The Best Programming Languages & Platforms for iOS App Development

Objective-C was developed in the early 1980s and was the chief programming language for all Apple devices for years. It’s derived from C and is an OOPL or Object-Oriented Programming Language that focuses on relaying messages to different processes rather than invoking processes as in C. Though it is considered outdated as an iOS coding language now, it is still used by many developers, especially to work on older codebases or to provide support for legacy devices. Objective-C with UIKit remains a practical and effective option for iOS app development.

Features of Objective-C

• It is a complex and mature language
• Backward compatibility is available as it supports older iOS versions

When to Use

Objective-C is the best iOS app development language to code new iOS apps if you want them to operate on older iOS versions, and to update and maintain older iOS applications. Many pre-installed apps and iOS itself use Objective-C.

Pros of Objective-C

• Backward compatibility with C and C++
• Compatibility with older iOS operating systems
• Large community and developer support
• Supports wide range of third-party libraries and frameworks

Cons of Objective-C

• Complexity of syntax makes it difficult to learn
• Necessitates maintaining two files of code for header and implementation
• Security vulnerabilities

Swift simplifies the creation of user interfaces across all Apple platforms using Swift's power, offering an innovative approach. Swift is the most popular iOS development language today; SwiftUI serves as a user interface toolkit employed for designing apps in a declarative manner. Developers can leverage SwiftUI to create visually appealing and interactive user interfaces for their iOS applications. 

While quite similar to its predecessor Objective-C, its syntax is simpler, and it stresses more on security. With Swift, you can incorporate legacy code into apps that you update, as it has the same runtime as Objective-C. Its simplicity makes it easy for newbies to learn and program, and easy to use as well. Swift enjoys the full backing of Apple as it was created by the company, and optimised for building apps for all Apple devices.

Features of Swift

• Simple, flexible, and intuitive code
• Enables functions to generate more values than one easily
• Uses ARC or Automatic Reference Counting to delete instances not in use
• Allows the use of types as parameters, helping generics to detect programming errors
• Delivers native app experience
• Works seamlessly with Apple’s Cocoa and Cocoa Touch frameworks to build feature-packed iOS apps complete with graphics, interfaces, databases,etc.

When to Use

Ideally, Swift should be used whenever you want to build a native iOS application as it allows you to leverage iPhone features to the maximum. It is also useful for expanding older iOS apps as Swift is interoperable with the legacy files of Objective-C. LinkedIn is an iOS app built using Swift.

Pros of Swift

• Quick and lightweight
• Open-source
• Syntax is simple and easy to learn
• Inbuilt safeguards help prevent errors
• Uses minimal memory
• Enables maximum use of iOS features and iPhone hardware
• Quick scaling
• Unified codebase
• Large user and developer community
• Continuous updating and improvements by Apple to enable support for new iOS features

Cons of Swift

• May face issues with third-party APIs
• No support for Android development
• May face issues with version compatibility
• Does not work on iOS versions older than 7.0
• Inadequate cross-platform support

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Developed by Google and launched in 2017, Flutter is highly popular for iOS language programming. This highly versatile open-source language is used to create apps in iOS, Android, Windows, and others. Developers can build visually appealing and user-friendly cross-platform apps. As it’s comparatively new, the language has a younger and limited talent pool.

Features of Flutter

• Quick compilation without impacting code quality
• Consistent rendering on iOS and Android
• Rapid app creation
• Easy code maintenance as same language can be used to build apps for both platforms
• Uses the relatively easier Dart language 
• It’s compiler is high performing and supports hardware acceleration
• Supports C, C++, and Objective-C
• Enables writing scripts with garbage collection and other automated memory management functions
• Can be used by data types controlled by garbage collection

When to Use

Flutter is the hottest cross-platform app development language today, and it’s ideal when you want to have different versions of the same app, like in iOS, Windows, Android, etc. You can use the same codebase to create apps for all operating systems that are compatible.

Pros of Flutter

• Easy learning curve, especially for those who know JavaScript
• Same codebase for iOS and Android development
• Quicker than JS
• Offers support for a wide range of devices and screen sizes
• Easy to instantly make changes in the app, especially useful while bug fixing
• Smooth performance ensures exceptional user experience
• Faster QA and testing

Cons of Flutter

• Young programming language, used by only a few developers
• Limited community and support
• Apps made in Flutter cannot be lightweight
• No browser support currently, so web apps are not possible

A Meta product, React Native is quite popular as a language for iOS app development. Being simple to learn, it is popular among programmers for developing iOS and Android apps. React Native is popular across industry verticals.

Features of React Native

• Supports flexbox and auto layout, facilitating the creation of responsive layouts
• Enables development of native cross-platform mobile apps using single code for iOS and Android
• React Native focuses on components; they are capable of communication
• There are several third-party tools that can be used for numerous purposes

When to Use

Whenever you want to create a simple app and don’t use native features not accessible in React Native, have an existing team with the expertise, and/or want to build a team capable of working on mobile and web app development at the same time - is ideal for using this language.

Pros of React Native

• Cross-platform support
• Rapid development
• Quick deployment
• Speedy bug fixing
• Simplified user interface
• High performance
• Built on JavaScript
• Large community and support
• Fast refresh

Cons of React Native

• Complex language not easy to learn
• Issues in upgrading
• Limited compatibility
• No custom modules available
• Dependence on native code

C# enables cross-platform code sharing with Xamarin and other tools, allowing developers to build native iOS apps while reusing substantial logic from other projects. It is useful as a language for programming for iOS apps which require more versatility. With Xamarin, C# code can be shared across iOS, Android, and Windows platforms, thanks to its ability to compile C# code into native binaries for each platform, while still providing access to platform-specific APIs.

Features of C#

• C# handles mistakes rationally and in a structured manner, providing protection against errors.
• Capable of handling low-level memory management
• Strongly supports OOP and offers classes
• Uses Generics which helps meet the app area in need of change
• Combines usage of several programming languages into one
• Despite lower speed, it’s life cycle is longer thanks to Microsoft support

When to use

C# is ideal for developing versions of existing iOS apps like for Android, Windows, Web API etc., and when you have experienced C# developers.

Pros of C#

• Feature-rich language enables development of complex apps
• Large community of developers and robust ecosystem of frameworks and libraries
• Low maintenance cost thanks to write once, deploy everywhere feature
• High -performing
• Open source
• Cross-platform support
• Scalable and capable of being updated

Cons of C#

• Challenging to learn
• Being based on the .NET framework of Microsoft, it is not highly flexible
• Requires third-party frameworks like Xamarin for iOS development