If you have a passion for programming, technology and learning, a job as an iOS developer may be a good fit for you. With in-demand skills, it’s no surprise that iOS developers earn high salaries. But what can you expect if you want to become an iOS developer?
What to Expect if You Want to Become an iOS Developer
Make Sure You Have Passion
App development is a long and complicated process. You’re going to spend a lot of time on each project, so make sure you have a passion for iOS development.
Sure, you can develop apps without passion, but you may wind up hating your work. If you have a passion for the job itself (not just the money), you’ll produce higher-quality work and stay motivated through each project.
Is it really work if you love what you’re doing?
You Should Understand Apple’s Design Principles
Apple wants developers to succeed and produce apps that their user base loves. To make the process a little easier, they share design principles that developers should keep in mind when creating apps.
- Consistency: Create an app that behaves in ways people expect. Apple suggests using familiar icons, interface elements, text styles and terminology.
- Aesthetic Integrity: Your app’s design and behavior should be aligned with its purpose. For example, an app designed to help you focus may have minimal graphics, predictable behaviors and familiar controls. Games, on the other hand, may have more vibrant graphics and unique behaviors.
- Feedback: Feedback lets users know that they have taken actions and shows the results of that action. For example, interactive elements may be highlighted when tapped. Sounds and animations may be used to clarify the results of the user’s actions.
- Direct Manipulation: This refers to the way users interact with their device. For example, if they rotate their phone, they expect the view to change. They also expect gestures to affect their onscreen content.
- User Control: Apple recommends that app developers give users control over their actions. The app may warn of the consequences of taking a certain step or recommend a course of action, but the user should make the final decision.
- Metaphors: According to Apple, apps are more successful when actions mimic familiar real-world actions. For example, flicking or swiping the corner of the screen may cause an eBook’s page to flip.
Keep all of these principles in mind when developing apps.
You’ll Need the Right Tools
To develop iOS apps, you need the right tools for the job:
- Mac
- iPhone
- Xcode (iOS development tool)
- Mockplus (prototype design tool)
Xcode provides a development environment for iOS applications and supports source code for:
- C++
- C
- Objective-C
- Swift
- Objective-C++
- Java
- AppleScript
Mockplus is another essential developer’s tool for prototyping. Contrary to what you may have heard, prototyping design is an important part of the development process and will help you better communicate with designers. Mockplus is easy to use and will play an invaluable role in your app development.
You’ll Need to Learn Swift Programming
With these tools in hand, it’s time to learn Swift programming. Initially, iOS apps were developed in Objective-C, but recently, Apple introduced Swift.
Swift is reportedly much cleaner and easier to learn.
Getting an App Approved is Difficult
Most people will tell you that iOS is easier for beginners compared to Android, and this is true. However, it’s much harder to get an app approved for the App Store than it is for the Google Play Store.
All iOS apps have to be reviewed before they can be released onto the store, and if you didn’t do a great job developing the app, it will be rejected.
Once you understand what it takes to get an app approved, it’s much easier to overcome this hurdle in the future.
Testing is Necessary
Testing is a necessary part of the development process – if you want your app to succeed. You’ll need to develop positive working relationships with iOS app testing services and be ready to make changes to improve performance based on the results of the tests.
Tests can be used for:
- Integration
- Functional
- Performance
- Reliability
- Acceptance
- System
- Stress
Testing is beneficial because it improves the chances of your app being accepted and succeeding with users.
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Interesting related article: “What is an Application (APP)?“