Everything You Need to Know About iOS Developers

Last Updated on 2025-02-20

Are you looking to launch the next best app for Apple’s iOS platform? Well, you’ll need skilled iOS developers for that. Check out this blog to better understand the roles, responsibilities, and standard qualifications for iOS developers before hiring your next team member.

Now that more and more companies are adopting a mobile-first standpoint, demand for mobile developers is at an all-time high. And rightly so, as this phenomenon opened more job opportunities for developers in the software industry. 

When it comes to choosing which mobile platforms to develop apps on, you have two likely options—Android and iOS. Both take up most of the mobile OS market, with Android taking a lion’s share at 70% and iOS. accounting for 25%.

But why target iOS users when Android has more users? Generally, iOS users spend more on mobile apps, subscriptions, or in-app purchases. On top of that, they are extremely loyal to their Apple devices and accessories. As business owners, it’s in your best interest to pay attention to this group of people and mobile apps’ role in their day-to-day activities. 

This leads us to this question: where do you hire qualified iOS developers? 

The truth is that hiring iOS developers is not as easy as it seems. Key items are essential for business owners to understand about this role before hiring. To guide you on your recruitment journey, here’s a rundown of the key points to remember for this topic: 

• What is iOS development?
• What is an iOS developer? 
• Responsibilities of an iOS Developer 
• Qualification of a Skilled iOS Developer 
• Hire iOS Developers from Full Scale 

What is iOS Development?

Basically, iOS app development is the process of building applications specifically for iOS—Apple’s main operating system. The latter is an OS platform used to run software on mobile devices like iPhones and iPad.

Moreover, it is part of Apple, Inc.’s wide ecosystem of operating systems, including macOS, tvOS, and watchOS.

While Android is open-source (meaning the source code is publicly available for anyone to view, modify, copy, and distribute any way they want), iOS is exclusively for iOS devices. Hence, this leads to differences in the development process for a particular device.

iOS developers use two programming languages—Swift and Objective-C—to develop software or applications for Apple hardware. In 2014, Apple developed Swift to provide developers with a fast and robust open-source programming language for building iOS, Mac, Apple TV, and Watch applications.

On the other hand, Objective-C is an object-oriented programming language for writing programs for iOS and OS X. It belongs to a family of C programming languages that provides powerful runtime and object-oriented performance. 

What is an iOS Developer? 

An iOS developer is a type of developer who designs, builds, tests, and maintains mobile applications powered by iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system. An expert iOS developer is skilled at either one of the iOS’s programming languages—Swift or Objective-C. 

Ideally, iOS developers are proficient with the design patterns and practices that focus on the iOS platform. Their in-depth knowledge of the iOS ecosystem allows them to understand how it works on Apple devices such as iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Apple Watch.  

Ultimately, an iOS developer’s goal is to build a fully functional, reliable, and visually appealing native app that meets user needs. 

Responsibilities of an iOS Developer

What does an iOS developer really do? Here’s a rundown of their responsibilities:

• Design and create user-friendly mobile applications for Apple’s iOS platforms
• Create innovative solutions using Swift or Object-oriented design principles
• Work closely with the design team to attain the design and features required by the client
• Identify and resolve potential bottlenecks in applications
• Regularly monitor and implement bug fixes and updates
• Evaluate existing processes and implement new technologies to increase efficiencies in development
• Adhere to the correct coding standards to maintain superb quality in mobile apps
• Launch the application on the Apple Store

Qualifications of a Skilled iOS Developer

Ideally, these are the foundational skills and experience a native iOS developer would possess:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or relevant field (Master’s degree is optional)
• Demonstrated experience in iOS development life cycle
• Solid background working with iOS platforms, Swift, Objective-C, and Cocoa, 
• Familiarity with Apple’s core design principles and interface standards, 
• Extensive experience with HTML5, CSS, API, and XML,
• Experience working with iOS on the back-end,
• Knowledge in performance tuning and offline storage, 
• Proficiency in utilizing code versioning technologies: Git, Mercurial, SVN, etc., 
• Proven expertise in CI/CD (Continuous Integration and/or Continuous Deployment),
• Superb time and project management skills, 
• Highly adaptable to new tech concepts and trends

Hire iOS Developers from Full Scale 

The truth is, it’s quite challenging to find a great iOS developer than a regular web developer. Why? Because iOS developers take native app development services up a notch by specializing in iOS and Apple’s ecosystem. 

This is not to say that you can’t find iOS developers at all. You can, as there will always be applicants looking for a job. But, hiring a top-tier iOS developer? That’s tough because it can be challenging to hire them, especially given today’s competitive labor market.

If you find it time-consuming to hire an iOS developer yourself, why not work with an offshoring partner? Full Scale is an offshoring company headquartered in Kansas City that offers bespoke software development services for multiple platforms.

We have iOS developers ready to mobilize and provide you with iOS app development services. Aside from software development, we offer web content and graphic design services for clients who want to stand out in the digital space. 

From assessment to selection and onboarding, our team is here to support you in every step of the recruitment process. 

Ready to get the ball rolling for your business? Learn about our capped billing, and guided development process, and tell us what dev talent you’re looking for. We’re excited to connect and support fellow scaling companies.