Beginners Guide to iOS App Development

In the present scenario, setting up your business online has become a necessity. Organizations are promoting their products and services through their official websites and social media handles. Apart from these, they also prefer to have mobile applications as many people are shifting towards researching from their phone devices. It brings a need for having a mobile application, both for Android and Apple devices. However, if you are looking for smooth and better performance, you should go for iOS applications. But for this, you have to go through the fundamental concepts included in creating these apps. Therefore, it urges a need to learn and understand iOS app development and its tools and processes. If you are unaware of it, do not worry, as here you can know about all this and that related to designing an iOS application.

Step 1: Creating the basic infrastructure

First of all, you need to arrange the primary elements necessary to build the basic infrastructure to develop your iOS app. It consists of:

macOS

It is the operating system for all Apple devices. It is crucial as the development for iOS apps can take place on macOS only.

Xcode

Xcode is one of the most important iOS app development toolkits with which you can write for applications. It is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for all Apple devices. You can find all the iOS tools, compilers, SDK, and other elements required to develop and debug an app here.

Simulator

It is a part of Xcode, which is involved in the designing and testing of the application. It helps in duplicating the behaviour of an apple device during the app development process.

SDK (Software Development Kit) for iOS

It is again a part of Xcode that consists of tools, languages, and technologies needed for app development. Cocoa Touch Frameworks are essentials of an SDK that includes MapKit, UIKit, Gamekit, Foundation Kit, and PushKit. These tools and programs help in building the software of the application with more ease.

Step 2: Building a framework using standard systems and iOS development tools

Since now, you have all the tools to design the app’s basic infrastructure; it is time to use them to build the framework for your app project. Below are the processes and systems included in this:

Construct the iOS environments

You need to build and separate your iOS apps’ working environments, especially when interacting with the servers. For example, if you have to develop, stage and produce an application, you will require a separate space for each process.

Arranging the local Database operations using CoreData

CoreData is a popular framework used to organize the object graphs in your application, manage the data, and track its changes. Although it is not a database system, you can still modify, track, change, save or filter the data in your iOS app.

Version Controlling

It is a process in which the version controller notes the changes in a file or bunch of files that you can need later while recalling the specific versions.

Git

It is an open-source and readily available version control system that manages everything, whether small or big, in your app development project.

Step 3: Adopting an architectural design and structure

The next step requires selecting and adopting an architecture for your project according to which the organization wants to get its app developed. There are several options from which a mac or iPhone app development company can choose a preferred architectural design. Here is the list of a few of them on using which you can develop your application:

MVC (Model, View, Controller)

• Model: It basically represents the model of the business logic and data. It helps in storing and recovering the model state in a database.

• View: It is the component where the users interact. They can display and modify the data in the view.
• Controller: The Controller manages and responds to the user requests after interacting with the app in the View mode.

MVP (Model, View, Presenter)

The Model and View components of MVP work in the same way as they do in MVC, but the Presenter feature acts as an UIKit independent mediator in this. It helps both in providing an interface to the users and handling the requests.

MVVM (Model, View, View-Model)

It seems to be the upgraded version of both the architectural designs. Here, both Model and View components perform in the same way, but the View-Model feature acts as a mediator that provides the UIKit independent view representation.

VIPER (View, Interactor, Presenter, Entities, Router)

• View: Provides interface to the users and permissions to modify specific data.
• Interactor: It is an external component that consists of the business logic related to the networking and data entities.
• Presenter: Consists of UI-related business logic and connects with the interactor for data.
• Entities: It consists of plain data objects.
• Router: It plays a significant role in the transition between the modules.

Step 4: Using Libraries and Frameworks

Due to advancements in iOS app development processes, the libraries and frameworks associated with them are also increasing rapidly. They can help the users in many ways, like implementing custom UI animations or working with device hardware. Apart from performance, the iOS development tools available in these libraries can also provide you with an effortless and cost-effective working experience. Below is the list of some of the popular libraries:

• CocoaPods
• Carthage
• Swift Package Manager

Apart from this, you can also use any third-party library available out there to save your time and focus primarily on your business logic. Here are some of them:

• AFNetworking
• SDWebImage
• Alamofire
• SwiftyJson
• PromiseKit

Step 5: Selecting the best distribution model for your iOS app

Now, since your app is all set to rock the stage, you need a platform to showcase it. For this, Apple Inc. provides you with three distribution models.

• The first and the most popular one is registering and uploading your app directly to the Apple App Store.
• Another method is to test your app, target a specific audience or choose a particular iOS version you want your app to be available for. For this, you can use the TestFlight Service offered by Apple. 
• The third and more expensive model than the other two described above is the iOS Volume Purchasing Program or iOS Developer Enterprise Program. This method offers you complete privacy and is suitable for organizational purposes when you want to make your app available only to your employees and contractors.

Conclusion

Although developing an iOS app seems cumbersome, with the help of the right frameworks, suitable architectural design, and proper development tools, it will appear to be a cakewalk for you. So, what are you waiting for? Just give a ring to an iPhone app development company and tell them to carve out your application to boost your business. Also, you can refer to this article and try the hands-on designing of your dream iOS application all by yourself.

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Aik Designs

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