The world of technology is an ever changing organism, and with this change comes trends about development and services. Some of these trends stay on for the future, but many of these trends are just that – trends. They come and go with time.
But whether these trends are just passing or are here to stay, as a developer, you need to know about these trends, so that you can adopt those who look like they might last, and avoid those that will become obsolete after some time.
Nowadays, these tech trends are mostly related to mobile devices, such as our smartphones and their applications. Whether they are android devices, or iOS devices, applications for these are in high demand. While android rules the market in terms of active devices, let’s look at iOS devices for a minute. We are all familiar with its parent company Apple, and according to recent reports, the number of active iPhones right now number nearly a billion.
Let us now take a look at some of the trends in the world of iOS app development this year. As one of the most popular mobile application platforms in the world, iOS app development is in high demand. One of the reasons for its popularity is that it is comparatively secure compared to the rival platform android.
According to recent stats, by January 2020, Apple has paid iOS app developers a cumulative 155 Billion US dollars, which means an addition of 35 Billion USD since last year. That is a very big figure when we consider that this is just one platform for mobile applications.
Well, these are just some of the facts about Apple and its market, so let us now move to the trends that are dominating the market this year for iOS app development.
Better Application Security
Having properly secure apps is every user’s main priority. Apple has been known to be particularly stringent in only verifying apps that comply with its security standards. In the past few years, these security standards are what helped stop many security hacks from accessing data from these Apple devices.
Hacking attempts are quite commonplace nowadays, and therefore even one single mistake in the security of a single app can be catastrophic for the user.
An example of this is when the iPhone 11 was launched, it was found that there was a security flaw that made almost all active iOS devices vulnerable to attack. The issue was resolved in the next iOS update, but until it was patched, all of these devices could possibly have become victim to hacking. That is why Apple is so strict in approving only those apps which they believe are secure.
A feature related to it is the improved password auto-fill in iOS devices, which has been helpful in making this process more secure by using ASWebAuthentication Sessions, which allows the device to use this framework to properly secure the entire password entry process.
Integration of Cloud Services
Cloud technology has become a mainstay in our industry nowadays. From storage services that allow us to store massive amounts of data easily and at a fraction of the cost of personal storage setups, as well as allowing us to scale up the storage when our business requires it, cloud storage has revolutionized how data is stored and accessed.
That is why many iOS apps are now designed to work with cloud services for data storage and retrieval, so that local storage is utilized judicially. Not only that, the data stored on the cloud can be easily accessed anywhere in the world, you just need to have an internet connection. That means that by not storing the data locally, you allow yourself to access that data without any geographical limitation.
Focus on Internet-of-Things Applications
The Internet of things is an important and popular concept nowadays. Not only a concept anymore, multiple industries are using IoT for different purposes, and therefore require companion apps to access and manage the hardware.
IoT or internet of things is the process that allows you to connect and communicate with your smart devices. These devices can be personal devices such as the Amazon Echo used to control the smart appliances around you, or they can be industrial devices used in factories and other such places.
As many different applications are becoming common in general usage nowadays, iOS developers are looking to develop apps that can connect to these devices easily and can leverage their features the best way possible.
Adopting Swift 5
Swift 5 is the newest version of the Swift programming language, and has become quite popular. It has been released bundled with a stable version of the Application Binary Interface, or ABI, as well as compatibility with binary programming.
Compounding on the features above, this version comes with better programming features and data structures, such as raw strings, enumerator cases, result types, multiples of integers, and many more useful features.
Swift 5 is backwards compatible with Swift 4.1 and 4.2, and allows for code migration as well. It is also compatible with Linux, so developers can use Linux for development of Swift apps as well.
Many an iOS app development company is eagerly adopting Swift 5 for its primary iOS app development language, due to these specific reasons.
Latest polls suggest that nearly 42% of all apps on the Apple App Store are developed using Swift, and if we remove games from these stats, that figure rises up to 57%, which is quite high.
Enterprise Applications Development
Developing Enterprise level apps is on the rise today, and especially with the rise in usage of various mobile devices, enterprise software or apps that can run on these mobile devices are getting more in demand. Due to the inherent security of the iOS platform, many companies are developing apps that are designed for iOS.
Enterprise level apps are better than your run of the mill apps, as they are designed to a customer’s exact specifications, so that they can extract the maximum benefit from the app itself, while keeping secure and increasing productivity.
That is one of the reasons why app developers are getting into developing scalable apps for the enterprise.
The trends given above are the ones which became popular in 2020, and experts predict that these trends are going to last. So if you are an iOS developer, or looking to enter the market, or just interested in keeping up with the trends, these are the ones to know and keep up with this year. If you are looking for a reliable iOS app development service provider, make sure to contact App Development Pros, and discuss your requirements with their expert iOS developers.
