. Objective-C
The main programming language for Apple devices since the late 90s, Objective C is basically a combination of C and SmallTalk programming languages that offers object-oriented capabilities and a dynamic runtime. It’s an old-time-tested language that doesn’t bring the confusion of constant updates and new versions that some people might struggle with using Swift. It’s harder to learn and has more limited capabilities compared to Swift, but it does come in handy when the project requires building a framework, working with C or C++ third-party frameworks, or developing with older macOS and iOS versions.
Objective-C for IOS: Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Time-tested and stable
- Allows to compile libraries
- Dynamic typing
Cons:
- Not open source
- Based on C, hence hard to learn
- No tool visualization and intuitive interface
- Low security level
- Not updated
- Manual memory management
3. Java
A general-purpose language was introduced in the early 90s as an object-oriented, class-based, portable language that could be used for a wide variety of applications. Although there is no Java Virtual Machine that runs on iPhones, this problem could be solved by compiling it to the Objective C code. Java is known for being secure and cross-compatible. It’s wildly popular, so there’s always a large number of talent to work with at affordable rates. It provides good performance thanks to a number of features such as just-in-time compilation.
Java for iOS: Pros and Cons
Suggested Read: Is It Possible to Use Java with iOS?
Pros:
- Open source
- Easy to learn
- Increased security
- Wide community
- Cost-efficient and easy to maintain
- Platform-independent and portable
- Automatic memory management
Cons:
- Slow performance
- Requires complex coding
- No backup data storage
- Takes more memory
- Complex syntaxes
4. C#
An object-oriented language created by Microsoft in 2000, C# was mainly used in the development of Microsoft apps using the .NET framework, but has in time become a popular language in cross-platform app development, including Android, iOS, and Linux. Libraries provided by the .NET framework and Just-In-Time compiler allow to speed up the development process and provide the best performance. In conjunction with Xamarin Platform and Mono framework, C# could be used in building applications for all major platforms with an open-source implementation. While C# is generally known to be hard to learn, it might be an optimal solution for building an application that would run on both Android and iOS.
C# for IOS: Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Open-source
- Type-safe and dynamic language
- Large community of users
- Automatic memory management
- Visual Studio as an IDE and various libraries
- Scalability and cross-platform development
Cons:
- Hard to learn
- Depends on Microsoft platforms and frameworks
- Requires recompiling the code to implement changes
5. Flutter
The software development kit introduced by Google in 2017 uses Dart programming language and a widget-based technology for object-oriented programming to develop fast and responsive native apps for both iOS and Android with a sleek uniform look in both mobile and web versions. Flutter provides tools to develop visually stunning and responsive, natively compiled apps for a multitude of platforms using a single codebase. Flutter does not use the JavaScript bridge, making it possible to achieve a high level of performance.
Flutter for IOS: Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Single codebase for all platforms
- Allows to quickly build aesthetically pleasing UI
- Customizable widgets
- Fast development and testing process
- No need for intermediate bridges
Cons:
- Complex updating process
- Large file sizes
- Fairly small community and talent pool
- Limited number of tools and libraries
- Not enough guideline documentation
6. React Native
React Native is an open-source JavaScript framework based on a React.js front-end library. It remains one of the most popular cross-platform tools for iOS and Android app development, having an attractive portfolio of being used in the development of Meta apps, including Facebook and Instagram.
A familiar JavaScript framework, a single codebase, and the possibility of real-time change implementation have made it an instant favorite for a huge number of developers. React Native excels at offering a cost-efficient solution for building well-rounded cross-platform apps with great performance.
React Native for IOS: Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Open-source
- Single codebase
- Easy to work with
- Fast and cost-efficient development
- Simplified UI
- Based on popular JavaScript
- Active community
- Fast Refresh feature
Cons:
- Performance inferior to native
- Doesn’t work with complex interface designs
- Updating problems
- Not enough customizable modules
- Compatibility problems
7. HTML5
The latest version of a highly popular HyperText Markup Language has been introduced in 2008. Since then, it has gone through a number of updates to accommodate an evolving multimedia market.
Mostly used in conjunction with CSS and JavaScript, HTML5 allows for building not only websites but simple and cheap applications without native capabilities. Facebook used an application built in HTML5 for a couple of years until they decided to run with native.
The main advantage of building an app in HTML5 is cost-efficiency and development speed, but with the right set of tools (like Visual Studio and Apache Cordova), one could develop a mobile application that will work offline and will look and feel just good enough without any breathtaking visuals and animations.
HTML5 for IOS: Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Cost efficient
- Fast development
- Large talent pool
- Cross-platform
- Easy to modify
- Works well on many browsers
Cons:
- Cannot build native apps
- Browser and network dependance
- Functional limitations
- Responsiveness issues
- Slow performance
What Technology to Use to Develop iOS Apps?
| Language | Key pros | Key cons |
| Swift |
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| Objective C |
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| Java |
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| C# |
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| Flutter |
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| React Native |
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| HTML5 |
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Developing an app is a multi-faceted task that comes with a wide array of options, where your choice will depend on the nature of the product you want to deliver. Before you get into learning any programming language to build an app for a particular device, you need to figure out what exactly is your product meant to change or enhance.
Consider what you know and what programming languages you are already familiar with. Mobile apps are too large of an investment to go into uncharted territory on a dare. Try to understand the main purpose that your tech stack has to fulfill in terms of your product quality, your budget, and your workflow.
Also Read: Objective C – Tech Trends for iOS App Development