Category: iOS

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Though Apple’s app store did not pioneer the app distribution services, nobody would disagree with the fact that Apple had brought about a revolution in creating and distributing mobile applications. Now, Android retains a mountainous global share in the mobile app market. Yet the demand for iOS apps is still on the rise.

Mobile app development companies are mushrooming everywhere, as the requirement for app development services are getting larger. It doesn’t require you to put much effort to find out an iOS app developer these days. But if what you wish for is to travel abreast of those winning apps, you need to have some basic knowledge of iOS app development basics before hiring a developer, which directly influence the factors that foster success.

The Application Development Framework

Cocoa is the object oriented foundation framework used for developing applications to run on the iOS. It uses the root class NSObject, which defines all the basic object behavior and implements classes representing the primitive types (strings, numbers), collections (arrays, dictionaries) etc.

Internalization, file management, accessing system entities such as ports etc. are other functions that can be carried out. So, it is absolutely necessary for an iOS app developer to possess all the necessary knowledge about the iOS development framework.

The Importance of an Appealing Application Design

On the app store, the first thing that people will notice about your app is its UX. If you can’t impress consumers with an appealing and user-friendly UX, there will be a negligible chance for your app to surpass the oppositions in the market.

Read also: Is iPhone App Development Profitable?

To survive the fierce competition, a great user experience is unavoidable. And for a good user experience, creative application design is very crucial. Many inexperienced app developers don’t give much importance to creativity in app design. So, expert designers should be hired for this purpose.

Bringing Innovative Solutions to Problems

The demand for innovative, out of the box solutions are high in the iOS app development market. More and more diverse apps presenting newer ideas flood the app store every day.

But, from the developer’s point of view, these creative designs are source of misconceptions and inexactness. Extra effort and time should be put, in order to understand and code the new concepts. Even minor errors can impose a grave threat to the overall budget.

Compatibility Check

From the original iPhone to the new iPhone SE, iPad to iPad Pro and even the iTouch; the number of Apple devices that use iOS apps are many. The task to ensure compatibility with these multiple devices is a Herculean one. As a result, neglected and unobserved errors lead to the most common issues. So, it is important to ensure proper testing is carried out to rectify the encountered mistakes.

Compliance to Apple’s Terms and Conditions

It is important for an iOS app development company to have a clear idea about Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines and the Human Interface Guidelines for app approval. By ensuring that your apps abide by these rules and regulations before submitting to the iTunes App store, it will be possible to prevent additional costs and delay in launch that will be applicable if it gets rejected.

Swift

As a developer language, Apple’s Swift is being widely adopted as the primary programming language or is used in combination with objective-C. The interoperability with Objective-C has allowed incorporating Swift’s features into existing projects, accounting for greater acceptance and adoption levels within the small time period after its release. It is predicted that Swift will be the future of iOS development.

Rise in the Popularity of IoT Projects

The IoT technology helps to connect a number of devices with the internet. That means connecting and controlling cars, wearables, TV, various home appliances and even robots from the web.

Gartner forecasts that over 6.4 billion IoT devices will be in use worldwide in 2016, and it will reach 20.8 billion by 2020. Many iOS app development companies are already targeting the IoT market, and are working on side projects to reap the benefits that will be created as the demand for IoT devices and services will get high.

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Apple unveiled smaller iPhone SE with the same processing and graphics performance of the larger flagship 6S, but with a lower price tag. The announcement was delivered at an event conducted in San Francisco on Monday, introducing SE along with the new iPad Pro, successor to the iPad Air 2 and several bands of the Apple watch.

Apple said that it is going to be the “most affordable” iPhone that apple has ever produced and “the most powerful 4-inch phone ever”.

iPhone SE is packed with 4K video capture capability from the 12 megapixel iSight camera. Launching at a starting price of $399, the iPhone SE will be available in 110 countries by the end of May.

The new 9.7-inch diagonal screen iPad Pro corresponds to the original iPad screen size unlike the previous version that featured a 12.9 inch display screen. It will come in 3 different storage sizes with a mammoth 256 GB version memory. Selling prices will begin at $599 (32 GB), $749 (128 GB), and $899 (256 GB).

“We believe that iPad is the perfect expression of the future of computing,” chief executive Tim Cook said about iPad Pro.

iPad Pro will be available from the early April. The device comes with 40% lesser screen glare and 25% improved brightness. iPad Pro uses four-channel light sensors to adjust the white balance in response to the ambient light. It will be released in four different colors : silver, gold, black and rose gold.

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In 2016, the global app economy is expected to raise up to $143 billion. The average number of app submission per day in the iTunes App Store for the first month of the year 2016 is 2,261.

It could really stress you out waiting for Apple’s approval when you have already spent months or years of development time before launching your app. One critical error, and you have to start over again with app store submission.

It is important for an iOS app development company to have a clear idea about Apple’s technical and design criteria for app review. Following are some of the most common reasons associated with app rejection that should be taken careful note of in order to avoid approval delay.

1.Say no to crashes and bugs – Apple is renowned for rejecting apps on the basis of crashes and bugs present. Sometimes, iOS app development companies do not make proper use of the testing facilities available. Apple suggests the application to be thoroughly tested before submitting it for the review process.

2.Privacy policy – Apps that try to use private data without acquiring previous consent immediately falls outside the list of apps that can be approved by Apple.

A privacy policy should be in place to use account information of users.

Read also: Is iPhone App Development Profitable?

3. Quality user interface – The apps should follow the guidelines for user interface given by Apple. What Apple recommends are clean, refined and user-friendly interfaces. Follow Apple’s design guides and UI Design Do’s and Dont’s before coding. They have directions for formatting contents, touch controls, spacing, resolution etc. For more excellent tips and concepts, Apple recommends to read their article titled, iOS Human interface guidelines.

4. In sufficient information – Incomplete and defective information could be a reason that will get you rejected by Apple. All missing information should be updated before submitting for review as specified in the App Review Information section of iTunes Connect. Proper and accurate details should be given for your application features, procedures, special configurations, contract information, and other required particulars. Demo videos are encouraged for complicated and perplexing concepts.

5. Advertisements – If your app makes room for advertisements it will be using IDFA, which is an identifier for advertisements used by Apple. It should be properly indicated whether your app use or don’t use this identifier. If you haven’t specified that your app uses IDFA, but it does, your app will be rejected from being submitted to the store. Also, the ads should be checked for any working error.

6.Compliance to specifications and standards – The apps submitted should comply to several standards and specifications provided by Apple Store Guidelines. Applications should not contain defamatory or offensive content. For e.g., apps should not contain references that may defame a religion, or culture or ethnic group.

It should abide by the legal terms and conditions as per Apple’s trademark list and copyright guidelines. Imitation of names, icons, and themes of any Apple products are highly discouraged.

7.Flawed descriptions – You should be careful to provide descriptions that could accurately match with your app’s functionality. Irrelevant descriptions could give you hard time getting inside the app store. Don’t copy the name and description of other applications.

8. Do not mislead users – Always remember to publicize only what your app provides. If your app mislead users by advertising features that are not included, it is certain to get discarded.

9. Avoid duplicity – Do not submit similar apps for review repeatedly. Apple suggests you to combine all of them into one. Also your app shouldn’t look like duplicate copies of existing successful apps. Even if you’re going for an old idea, something new should be offered like a fresh function or design.

10.Maintaining lasting value – Sometimes, without any visible reasons your app may be disallowed to the app store. An app without much functions or engaging content are the ones that may not interest users for long. Apple doesn’t find such apps to be of enough value to be approved.

The bottom line is that iOS app development companies should take every measure to get approval in the first chance by adhering to Apple’s review guidelines, thereby preventing additional costs and delay in product launch.

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Mobile app development has become an important formula for the prosperity of any industry today. Within a short time, apps have penetrated almost every known industry — entertainment, health, finance, education, business, communication, art, travel — you name it.

Over 22 % of the global Smartphone market share is held by Apple’s iPhone devices. By November 2014, Apple reached 1 billion phones in sales.

So is iPhone App Development Profitable Anyway?

Well, yes it is! There are people who make huge revenues from a successful single app alone. The question is very relevant, but should be asked in accordance with the particular app that you are about to develop. There are cross platform apps for sure, but here we are focusing on apps that target the iPhone owners alone.

The iPhone market is growing. So does the iPhone app market. Even though Android is the leading app platform with 1.6 million apps available, Apple app store leads closely in the second place with over 1.5 million apps. The App store is flooded with even more apps every single day.

The major factor that affects the profitability of an app is the production cost. Single platform iOS apps costs lesser than cross-platform apps and apps developed for the android platform, since the Android OS is highly fragmented.

Some Tips to Develop Profitable iPhone Apps

IPhone app development, or any other app development for that case, is not a straightforward process. It needs thoughtful development ideas, careful design, planned execution and months of teamwork and continuous effort post-launch to improve the app’s visibility. Keep a check on the factors below that may help to ensure your app’s success.

What the Market Needs

“There are so many apps out there, it’s an extremely crowded market so that the barrier to entry is so low and the barrier to success is so high. But you’re not necessarily aiming to have the biggest game out there, so there’s still room to make a business out of it if you’re trying to capture a certain audience.” Trefry, Gigantic Mechanic.

We always see a mighty competition that is going on in the market. This is true for the starters and the big bosses of the industry. So, it is important that you do a thorough research on whether the idea for your app is inside of an over saturated market or an opportunity market.

Design Uncomplicated Apps

The most common mistake that developers and designers tend to make is, building the app as complex as they can. One should understand the difference between a great app and a complicated app. The developer should not see app development as an opportunity to apply or demonstrate all his programming knowledge.

Abiding to Apple’s App Guidelines

Getting approval from Apple is the first footstep that you need to take after an iPhone app development. Right from the development phase, you should give prime importance to designing your app in accordance with the Apple’s rules and regulations. This will save you the time that you may need to spend waiting and revising, after your apps get rejected by Apple.

Post-Launch Marketing of your App

Once your app is in the app store, you may need to focus on matters such as improving your app’s search visibility, taking continuous effort to get to the top app chart, how and when to put offers and discounts, devising ways to sell more in-app s etc. What every great app needs for its success is a strong marketing strategy. This includes all the SEO activities and marketing techniques.

While doing marketing for an app, your steps could become fruitful only if you provide them with the right content. Even if you put in your best efforts, if your app is not good enough, the end result can disappoint you.

The first thing that should get your attention is your app icon, name, and the screenshots. Studies conducted show that, the customers take their decision whether to download an app or not, within the first 2 seconds after they land on your page. Even if your app does have some great features to offer and amazing interactivity that is detailed in the description section, this will give hardly any advantage since most people are not interested readers.

You can give publicity even before you release your app. You can kick start by sharing it with your friends, colleagues and family on social networking sites and asking them to write about it on their wall. You should follow up with them after the release of your app in the app store. Along with that, you can seek all viable methods including conventional methods to promote your app.

At the end of the day, it all depends on how you measure your success. For some, it is just the profit factor but for others it is the user satisfaction that might be valued more.

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Apple launched TV App Store, following the release of its revamped streaming media player that went on sale last week.

The TV App Store had only 100s of titles while it launched, but that grew to be more than 1,000 during the weekend, according to the independent 3rd party reports.

With over 1,000 apps, some categories on the Apple TV App Store would only have few titles in total resulting in poor user experience, Apple likely believed.

Now apple’s official rankings confirm those previous findings, pointing to top paid apps which are mainly games, including Galaxy On Fire, Lumino City, and Alto’s Adventure.

“Apple’s miss of Top Charts in a App Store for a new Apple TV usually goes to uncover an Apple TV software, tvOS in a stream state is really unpolished,” says Boserup. “There is no approach for developers to get their apps detected though removing featured on a front page – that is not expected to happen,” he says.

In addition, apps seem to be labeled higher than iOS apps, 9to5Mac reported, observant that it was common for apps to be in a range of $5 to $10, and really few labeled during $0.99 as on an iOS App Store.

According to a data rested daily, 1,025 total apps were live on an Apple TV App Store as of final night.

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Recently, Apple saw an uptrend in its app downloading number. It is estimated that there were about 850 downloads in a second through the app store. This came as excellent news for Apple which paid about $30 billion in the last seven years for their app store.

Latest versions of OS X, WatchOS and Swift have come up making the process faster. They are focusing more on apps which are offering high productivity gains. Creating new terms like the 360-degree view of the customer which will help them in high productivity gains.

Apps are quite intelligent and they demand high investment. According to a survey done by Apple, it is said that 98% of the top notch companies use iOS apps. Each time Apple announces the latest OS, people prefer to switch for the newer features and improvements. Apple always aims at running maximum iOS devices on the latest version.

Apple’s Swift is to be the next big thing for iPhone app developers. This is because Swift is much faster and efficient as compared to Objective-C. Moreover, the language is being made an Open Source language, which will benefit the developers to a great extent.

Prompt programming and quick results are two most important things developers expect from a good programming language. This is what makes a language famous and highly used. Swift is likely to replace Objective-C and even C for programming on the iOS platforms.

Because of numerous features, Swift has become the most sought after programming language for iPhone app developers who are keen on developing newer apps. As per the plans, Apple is optimizing Swift for better performance. It is also working on improving the language. Starting from scratch, it has been working on the complete mobile app development tool chain. Here are certain reasons which will compel you to start using Swift for developing apps for iPhones and iPads.

You can easily read Swift programming language. There are no such keywords or types which will make this language a complex one. In other words, you don’t need to take care much about the semi-colons and other rules. Concentrate more on the logic and get your work done. You don’t need to make use of unnecessary parenthesis for nested functions. All you have to do is separate all the parameters with commas and go ahead with coding.

It is easy to maintain coding done using Swift. When you are coding using C, iPhone app developers need to maintain two files so as to improve efficiency and build time. This adds work as well as maintenance. You are not able to concentrate on the bigger picture. Here you have to manually take care of everything which is quite tedious.

Pointer variables are quite important in Objective C. If a pointer variable is null and you call a function using this pointer, no major action will take place, while in Swift, you only have to remember the optional types and value types and specify them in the methods. This highly simplifies the bug-fixing process.

Swift excels well in memory management. It has the ability to unify the language in the best way. You can manage memory leakage which is quite common in Objective C. The iPhone app developers don’t have to think much when it comes to developing apps. High-performance memory was a huge problem which has been solved greatly with Swift.

Less coding is what developers prefer these days. Swift has got the ability to reduce the amount of coding for simple logics. It includes modern programming practices which you won’t find in Objective-C. There are no special string tokens. The compiler has to concentrate only on the type system.

Speed is a high priority these days when it comes to programming. Dropping the usual C conventions has highly improved the quality of Swift. Swift is nearly on levels with C++ for both the FFT and Mandelbrot algorithms. As per the research done by Primate Labs, the GEMM algorithm performance is quite good and you can trust its quality well.

In this generation, it is more important to create apps which won’t put more loads on the App Store. Moreover, you can make use of Swift to create apps fast and perfectly. This will surely help you come up with new creations. Swift programming language is, without doubt, the future of iOS app development.

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A new report indicates a shift in the advertisement policy by Apple aiming at strengthening the user privacy of its third-party apps. This will prevent the advertiser’s to access the data about the apps installed on your iPhone or iPad.

The provision to collect data of the apps by Facebook and Twitter installed on your devices for targeting ads is being limited, according to Amir Efrati of The Information. He also gave an example of a user who has installed games, even the paid ones – where advertisers can show ads on games that are not already installed on the device.

However with the upcoming iOS 9 update this fall, the industry giants are more focussed about protecting user privacy. They are ensuring protection of data from other installed apps for ad targeting by preventing its access by other app developers.

Efrati explains, “As part of its recent privacy push, Apple earlier this month said it would shut down an increasingly popular practice by companies like Twitter to scan people’s iPhones and iPads to see which apps are installed. They used such data, which is akin to Web-browsing history, to target in-app advertisements to individuals.”

Inaddition to this iOS 9 update will also put a stop to the exploitation of an API in iOS called “canopenURL”advertisers which enables access of app download data. The latest update also boasts of a new feature that may allow users to temporarily delete apps to make more space for the new software update installation. Apple had earlier mentioned this feature at the WWDC when it said it had developed a method where iOS updates would require less free storage.

The intelligent deletion of apps in the latest update together warns used ‘insufficient space for download’ and then gives provision to temporarily delete apps. Reinstallation of the apps is done automatically once the software update installation is completed, that too with no loss of user data. Even though this feature is available with the beta version, there’s no confirmation as of yet of its inclusion in the final build that will be available to users this fall.