An experienced Android and iPhone application development company know how to make the best apps as they understand the differences between the two app development platforms.
As of March 2017, Google’s Play Store accommodated 2.8 million apps and the iOS App Store had more than 2.2 million apps available for download. Further, in the first quarter 2017, there was 15% year-over-year increase in app download for Android and iOS combined, reaching approximately 25 million new downloads. These numbers reflect the growing interest towards mobile applications.
Owing to the ease of creating these apps, developers have been quite enthusiastic towards coming up with new and stunning app ideas. However, choosing the right platform for developing a certain project is a question that every Android and iPhone app development company must face.
Here are some of the distinctive features of the two mobile OS giants.
The coding language used for developing iOS apps are Swift and Objective-C, besides using XCode IDE (Integrated Development Environment), which is compatible with both the languages. The entire coding process is assisted by Apple’s software development kit, iOS SDK. Many iPhone application development companies prefer using Swift coding language over Objective-C as it is concise and less prone to error.
Swift works with Cocoa Touch API to create UI components for iOS apps. This allows you to eradicate the majority of coding conversions, making the development process easier and quicker.
On the other hand, Android uses Java as the sole coding language despite utilizing two different languages. The coding language used, Java contains features of C/C++ programming that makes it more powerful, effective and productive. It uses Android SDK as a set of development tools and Android Studio as the overall development environment.
Android Studio is still considered to be in its nascent stage as a mobile app development tool as compared to other IDEs (Integrated Development Environment). One of the biggest differences between Android and iOS app development is, Android applications can be developed on Windows, Linux, and Mac while iOS applications development can solely take place on a Mac system.
While developing an app, aspects of hardware support need to be considered and fragmentation holds importance in this regard. Any Android or iPhone applications development agency would want their application run across all devices seamlessly. This means keeping the app in line with various aspect ratios, resolutions and dot per inch (DPIs), and screen sizes of the devices.
Developers need to consider the various OS versions to avoid issues in relation to fragmentation or compatibility. Thus, developers should design responsive UI using Android Studio or XCode for iPhones in sync with the OS version. Following platform guidelines can greatly benefit the developer to this end. For example, there are some excellent benefits of fragmentation like improving overall hardware compatibility.
One of the obvious differences between iOS and Android is design. This deserves an entirely separate article to be properly explained. However, as a developer, it is very important to understand the basic differences between the two.
In addition to paying the development costs to the Android or iPhone applications development company, you also need to pay to upload your app to the platform. The registration cost for developers in the Google Play Store is $25 while for Apple Store, you need to pay a fee of $99 year on year.
Every project has its own requirements and therefore, developers need to select the appropriate platform in accordance to their project requirements. If you Hire iOS Developer, your application, you can rest assured that they would suggest you have the right platform. Choosing a cross-platform for mobile applications development can also be an alternative for many.