Tag: iOS app development

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iOS app development companies often face scarcity of app ideas. In such cases there is a genius method that you can try out viz., going through the popular apps in the app store. This will give you an idea of what’s trending in the iOS app development industry and helps you to generate more innovative ideas.

A major advantage of having a study of these apps is that you can understand what good apps look like. You can even have a look at the bad apps to get an idea of what doesn’t sell.

Must Read: 

5 iOS Apps that May Save Your Life

Here is a list of the most popular apps that iOS app development companies can learn from and be inspired.

1. Tinder Social

Tinder is originally a dating app. Tinder Social introduces a new way to plan your night. It helps to make new connections. Then, you can invite your friends to go out, learn about what other crews are up to, and meet with these new groups.

2. Big Oven

Big Oven just makes cooking a lot simpler. There are more than 3,50,000 plus recipes to get inspired from. The app will allow home cooks to get organized in the kitchen, as it comes with a menu planner and gives a grocery list based on each recipe.

3. Yelp

Look up for locations and get local reviews of restaurants to hardware stores on your iPhone with Yelp. There are in-depth reviews and photos contributed by expert community members. You can compare deals based on price, distance, or popularity.

4. Shazam

Shazam makes identifying music and getting song lyrics as simple as a tap. You can follow and see what your favorite artists are shazaming. Stay up-to-date with new releases from the artists that you follow. The app also connects to Spotify.

5. Splitwise

Designed originally for college students, Splitwise helps you to keep track of debts owed and view due dates. This tool helps roommates to split their bill payments like apartment rents or group trip costs. You can settle your bills any time with PayPal and Venmo.

6. Audible

This app is the right one for book lovers, who are not very good at reading them. Audible lets you listen to more than 180,000 titles covering audiobooks, short stories, dramas, non-fiction and even the Bible. The books can be downloaded for offline play, while you are on a commute or waiting in queue. Audible has features that promote optimal listening.

7. Genius Scan

Genius Scan can become your pocket document scanner and it will convert your photographs into PDF or JPEG files. Features including smart page detection, perspective correction, and image enhancement makes Genius Scan the perfect tool for close-up text scanning.

8. ScanLife

ScanLife, get information that you want about almost any product available in the market. You can scan the barcode or QR code of a product with your iPhone’s camera, and the app will give you product reviews and price comparisons, along with special offers available for you. Using the app will give mPoint rewards with every scan that you make, which can be redeemed for actual gift cards.

9. Etsy

It is a place where sellers and shoppers meet to deal with handmade and vintage goods. Millions of people visit Etsy for unique goods; from stylish handmade jewellery to one of a kind furnitures. You can use Apple Pay or PayPal for safe and swift transactions.

10. Hulu

You can watch TV shows and stream movies with this useful app. Unlike cable channels, Hulu will connect you to your favorite programs at any time that you prefer. Hulu offers both limited commercial and commercial free plans.

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Beta version of Prisma, the photo filter app which has taken the Internet by storm was rolled out to Android for user feedback. But the app, which is just a month old in iOS, was taken down in a short while.

However, the company assures that this trending app would be available on Google Play Store this month itself. In its Facebook page, the company wrote “A big thanks goes to everyone who has managed to try our beta for Android. We have collected enough feedback and had to close it,”

Read Also

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The app is at the yop of iOS app charts. It converts pictures into works of art. In fact, Prisma CEO & co-founder Alexey Moiseenkov gave hints that the app will be getting new features including filters for videos. The below video was posted by him on his facebook account.

The app’s working is pretty simple. You just take a photo or choose from your photo gallery, then apply Prisma filters. It takes a few seconds to load. But delivers some amazing pictures. Check out the iOS version here

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With so many benefits brought to the field of education, adopting learning apps in the classrooms is a smart choice. But one could often be confused about which among the thousands of apps available in the market should be adopted. This blog will help to ease the worry by providing a list of the most popular iOS learning apps for kids.

1. Book Creator

Book Creator helps in creating a personal iBook, through simple steps. It allows users to import information in the form of images, audio, video, and text.

Download : iOS

2. Slideidea

This is a tool for creating presentations. Slideidea allows students and teachers to add audio into their presentations. Other features include attaching annotations to the slides, or embedding polls.

3. iMovie

iMovie is an app that comes preloaded on all Apple devices. It allows users to watch videos and tell stories. The app is a very good tool that could be used in conjunction with other learning apps for kids to permit better understanding of concepts.

Download : iOS

Read Also

5 iOS Apps that May Save Your Life

4. Rover

Rover is an educational browser that provides kid safe content and is free for use. Many sites that doesn’t function well with the Safari browser like BrainPOP will work correctly in Rover.

5. 3D- Brain

3D-Brain will help to get a better insight on the structure, functioning and disorders of the human brain. Teachers can present these topics in a more graspable way with the help of case studies and use website links that connects to modern research.

Download : iOS

6. Edmodo

Edmodo is an app that allows teachers to create and delete groups required for managing the various daily activities in a class. For e.g., groups can be created for conducting discussions, sharing study materials, assignments etc. Edmodo will create an interesting and engaging learning environment. Along with learning, students will also develop various soft skills such as turn taking, helping peers, collaborating, critical thinking etc.

Download : iOS

7. The Elements – A Visual Exploration

The Elements – A Visual Exploration app explains everything about the periodic table elements in a novel and interesting way. The Elements app is based on Theodore Gray’s best selling book with the same name.

Download : iOS

Recommended Read

11 iPhone App Development Ideas That’s Worth a Try

8. Schoology

With Schoology app, every student can create a personal account and avail a lot of features including an interactive platform for performing class discussions and other collaborative activities. They can also submit assignments, projects, class notes etc. through this app.

Download : iOS

9. History – Maps of the World

History – Maps of the World is an interactive learning app for kids dealing with historical and geographical shifts in the maps, made through the ages. It will make learning important historical events and conquests easier.

Download : iOS

10. MathBoard

MathBoard helps with the easy learning of algebra. Various basic mathematical operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, squares, squareroots etc are covered through simple and engaging practices and activities.

Download : iOS

11. LearnEnglish Great Videos

Learn English Great Videos, is an app entirely devoted to teaching English vocabulary, its spelling, and pronunciation. The great thing about this app is that students can learn lessons and refine their speaking skills by watching these videos.

Download : iOS

12. Sushi Monster

Sushi Monster is an educational gaming app for kids. There are a lot of friendly monster characters whom students have to help with completing tasks like getting a target sum or product. Points are rewarded for correct answers, which encourage and motivate students and takes the game forward.

Download : iOS

13. Memrise

Memrise is right for your language class, if you focus on enhancing your student’s memory and vocabulary. There are over 10 languages to choose from and through this app students can explore into an array of activities that simultaneously makes learning quicker and memorizing easier.

Download : iOS

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Who said iOS app development is only done for trivial ideas like photo editing or managing your daily mails? There are iOS app development companies who have thought different.

One such thought led to the development of apps that could actually help in saving one’s life when there is a threat or danger. Here are some cool apps that you could use for your safety or to get inspiration for iOS app development.

1. Itriage app

Itriage is a healthcare app that can provide you with medical answers to your health related queries, care options, advices etc. The main features of this app includes:

Read Also

11 iPhone App Development Ideas That’s Worth a Try

  • Description, symptoms, causes, clinical tests, and treatment available for diseases and conditions.
  • It has detailed descriptions, cost, and possible complications along with associated images, and videos for medical procedures like C section and cataract surgery.
  • Detailed information about drugs including side effects, usage instructions, brand names, and overdose first aids.
  • Search for doctors in your location and book appointments from your smartphone.
  • Find the nearest hospital and other healthcare service facilities.

The app also has the option to store your personal healthcare information such as consulted doctors, health conditions, medications, insurance information etc. By this way, you can easily share your medical history with others.

2. Weather-Pro

Weather-Pro is an app that will alert you about severe weather conditions, which are likely to hit your current location. The app comes with easy navigation, worlwide coverage for extreme weather conditions, and an Android wearable support.

The service offers realiable forecasts for weather variables including temperature, precipitation, air pressure, humidity, wind direction and speed, over two weeks in advance. Additional features include weather news and reports of about 2 million locations globally.

3. Around-Me

You will never know when you will be placed in an emergency situation. For e.g., imagine that you took the wrong road and got lost on your way back home from a weekend getaway in the middle of the night. And to make things worse you found out that your car has run out of gas.

Around-Me is just the right kind of app if you wish to be prepared to deal with any such unexpected situation that could freak you out. The app shows you a list of nearby gas stations, hospitals, restaurants, supermarkets and other similar services.

4. Flashlight

Flashlight is a very simple yet useful app, especially when darkness becomes your enemy, as it can serve as a cloak for criminal activities. This common tool added in your iPhone can possibly become your life saving appliance during a number of survival situations.

Even if you are capable of defending yourself normally, darkness can leave you disoriented. So, the first thing you want to do is become aware of your surroundings. Flashlight helps you spot someone who is hiding.

Some other advantages of keeping a flashlight ready and handy includes warding of dangerous animals, finding the way while travelling through rough terrains in the dark, sending emergency signals etc.

5. Circle of 6

Circle of 6 is a personal safety app that is originally designed for college students, yet could be beneficial for everyone. It is designed to be the first step against abuse and violence towards one’s life.

Circle of 6 lets you pick up six of your trusted friends or family members and add them to your circle. If you find yourself in a risky or threatening situation, you can get help with just two taps. The app will send alert SMS to the contacts in your circle that you are in danger and need assistance, along with your exact location.

There are also two pre-programmed national hotlines for safety and information in the app, which is customizable with the local emergency number of your choice.

Circle of 6 U, which is available for download is a school specific version of the same app.

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Google app users in the iOS app platform has a reason to rejoice. Accelerated Mobile Pages, the Google feature to load websites instantly with a click rather than loading after a click, is coming to Google’s iOS app.

With the introduction of this feature to Google’s iOS app, we’ll be able to experience the same instant loading feature that has been implemented for the web within the app itself.

As per Google, “Starting today, AMP will be available in the Google app for iOS. So now news articles from a vast array of publishers will load instantly for your reading pleasure. Just look out for the lightning bolt and “AMP” next to articles in the “Top Stories” section of your search results and enjoy blazing-fast news.”

All the websites will obviously not be compatible with AMP. But there are a number of websites which are AMP compatible. In case you haven’t updated your google app yet,

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iOS app developers/businesses, there’s great news for you.Apple has reduced its stringent review period from more than a week to less than 2 days. This is a very welcome move from Apple.

Why this sudden move, you ask? Well, its part of Apple’s master plan to increase revenue from its mobile app services. The shortened time to market means app bugs would get fixed faster, and it wouldn’t be such a pain to test out new features. For Apple, tt will help build the loyalty of app developers to iOS platform.

Also Read: 10 Stupid Reasons Your iOS App is Getting Rejected

AppReviewTimes.com has reported a drop in the average review period from 8.8 days in 2015 to 1.95 presently.

This move closes the review period difference App Store had with its competitor, Google’s Play Store. It also points to a shift in the mobile industry for Apple, whose mobile phone sales have started to stagnate in a saturated market. The new focus would be on deriving more revenue from the service sector.

“Apple is a little bit of a different company than it was a few years ago when it first built the App Store,” said Maddern, founder of Button. “It’s becoming a lot more developer-friendly. It’s becoming a lot more open in its approach to building an ecosystem.”

So, what do you think? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section.

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In this fast-paced world, we see competition everywhere. It is hard to win and easy to fail. The app development industry is also facing the same situation. There seems to be a lot of pressure and turmoil due to competition in the markets, worldwide.

That being the case, it is needless to say that many ordinary apps’ confrontation with Apple’s set of regulatory rules is not very smooth. A lot of businesses pay hugely for their mistakes and negligence in taking adequate measures to avoid the pertinent challenges in the field that could affect the app’s success. The problem can be solved to a great extent by hiring an experienced iPhone app development company. Let’s see below, the main benefits of hiring one.

1. Expertise is directly related to cost-effectiveness

One of the major benefits of hiring an experienced iPhone app development company is that you get experienced professionals to shape your iPhone app. Technical expertise in designing and coding will make apps that are error free and crash free.

Even though less experienced companies or inexperienced freelancers may seem to fit your pocket well, on second thoughts you could realise that the reality is something different. They will seldom be able to deliver as many features and finesse as an experienced company could deliver for the same price.

For example, an experienced company has clear ideas on how to develop each variety of apps like enterprise apps, educational apps, game apps, etc. Each of them demands variations in the approach towards market study, development, and deployment. Since inexperienced companies lack any appreciable experience, they have to use the trial and error method and depends a lot on sheer luck for success.

2. Updated tools and technologies

All companies have a lot of expenses to deal with, like employee salary, infrastructure maintenance, employee training cost, software cost etc. among the others. At the same time, an inexperienced company might not be getting a reasonable return from their investment. All companies face this situation as start-ups. There will be a period when a company might not be stable economically. Under these circumstances, a large number of start-ups will be forced to do with outdated technologies and tools.

By hiring an experienced iPhone app development company, one can make sure that updated tools and technologies are used for the development of their application. The developers will have in-depth knowledge of major platforms, techniques, technologies and tools.

An experienced company can bear the cost to incorporate all the continuous releases of softwares and hardwares in the market. While testing, for e.g., an experienced company can afford to test over a wide range of Apple devices including the “just released” ones.

3. Reliable communication

Experienced companies permit greater transparency of their identity and services. You can be much more relaxed about their genuineness and there will be better safety for your project.

During the development period and after, you can constantly be in touch with the development team. Further, you will be allowed to know about every progress in your project. This way, you can contribute to the project at all time, by giving your thoughts and suggestions.

4. Dedicated service

“Customer is King” – Certainly, this will be one of the ideals of every successful and experienced iPhone app development company. Most of them look forward to a lifetime relationship with their customers. So they treat and value them well.

The team that is chosen for a particular project rarely works on any side projects. This will boost the dedication developers have on a particular project and reduce distractions. Customer satisfaction will always be the key focus.

5. Happy employees deliver better output

Established companies can provide better work spaces for their employees, which will directly influence their loyalty towards the company and its clients. The facilities, ambience, employee treatment, team spirit, etc. that exist in such companies will have a positive effect on its employees, which will increase their work efficiency.

6. Professionals can save you time and money

Professional app developers have the capacity to meet any type of challenges that may come up in between a project. For e.g., they can deal with a major alteration in the app’s design without compromising user experience and can handle consequences created when you experiment your creativity.

The management in a well established company can commit to the priorities better and can generate more realistic timelines in the first place. They are efficient in taking crucial decisions that are master strokes. They can forecast market changes, possible threats, and prevent you from loosing your money unnecessarily.

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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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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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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.