The emergence of technology is majorly bent towards mobile apps, and a significant part of the world's population is focused on iOS devices. This opens an opportunity for many iOS mobile app development agencies to showcase their talent and win the market. iOS is an imperative and a huge part of the mobile revolution. With the companies continuously incorporating iOS mobile app development services into their offerings, iOS development has become crucial and competitive in the mobile industry.
When creating an iOS application, you need to essentially have the correct collection of iOS development tools. There was a time when iOS development was a challenging job due to some of Apple's limitations. However, it is an undeniable fact that using the correct iOS development tools can help you achieve the desired outcomes. Tools help make the app development process easier and help in simplifying the integration process with the backend services.
Now let's look at some of the top tools that you can use while developing iOS apps. We have mentioned the best 5.
Let's pay attention to some of the most popular iOS app development tools. These tools help iOS app developers create the most scalable, reliable, well-functioning, and efficient mobile applications with stunning UI/UX designs. This post will give you knowledge about the most popular iOS development tools with their advantages and disadvantages. Read further to get yourself infused with the knowledge.
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AppCode
AppCode - An IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for Swift, Objective-C, C, and C++ development created on JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA platform. Its very first public preview version was launched in April 2011, after which it rapidly started gaining popularity in the market. Its latest available version is AppCode 2021.3 and is available on JetBrains' official website. Built on the IntelliJ IDEA platform, AppCode is written in Java and Kotlin. If you want to extend its abilities, you can do it by installing plugins that are developed for the IntelliJ platform, or you can also build your own plugins.
AppCode is a smart editor with efficient project navigation, thorough code analysis, smart completion, and reliable refactorings. Let's now look at why you should choose AppCode for iOS App Development.
Why Choose AppCode for App Development?
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A Smart IDE
AppCode is an intelligent integrated development environment with the ability to smartly and thoroughly analyze the code structure built by the users. This will enable developers to identify the issues and problems in their codes, thus accelerating their development process.
- Seamless and Reliable Code Refactorings
One among so many remarkable capabilities of AppCode is Code Refactoring. This is a technique of changing the structure of the code without altering its external behavior. With AppCode, you can seamlessly use this technique to enhance the code’s design and structure.
- Created with a Customizable UI that Adapts to your Work Process
AppCode is built with a customizable user interface. Users can configure the tools and the layouts found in their UI to perform their tasks more efficiently and conveniently.
AppCode Features
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Unit Testing
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XCode Support
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Editor Customization
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Integrations
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Navigation and Search
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Run & Debug Smart Editor
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Refactoring and Code Generation
- XCode
XCode is Apple's IDE for macOS, which is used to develop software for macOS, iOS, watchOS, iPadOS, and tvOS. Initially released in 2003, its latest stable version is 13.1, launched on 25th October 2021. It is available on the Mac App Store free of cost for macOS Monterey users. This platform includes Command Line tools that enable Unix-style development through macOS's terminal app.
XCode 13 has recently brought some powerful team development features that are considered the best for working with XCode cloud, GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket collaboration features. Read further to know more about why you should use XCode for iOS App Development.
Why XCode for iOS App Development?
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Helpful Interface
XCode helps users develop mobile applications for iOS devices while providing them with the assistant editor. In addition, XCode automatically shows resources that it considers useful in the ongoing coding process without interfering with the development and editing in the main window. This lets developers easily find data that could help them in completing the project faster.
- Schemes feature
XCode is an iOS app development tool with various working schemes that are launched depending on the tasks currently performed by the developers. Its interface launches the debug mode automatically, but you can also customize it to execute the other operations.
- Smooth Navigation
When the users need to find specific data, they can turn to the Assistant Editor. The development workflow is not affected, even when the users need to discover particular data, thanks to the Jump bar that presents the search result where users can immediately examine the code in question.
XCode Features
- Testing
- Source Control
- Split Window View
- Coding Assistant
- Configurations
- Code Filter
- Schemes Management
- Quick Access
- User Interface Prototyping
- Version Editor
- Transporter
You can find the current release of the transporter developer application on the Mac App Store. The Transporter is an easy tool to deliver content to Apple. You can easily send music, movies, apps, tv shows, or books for distribution on the iTunes Store, Apple TV app, App Store, Apple Music, and Apple Books. Back then, it was available on command-line tools, but now it easily lets users drag and drop to seamlessly upload the binaries to App Store Connect. This allows developers to see the details like a warning, delivery history, errors, and progress.
With the transporter app, you can upload your .pkg and .ipa files to App Store Connect and see the track record of previous deliveries with the date and time.
Transporter for iOS Mobile App Development. Why?
You can simply drag and drop content to upload into Transporter to create an iOS application.You can upload multiple files at a time for fast delivery.
Also, you can keep track of the past deliveries with the date and time.
You can also see the delivery progress, including errors, delivery logs, and validation warnings so that you can fix the issues if any.
Features of Transporter
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Drag and drop
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Upload Multiple Files simultaneously
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Track Progress
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Previous delivery track
- Code Runner
Code Runner is a robust iOS development tool known for its excellent strong compilation capabilities. The tool's feature-rich components make it easier for any developer to write an iOS app code. Code Runner is one of the most preferred choices for iOS app developers because it is simple to use, lightweight, and smooth. Code Runner supports all the popular coding languages. With the 25 programming languages supported, personal license and site license are the two types of licenses offered.
Why Use Code Runner for iOS Development?
It is a seamless tool with strong compilation capabilities.Code Runner has feature-rich components for comprehensive iOS app development
It is lightweight and easy to use.
The greatest advantage of Code Runner is that it has multi-language support, i.e., almost 25 languages are supported.
Code Runner Features
- Advanced Code Completion
- Debugging with Breakpoints
- Run Code in any Language
- Customized key binding
- Built-in console
- Live Errors
- CocoaPods
Cocoapod - It is a dependency manager for XCode projects. Since it has an abundance of libraries and is used in many mobile applications, you can use it for third-party library integration. It is distributed as a Ruby library that can be installed through RubyGem. It is one of the most extensive Objective-C and swift Cocoa-dependent resources.
In this tool, the dependencies of any particular project are defined in a single text file which is known as a Podfile. Cocoapod will help you resolve the dependencies between the libraries and fetch the output source code. Later, it will link them together in an XCode workspace to develop an iOS application.
Advantages of CocoaPods
CocoaPods is a project management tool that makes things a lot easier. It can save you a lot of time and work when dealing with dependencies in your project because it simplifies the process of adding, removing, and upgrading libraries.
Features of CocoaPod
- Incremental Installation
- Dynamic Screen launch Arguments
- Define AppSec
- Multiple Swift and Pod Projects
- Auto-generation of .xcfilelist
Wrapping Up
The mobile app development for iOS has given developers the ability and opportunity to write high-quality source code in order to create new apps for Apple's millions of customers.
There is a plentitude of apps in the mobile market, each with its own set of features and an excellent reason to use. There are various effective tools for developing these apps, and it is critical to choose the proper tool based on the development stage and usefulness. If you are looking for iOS mobile app development for your business and are confused about which tool to choose, I recommend you take help from a professional and experienced iOS App Development Agency. This would really help you succeed in your business in the long term.
