Top 10 iOS Developer Interview Questions

Last Updated on 2025-01-15

Are you starting your iOS developer hiring process? Here’s a list of iOS developer interview questions that will help find the perfect developer for your company.

The explosive adoption of smartphones and tablets over the last ten years is one of the most massive technological shifts of our lifetimes. This propelled the rise in demand for mobile applications, and, as a result, mobile app developers.

As it stands, iOS and Android represent 99% of mobile development. While Android dominates the global mobile app market, iOS has taken the lead in market share in North America. There’s no question that tech companies need to be aware of these iOS mobile development trends.

However, not all businesses have the capacity to hire the most suitable iOS developers. Hiring iOS developers, or developers in general, is different from hiring non-technical personnel. There are many points to look at when recruiting technical talent. It is not enough to evaluate their resumes and portfolio. Your hiring team also needs to design an interview that will allow you to assess the candidates’ skills.

To assist in the hiring process, we’ve prepared a few iOS developer interview questions to help you find someone who will best fit your business needs. But, before that, let us briefly discuss what iOS developers are, their responsibilities, and their qualifications.

iOS Developer: What Do They Do?

Apple Inc. created and introduced the iOS mobile operating system in 2007. iOS mobile development is the process of developing applications for this system. While Android is open-source, iOS is exclusively for Apple hardware. If you want your app to run on iPhones, iPads, or Apple Watch, you’re going to need iOS developers.

iOS Developer Job Description

Before you can hire iOS developers, you need to know their scope of work. You must also remember that developing an iOS application includes many steps. And, the involvement of an iOS developer depends on their seniority level.

For example, a senior iOS developer may also cover the app’s conceptualization and planning. In comparison, tasks assigned to a junior developer might only be in a single phase. 

With that, here are the general responsibilities assigned to an iOS developer:

• Participate in planning and building apps for the iOS platform
• Work with the design team to define and layout app features
• Make sure that the performance and quality of the app are up to the set specifications
• Monitor the app’s performance to identify potential problems and provide solutions
• Troubleshoot bugs to ensure that the app is error-free by its release
• Follow proper coding standards
• Implement application updates

You can make your job posting more specific and insightful to applicants by including more detailed day-to-day tasks specific to your application. 

iOS Developer Job Qualifications

To ensure that you hire the most suitable iOS developers, you need to check their skills. Here are the general technical and soft skills you need to look for from an iOS developer:

• College degree in computer engineering, IT, or related fields
• Proficient in Swift, Objective-C, and Cocoa Touch
• In-depth knowledge of mobile iOS app development life cycle
• Experience in working with iOS Frameworks
• Knowledgeable about iOS backend services and features
• Must be an expert in Apple design principles and interface guidelines
• Must know how to use various code versioning tools
• Experience in working with C libraries
• Knows about continuous integration
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Detail-oriented and creative
• Able to work with minimal supervision
• Patient and persistent

Exceptional developers are hard to find. Your recruitment process must enable you to assess each candidate properly. And, one of the best ways to test the applicants is to interview them.

Top iOS Developer Interview Questions

These questions will help you find which iOS developers are more likely to have the skills and attitude to contribute to your team.

1. Explain Swift programming.

Swift is an essential component in iOS development. It is a programming language used for iOS, macOS, and more. This question is a chance for the candidate to show their deep understanding of iOS development.

Sample answer:

Swift is a user-friendly and powerful programming language. It features protocol extensions that can generate generic code quicker. Also, Swift can help your code be more expressive. For example, Swift functions with first-class status and has lightweight closure syntax.

2. Can iOS support tasks running in the background? Provide an example.

You should ask this question to know the experience of the candidates. Their answers can reveal their work experience and what they have experimented on.

Sample answer:

iOS has broad functionalities. For example, iOS can support tasks such as audio playback, location services, and even Bluetooth Low Energy.

3. Which tool do you often use to develop an iOS interface?

An iOS developer should be familiar with different tools that can help them build interfaces. Their familiarity with the tools should tell you how they can fit in your development team.

Sample answer:

I usually use UIKit. It provides me with Touch Events to help me create an interface that has gesture recognizers and more. There are also other tools that help me build the interface that I want. Here are some of them:

• CodeRunner
• Xcode
• Crayons

4. How can you get concurrency in iOS?

This is another technical question that aims to assess their knowledge of iOS development and coding. The applicant should be able to tell you how they can achieve this.

Sample answer:

In iOS, there are three ways to achieve this. These include dispatch queues, operation queues, and threads.

5. What are UI elements in iOS?

UI is a big part of iOS development. A developer should be very familiar with the UI elements when developing iOS apps. Their answers should show you how well they can work with the designers.

Sample answer:

The various components of an interface are the UI elements. These are the buttons, text fields, images, and labels. That is why we developers need to work with designers to define these elements properly.

6. Have you published any iOS apps in the App Store? Why do you think they were successful?

Asking applicants is a good way to know more about their work experience. Having published one or more apps in the App Store can show the developer’s prowess of iOS development.

7. What is the hardest part of designing an iOS application for you?

Self-awareness is a great asset for a developer to have. Knowing how to assess their skills properly will help them improve. Their answer will also know where their strengths and weaknesses lie.

8. How do you solve problems when designing iOS apps? Tell me about one of the biggest challenges you’ve encountered in app development.

The candidate’s answer to this question will show their problem-solving skills. You should also pay attention if they are willing to ask for help or prefer to find solutions by themselves. Their answers will tell you if they fit your culture.

9. What are some of the biggest communication challenges in a typical development team?

Development teams are composed of multi-disciplinary talent. An iOS developer needs to interact with designers and other non-technical personnel. Developers who know how to communicate well can help a team achieve their goals with fewer problems.

10. Give an example where you have to pitch an idea to your team leader. How did you go about it?

This is another question that aims to test a candidate’s communication skills. Having the courage to speak and contribute ideas is a valuable skill for a development team.

These are just ten iOS developer interview questions to help find the best talent for your team. You can add detailed questions that are more related to your business goals or needs.

Are You Looking for Talented iOS Developers? 

Finding the best iOS developers for your team can be challenging, especially in today’s very competitive market. Not only do you have to make sure that you offer them the best benefits, but you also have to compete with other companies.

The good news is we can provide what you need. At Full Scale, we have a pool of talented and experienced iOS developers. Our recruitment and assessment program ensures that we only hire the most skilled and qualified developers. This is to ensure that we provide our clients with the best software services.

Take a look at our rigorous assessment process:

Aside from iOS developers, we also have talented software developers specializing in every popular language and framework, as well as QA testers and designers. Our specialists have the skills to help your team succeed.

Looking for world-class iOS developers? Let’s start talking to build your dream team!