Ultimate Guide to Hire iOS Developers

When it comes to mobile app development, we only think of two platforms iOS or Android. Well, with the 2.8 million apps, Android leads the market and iOS is successor with 2.2 million apps available to download on the App Store.

Android is an open source platform so there is no standardization in terms of design, development, etc. It enables developers with the flexibility to build and launch apps quickly.

This is not the case if you are considering the iOS platform. It is Apple’s platform and they have strict guidelines for iOS developers to follow while developing iPhone apps. One mistake and the app get rejected by the App Store.

Relax, there is nothing to scare. You can definitely avoid this situation by hiring skilled iOS developers. Now, probably you are looking for how to make sure that you are hiring or working with the right skill set.

If yes, then you are at the right place. Here you can explore everything right from identifying the requirements of iOS developers for your business to their skills, role & responsibilities, salary, and more.

Let’s dive into the details.

Identify Your Requirements before Hiring iOS Developers

Before stepping into the hiring process, it is very much important to be clear about your project inside and out. It helps you to define your expectations from iOS developers and make a well-informed decision.

Define Your App Idea

Note down your app idea by creating a short description. It could be a small paragraph or a sentence. With a focused mindset, you can nurture the app idea at an extreme extent rather than getting lost in varied thoughts.

Create a list of the app’s use cases or key problems/challenges it should solve. This practice helps you put thoughts together and concentrate on flourish the idea.

Set Up Goal

Get clarity about your goals and define a plan to achieve them in the long term and short run such as finding investors for your app idea, getting the top position on App Store, receiving thousands of downloads, and more.

Detailed analysis of your goals helps you understand the scale of your mobile app and define the pathway for iPhone app development.

Describe Features & Functionalities

Well, its pretty simple. Create a list of features and functionality you want to be integrated into your app. You can analyze similar kinds of apps and check out which functions and features they have implemented. This list gives the next level of clarity to the iOS developers about what they are going to deal with.

Define Priorities

If you have time, then you can wait until the completion of your iPhone application. But it’s not the right decision from a business point of view. Also, when you launch an app after a certain period of time, the app features become obsolete. So, everything can’t be developed in one go.

Prioritize the functions and features so developers know where they should focus on first. Using a variety of prioritization strategy, you can bring clarity on which features and functions should be developed first.

Roles and Responsibilities of iOS Developers

Most of us are unaware of the responsibilities that iOS developers carry out. The only understanding we have is, they write code to build an iPhone app. Well, it is not so. Their role and responsibilities are far beyond than coding.

They take part in every stage of iPhone app development start from planning, designing, developing, testing and launching the app on the App Store. Actually, they transform your specifications into a working mobile app or software product.

UI/UX Design

In iOS development, UI/UX design is not just the responsibility of designers. Developers also pay close attention to it as they are also in charge of delivering a good experience to the end users. Thus, they must aware of Apple’s UI/UX guidelines, understand design principles of the platform and be good at programming using the latest iOS tools & technologies.

Experience Level of iOS Developers

Junior iOS Developers

They are entry-level programmers who have around 2 years of experience in iPhone app development. Junior developers work closely with experienced colleagues to enrich their technical knowledge and improve app development skills.

Middle iOS Developers

After working on different and complex projects for a certain period of time, the junior developers move from beginners to a more advanced level. They are known as mid or middle-level iOS developers. They are capable to handle the project independently and deal with the challenges compare to junior level engineers.

Senior iOS Developers

Senior iOS developers are expert level programmers who have an excellent knowledge base of advanced iOS technologies and trends. They have successfully developed dozens of iPhone apps for varied industry verticals.

Responsibility of senior iOS developers is not limited to developing and designing the app. They also deal with API integration, security, and testing related aspects.

Select the right combination iOS developers and create an excellent team as per your project requirements.

Technical Skills of iOS Developers

iOS platform evolves almost every day with the introduction of high-tech tools and trends. By considering this, the engineers should keep updating their knowledge base by adopting advanced technologies and learning new skills.

Also, every project has different requirements or challenges that are addressed by using a specific set to iOS technologies. But, there are a few skills that are general and you can expect in every iOS developer.

  • Proven experience in iOS development
  • Have launched one or more apps in the App Store
  • Knowledge of Apple Human Interface Guidelines
  • Understanding of Apple’s UI/UX design standards
  • Deep familiarity with Objective C, Swift and Cocoa Touch programming languages
  • Knowledge of OpenGL and Metal
  • Experience of working with iOS frameworks such as Core Animation, Core Data, Core Text, and Core Graphics
  • Understanding of code versioning tools like Git
  • Experience of integrating third-party libraries and APIs
  • Knowledge of RESTful APIs to connect the iOS app to back-end services

Different Options to Hire iOS Developers

Hope now you got clarity about roles and responsibilities and skills of iOS developers.

Now, it’s time to explore what are the different options available for you to hire iOS developers. Three different approaches available across the software development industry and you can pick one that suits your project needs.

  • Hire a software outsourcing company
  • Hire an in-house team of iOS developers
  • Hire freelance iOS developers
  • Software Development Company

This is the best approach to hire reliable iOS developers. Most of the companies, including SMEs to large scale organizations, prefer to hire iOS developers from an experienced iPhone App development company.

They have proven expertise in delivering the best solutions for diversified industry domains and expertise to work with the latest iOS technologies and trends.

Following the Agile and DevOps approaches, they ensure the timely delivery of high-quality products to the clients. If the project fails, the software development company takes accountability of failure and put extra efforts to match your expectations.

In-house Team

Setting up an in-house team is definitely a better option than working with freelancers. They can work by coordinating with other teams. Hiring in-house iOS engineers, you can build quality iPhone apps as they in line with your goals.

It costs you more as you need to set up IT infrastructure for single app development and brings the iOS developers on the payroll. It will be a challenge for you to find the right talents that address your requirements and deliver the best solution.

Freelancers

They work individually and don’t have a well-defined process in place for iPhone app development. There is a lack of accountability if they fail in delivering the quality product. It’s quite tough to judge the skills and knowledge of freelancers as no one guarantees you about their expertise. Freelance iOS programmers are not the best option if you are looking for a long term association.

Interested to explore the difference between a software development company, in-house team, and freelancers in details? Learn more about which the best option for you and why.

Key Factors You Should Consider Before Hiring iOS Developers

Expertise

Expertise all about how the iOS developers deal with the different types of apps and projects. Every industry and business specific requirements or challenges to deal with. iOS developers must understand and the pain points of the client’s business and have insights on how to resolve it. To learn about the developers’ expertise, you can check out their portfolio. It speaks about their excellence in managing the projects.

Experience

Most of the time we confuse experience with expertise. But both of them are completely different from each other. Code writing capabilities of iOS developers cannot be considered as experience.

You need to pay attention to how many projects the iOS developers have successfully delivered, how they addressed the clients’ challenges, etc. If you focus on coding skills only, then you can end up by selecting the wrong candidates.

Exposure/Portfolio

The most important aspect that you should consider before hiring iOS developers. Check out the portfolio of mobile app development company or iPhone programmers to get clarity about their technical expertise, industry exposure and level of experience.

You can check out case studies available on a software development company’s website or you can check the blogs that talk about the specific projects delivered by them. It helps you to evaluate attention to detail and overall proficiency of iOS engineers.

Communication

Communication is an essential factor when you hire iPhone app developers from other continent and country. There are issues of language barriers and time zone differences that affect the communication channel.

Make sure they are well versed with the language you are using and ready to adjust their time zone as per the changing project needs.

How Much Does It Cost to Hire iOS Developer?

The cost of hiring iOS developers directly connected with their salary standards. Of course, the salary standards vary as per developers’ experience and expertise. But. you can get an overview of iOS developer’s salary in varied regions.

Average Salary of iOS Developers

Source: Codementor

The above graph suggests that the hourly rate of iOS developers in North America is $150. While programmers from Indonesia charges $10 per hour.

Freelance Hourly Rate

Source: Codementor

If you hire freelance iOS engineers, then it will be a more affordable deal for you. The above graph displays the average hourly rate of freelance developers that ranges between $81-100.

In the Nutshell

Credencys has a team of experienced iOS developers who not only develop the apps but also involved in end-to-end project development process starts from consultation to design, development, testing, deployment to launch.

They make sure to deliver exact solutions that match clients’ expectations, solve their pain points and provide delightful experiences to the end user. To learn about technical expertise and experience connect with us. Let’s work together to bring your idea to life through iPhone app development.

How to Prioritize Which Features to Build First in Your Mobile App?

When entrepreneurs come up with mobile app ideas, they usually want to add everything in the first version itself.

But this approach can be harmful for many reasons.

For the first version of your mobile app, you should always aim to develop the only features that will fill the common gap in your target audience’s life.

Moreover, if you try to incorporate all features at once, you’re destined to meet one or more of the following obstacles:

  • The cost is likely to reach more than your actual budget.
  • You take the risk of developing features which are actually might not be useful to your targeted users.
  • Your app’s time-to-market will be stretched unnecessarily & you might miss an opportunity.
  • You might end up launching premium features that you could have monetized.

These reasons prove why you must prioritize features.

So, how should you identify the right features for the first version of your mobile app?

The best & proven way to prioritize features is to start by understanding the purpose of your mobile app.

Understanding Purpose of Mobile App

When you’re in the idea phase of your mobile app project, it’s wise to create a Product Requirements Document.

A product requirement document will help you simplify your mobile app idea and defining the main purpose of your mobile app.

If creating a product requirement document sounds too technical to you, just begin with asking yourself this question:

What do I want my mobile app to do?

Just by asking yourself this question, you will automatically come up with the main problem you’re trying to resolve. In addition, this exercise will also help you establish a concrete vision of your mobile app, set clear objectives, and specific success milestones.

For example, let’s say you’ve come up with an idea to build a doctor appointment app.

You’ve identified that patients usually have to wait long times to schedule their appointment with the doctor.

So, you’re planning to resolve this problem through a mobile app that allows patients to book appointments without having to call, wait for their turn on phone, and schedule appointments.

From here, you can easily define the main purpose of your mobile app.

My mobile app is a doctor appointment booking application.

It is for Patients & Doctors.

Who want to schedule appointments.

Unlike the traditional approach, my mobile app saves the time of both patients and doctors by eliminating the need to call.

Once you’ve defined the main purpose of your mobile app idea, the next step is to prioritize the features.

How to Prioritize Features of Your Mobile App?

In order to properly prioritize features for the first version of your mobile app, you’ll need to take a logical approach.

For instance, the goal of the first version of any mobile app is to:

  • Test the idea in real-market.
  • Get feedback from early-adopters.
  • & Incorporate new features based on the feedback.

Now, you’ll only be able to prioritize the features if you know the main purpose of your mobile app. So, don’t skip the above step of understanding purpose.

That step will help you identify 1 – 5 core features of your mobile app. For example, sign up, view available appointment slots, book an appointment, and notifying both patients and doctors are the core features of a doctor appointment scheduling app.

Similarly, for your mobile app idea, it’s critical to take sufficient time to brainstorm and make a list of all the features you want to include.

Once you have the list of all features, it’s to time differentiate core features and nice-to-have features.

For this, you can use the following exercise.

Take a notepad and pen and write the following 3 categories.

  • Absolutely Necessary
  • Important But Not Necessary in First Version
  • Cool or Nice-to-Have Features

Now, let’s a closer look at each of these categories.

Absolutely Necessary Features

In this category, write down the features that are necessary to launch your mobile app.

Ask the following questions to sort out absolutely necessary features.

  • Does this feature solve my target users’ most important problem?
  • Does this feature is in alignment with the main objective of my mobile app?
  • Should you save this feature as a premium feature for monetization?

Answering the above questions will help you decide whether a particular feature is a core feature or not.

If it is, write it down under the absolute necessary category.

Next…

Important But Not Necessary In The First Version

In this category, list down all the features that you think are important and save them for the next version of your mobile app.

For example, once you launch the first version of your mobile app by building absolutely necessary features and receive positive feedback from early adopters, you can then add these important features in the next version.

In fact, you can build these important features as premium features and monetize them to start earning money.

However, if you’re going to use these important features as premium features, make sure that they enhance the primary functionality of your mobile app, make your mobile app even more convenient to use, and users are willing to pay for it.

If a feature meets all three above-mentioned criteria, then only you should consider to add it as a premium feature. If they do not meet all three criteria, then you should also add them in the next version of your mobile app, but as a free upgrade.

For example, if a particular feature is likely to enhance the primary functionality of your mobile app and will also make your mobile even more convenient to use, but if the users aren’t willing to pay for it, then you should still add them as a free upgrade.

At this point, you’re likely to get confused whether to add a specific feature as a premium feature or a free upgrade. When that happens, it’s wise to get in touch with a mobile app development company to clear the confusion.

Remember, deciding between premium feature and a free upgrade is extremely important, so don’t hesitate to seek help from professionals.

Cool or Nice-to-Have Features

As the category’s name suggests, these are all the leftover features of the all features list.

Remember, it is not necessary to add all the leftover features in you mobile app. You still need to evalaute each leftover feature whether it will add some sort of value to mobile app or not.

So, take each remaining feature and think whether it will provide some value to your users or not.

If it doesn’t contribute any value, eliminate the feature entirely.

Why?

The answer is two-part:

Firstly, mobile apps with overcrowded features make it difficult to understand how to use.

Secondly, too many features in a mobile app make users uninstall the app and move on to the next in the App Store.

So, before adding each nice-to-have feature, you need to make sure that a particular nice-to-have feature provides some kind of value to your users and it doesn’t make the app difficult to understand or use.

Conclusion

Overall, it is extremely important think long-term and strategically to make your mobile app successful.

Following are the key points you should remember.

Plan in advance which features will be included in the first version.

Identify which important features will be added as premium features and which important features will be a free upgrade in the second version.

And lastly, before adding the nice-to-have features, make sure that they contribute some sort of value and doesn’t make your mobile app difficult to understand or use.

Know Why You Should Select Outsourcing Software Development Company

In this era of mobile and web apps, various technologies keep hitting the market every single day. They have brought revolution around the globe, making people’s lives easier. Adoption of these technologies in different sectors and walks of life has given rise to cut-throat competition among businesses.

In this tech-world, you will notice that the companies that survived the market are the ones with a better understanding of their goals and work in a strategic way. If you are a businessman, it crucial that you understand the significance of integrating the latest technologies into your business projects. You cannot continue your old way of doing trade and still claim to be in the top position.

Entrepreneurs have started adopting new ways of doing business, which will help them achieve their specific goals effectively. Today, a majority of the ones have come up with unique business app ideas to increase their credibility and customer base.

Time and money are the two most important factors to consider when leveraging new technologies into any business. Therefore, outsourcing has become a new normal in the tech world. Organizations have started outsourcing their web and mobile applications with reputed software development firms.

Before you know the reasons for outsourcing your web and mobile applications, take a look at what is outsourcing.

What is outsourcing?

Outsourcing is assigning your mobile app and web application development to a software development company to skyrocket your business. Outsourcing development companies provide various software development services to help you achieve your business goals.

Top 10 Reasons To Choose An Outsourcing Software Development Company for Your Mobile App

1. Cost Savings

An organization can save up to 30% operational costs by outsourcing their software development. When you outsource, you do not have to invest that money in hiring an extra team for the purpose. You only have to give the development charge to the concerned firm.

Moreover, the development charge also depends on which nation your outsourcing firm belongs. You can decide while selecting a software development company accordingly. Also, when you assign the development to an outsourcing software development company at a specific cost, they won’t charge you any additional costs beyond that.

2. Time Saving

Time is money for businessmen when it comes to achieving their pre-defined goals. It is critical for them to meet their deadlines for launching their concerned products in the pre-decided timeframe.

In this situation, when you assign your web app development to an outsourcing software development company, you do not have to worry about completing the project on time. The dedicated team members of the software outsourcing development company will put their efforts to develop your application efficiently. Moreover, an outsourcing software development company provides services for 24 hours without any additional charges.

3. Access To Latest Technologies & Larger Talent

With the increasing competition in the market, today, a lot of skilled developers have hit the market. Companies have become selective while hiring talent for their reputed organizations.

Therefore, when you outsource your business application with an outsourcing software development company, you get in touch with a large talent pool. Moreover, you cannot see things as a professional will see while developing a web application or a mobile app. Also, they are quite familiar with and experienced in the latest technologies, which is beneficial for your upcoming product.

4. Focus on Core Business

Competition is increasing every single day, and businesses have to upgrade themselves with the latest updates in their sectors. When you assign your mobile app development to an outsourcing software development company, then you can focus on core business.

The burden or the responsibility of project completion, being on the shoulders of the software developers, you are free to streamline your core processes to strengthen your trade by several means. Moreover, you can employ your in-house skills to achieve other important targets of the business.

5. Improved Security

Assuming that your in-house staff is not skilled in the IT sector, they are likely to make errors in the app development processes. Moreover, as they are not professionally experienced in the concerned field, it can be considerably time-consuming to complete the project.

Also, when you know that your app development is not in the professional hands, you cannot be sure of its security. It means that there are possibilities that your application may not be data-secured, and you may suffer from privacy breach or other issues in the future. By outsourcing your web app development to a reputed development company, you are free from the issues we mentioned above.

6. Flexibility

The executive staff has to juggle a wide range of tasks and processes. When you do not have to hire, train, and recruit a separate team, you and your staff can focus on other critical tasks and processes of the business. As a result, you can invest more money in sales, marketing, and business development. Moreover, you can work with third-party developers on a contractual basis. Therefore, you do not have the pressure to keep them on payroll once the product is developed.

7. Reduced Time to Market

To gain a competitive edge, businesses have to launch their web and mobile applications quickly. With outsourcing, you are not dependent on your in-house resources for launching the application. You have to dictate the timeline to the dedicated team of developers, and they will fulfill your requirements accordingly.

8. Improved Efficiency

Outsourcing partners hire skilled and experienced technical experts to their team. These experts know how to handle different software related challenges and have a broader understanding of helping you achieve your goals. Therefore, assigning your mobile and web app development to a software development company can bring efficiency in project completion.

9. Meet Your Deadline & Budget

When you contract with a development company, you have the benefit of increased accountability in matching deadlines and sticking to a pre-defined budget.

Outsource teams have processes to leverage their resources to complete the project on time. Moreover, they plan their development stages beforehand to define their personal deadlines, which help them make the required adjustments in this direction.

10. Risk Management

When you outsource your business application development, it frees you from the risk management. As the development company is experienced in developing several business applications, they are also endured with the development stages and the relevant processes. Therefore, they are less likely to make any kind of errors that can risk your business.

Wrapping Up

If you are planning to develop your potential business web application, then it is significant to hire mobile app developers from a reputed development company like Credencys Solutions. We have a team of highly experienced and skilled software developers providing excellent web app and mobile app development services. Skyrocket your business with our promising development services.

Unveil Key Features of React JS for Web & Mobile App Development

A lot of JavaScript frameworks and libraries are available in the tech world. The more options create more confusion in making a decision. Same happens to businesses when developers discuss the varied JavaScript frameworks with them. Especially, when the entrepreneurs are not tech savvy, selection of the right JavaScript framework becomes a challenge for them.

Have you ever gone through such a dilemma?

If yes, then I can help you partially in picking the most effective JS framework as per the specific requirements of your web and/or mobile app development.

Among all the popular JS frameworks React JS is widely preferred by developers and businesses due to various reasons. One of them is its power packed feature set.

Well, we won’t directly jump to the features part. Let’s explore React JS technology as a whole by having its definition, its inception to journey till the time and last but not least its excellent features that build amazing web and mobile applications.

What Is React JS?

React JS is an open source and component based JavaScript library used for creating dynamic and interactive user interfaces, especially for single page applications. It is highly flexible, declarative and efficient for developing scalable, simple, and fast front-end for web & mobile applications. React JS effectively handles the view layer of mobile and web app.

It allows developers to create intuitive, interactive and engaging applications with minimum coding and the best rendering performance. With the JavaScript library, developers can build large scale applications without reloading the page where data reflect in real-time.

Growth of React JS in as a JavaScript Framework

React JS is invented by Facebook’s software engineer named Jordan Walke in 2011. He wanted to create a JavaScript-based library that simplifies the app development and fosters a more comfortable user experience.

Facebook integrated the new library in the Newsfeed of its web-based application.
The library is declared as open-source on March 2013. Till that time, React JS gained immense popularity in developing single page and large scale application by performing view rendering work.

In 2015, the technology is released as a hybrid mobile app development framework by Facebook engineers. React JS soon adopted by the developers’ community and companies that adhere to the mobile-first strategy. Since then, React JS started competing with the other JavaScript frameworks and rules in the tech world.

 

React JS- Stack Overflow

Source: Stackoverflow

As React is a lightweight JS library that supports only UI components it has to be complemented with other tools, libraries, frameworks or technologies in order to build a complete architecture.
With the continuous enhancement, React JS web development offers numerous possibilities such as real-time updates, server-side rendering, different rendering target such as Android, iOS and so on.

Let’s build high performing large scale and single page application using the power packed features of React JS.

Contact Credencys