Are you looking to develop, design, test, and launch iOS applications?
Streamline your app development process with iOS developer tools.
iOS development tools can greatly help you to create high-quality apps for the Apple hardware, from the iPhone and the iPad to the Apple watch and smart Apple TV.
Imagine how many users you can reach by integrating your app with Apple’s integrated development environment (IDE).
Think of thousands to millions.
So, are you ready to build an iOS app?
Here are the top iOS app development tools we recommend.
Top 10 iOS Development Tools
To fully grasp the full advantages of iPhone app development, here are the 10 best iOS developer tools we recommend.
1. XCode
XCode is Apple’s integrated development environment (IDE) used to create, test, and distribute iOS apps across all Apple platforms.
With the newest release, XCode 15, developers can code and design high-performance apps with the following advanced iOS developer tools:
- Code completion
- Testing
- Debugging
- App building
- Interactive previews
- Live animations
One of the best features of XCode is its next-level code editor and compiler, downloadable for all platforms.
Using this, you can write code safer, easier, and faster while consistently referencing your assets.
Aside from that, XCode offers a Bookmark navigator that comes in handy when managing your code, tasks, and projects.
iOS developers can have a real-time and centralized view of all the localization assets for further review and update.
Once your iOS app is built, test and diagnose your development results with the redesigned test reports that come with video recording.
Afterward, utilize the XCloud for a seamless deployment to TestFlight and the App Store.
2. Swift
One of the most impactful advantages of iPhone app development is your ability to develop a tech-based solution that is not only intuitive but also powerful.
Enter Swift, a robust iOS app development language that will help you create the app of your dreams.
Swift has a concise yet expressive syntax and modern features to design and produce iOS app development software that runs fast.
It is also beginner-friendly, yet still as high-powered as advanced iPhone app development tools.
Swift is compatible with Linux, and its community members are actively enabling Swift to be compatible across a variety of platforms.
This will open the doors to more potential with Swift development.
Moreover, Swift is optimized for modern server applications, especially those that require compiled performance, runtime safety, and a bite-size memory footprint.
3. CocoaPods
CocoaPods is one of the iOS development tools that has been rising in popularity lately.
Its core function is to manage dependencies for Cocoa projects that use a combination of Swift and Objective-C.
It boasts one of the biggest libraries in the iOS app development ecosystem, spanning over 99 thousand libraries that have been utilized in 3+ million apps.
Built with Ruby, CocoaPods is a great option to scale your iPhone app development process.
CocoaPods also offers a smooth integration with XCode, enabling you to easily incorporate libraries into your iPhone app development project through a command-line interface (CLI).
iPhone app developers using CocoaPods also have total flexibility in customizing the configuration of the libraries to include in the project.
The community support is perhaps one of the best aspects of CocoaPods.
It has a large and active developer network that contributes to the improvements of the tool.
4. AppCode
AppCode is a smart IDE for developing iOS or macOS applications.
It also supports a large set of programming platforms and languages, including Windows.
The greatest strength of AppCode lies in its intuitiveness, saving Apple developers significant manual hours from extra typing and completing routine tasks with its simple code.
AppCode’s advanced code analysis will come a long way in inspecting warnings and errors.
Each error is also expandable, so you can spot the highlighted grammatical errors with a comprehensive list of missing localizations, improper initialization methods, markdown errors, and such.
This way, you can streamline the troubleshooting process, saving both production time and expenses.
Further, AppCode also has a code completion feature.
It will provide accurate suggestions and offer a length of refactoring actions.
Just like ChatGPT, AppCode can be a more intelligent partner to help you write higher-quality code with enhanced productivity.
5. Firebase
If you are asked “how long does it take to build an iOS app?” and searching for the most time-efficient tool, Firebase is the answer.
Firebase is a Google-backed development platform that is highly effective for developing both Android and iOS apps and games.
It is a trusted iOS app development language, used by millions of businesses.
Here is a range of Firebase’s solutions and products that will help you in every stage of your iPhone app development process:
- The Build Stage. A fully managed backend infrastructure with Cloud Firestore and Authentication to streamline your app development.
- The Release and Monitor Stage. Track the stability and performance of your app with Crashlytics, Performance Monitoring, and Google Analytics.
- The Engage Stage. Boost customer conversion and retention with A/B testing, personalized messaging, and rich analytics.
What’s more, Firebase offers a bundle of pre-packaged, open-source extensions that help you automate tasks such as completing payments with Stripe, triggering emails, searching queries with Agolia, as well as streaming collections to BigQuery.
The most successful iOS application examples, from Duolingo to Lyft, are built on Firebase.
If you’d like to follow the success of these apps, make sure to partner with bespoke iPhone app development services, such as Intelivita, that can help you craft the best-in-class Apple solution while accelerating your time-to-market.
6. Realm
Realm is best known as a MongoDB database platform with capabilities such as flexible sync and storage efficiency for Android and iOS.
If you are a developer working with complex data across multiple platforms, Realm is your best friend.
One of Realm’s primary features, the Object-Oriented Data Model, allows you to store and manage data in object forms to simplify complex data structures and increase your development efficiency.
Another winning feature is the cross-platform sync that facilitates real-time and bi-directional data synchronization across devices and platforms.
This will ensure your data stay updated and accessible, improving user experience and the reliability of your application.
Realm is also the strongest on this list in terms of security.
It has next-gen encryption and security measures to safeguard your data at rest and during transit.
With Realm, you can build superior iOS apps with high standards of data integrity and privacy.
7. Alamofire
For open-source projects, Alamofire is one of the best networking libraries.
It is open-source and based on HTTP, written in Swift, essentially serving as an elegant wrapper around URLSession.
What makes Alamofire a standout is its comprehensive features, including chainable requests/response methods, support for the Combine framework, and facilities for JSON and Codable decoding.
In terms of data integrity and security, Alamofire provides next-level authentication capabilities, supporting protocols such as OAuth and HTTP Basic Authentication.
Alamofire can also automatically handle data transformation for inputs and outputs in JSON, XML, or other formats.
Using Alamofire, you can monitor the progress of uploads and downloads with real-time feedback on file transfers.
8. TestFlight
TestFlight is the official platform by Apple for user testing.
With TestFlight, invite users to test your apps – up to 10,000 invites through email or a public link – and collect feedback before release.
To use TestFlith, all you have to do is to upload the beta version of your app or an App Clip to the AppStore Connect.
Testers can directly send feedback with screenshots of your app on their screen.
This makes it easy for you to understand the full context if a crash happens or if a bug is found.
Using TestFlight, you can make sure to maximize the potential of your app, increasing your chance of achieving success when your app is released.
9. Zeplin
Zeplin is a collaborative tool that connects developers and designers.
It has a couple of special features, namely:
- Handoff+. Automate the handoff process by publishing your finalized designs and enabling developers with all the specifications.
- Styleguides. Take advantage of reusable design elements and directly link the components to the corresponding code.
- Open Platform. Integrate Slack, Jira, and other tools with Zeplin’s API and webhooks to enhance your workflow with customizations.
By having a platform that supports all these features, your teams can deliver high-quality projects at a faster rate.
10. Charles
Charles is an HTTP proxy, HTTP monitor, and reverse proxy for developers to observe incoming HTTP and SSL/HTTPS traffic between their PC and the internet.
This also applies to requests, responses, and the HTTP headers which comprise cookies and caching.
Charles has released the public beta 13 version which introduces UI improvements as well as dark mode support.
Conclusion
In summary, the tools handpicked here have been tested and found as the most effective solutions available today for iOS app development, catering to different aspects of the process from coding and design to testing and deployment.
If you’re looking to accelerate your iOS development projects, make sure to do so with the expertise of a dedicated team.
Intelivita provides specialized iOS development services that will bring your app from concept to the market.
We have a track record of creating success for the likes of Microsoft and Oxitec, and we will be more than glad for your company to be the next one.
