Best iOS Development Tools You Should Know

If you're someone who has ever developed, or played with the idea of developing an app for the iPhone, then you are very aware of the fun and challenges of iOS development. What separates a pleasant and successful development experience from a grueling, frustrating one is usually just the quality of the tools you’re able to use.

Because good tools are not just going to make you a better code writer, they are going to make your work faster, your tests smarter, and your user experience a hell of a lot more enjoyable. Whether you’re a complete newbie to iOS development or you’ve published a couple of apps, this guide will walk you through the most useful and time saving tools you don’t want to miss.

Xcode: The Crucial IDE for iOS Development

Let’s start with the obvious Xcode. It’s the one stop place for all your work if you’re making an iOS mobile app, that’s where you’re doing it. All the tools you need to create, test, and submit your own apps to the App Store are included in this official development environment from Apple.

Why You’ll Love Xcode:

• You may test your app on several iPhone and iPad models with the built in simulator.
• Interface Builder helps you visually design your app's UI
• Write, design, debug and deploy from one place

Whether you are an app developer with a few side projects who is looking to get his feet wet or a professional who’s finishing up a commercial app, Xcode is the tool that will start your journey into iOS development.

TestFlight: Real-User Testing Before You Launch

Relaunching an app without testing it? That’s driving the car without looking at whether the brakes work.

TestFlight is Apple’s platform for over the air installation and testing of your iOS app. It allows you to get your app in the hands of testers so you can receive real feedback, squashing bugs and improving the user experience before launch.

Why It’s So Helpful:

• Invite up to 10,000 testers easily
• Get comprehensive logs, user reviews, and crash reports.
• Consults directly with Xcode and App Store Connect

If you’re actually doing some serious work on a stable iPhone development app, then TestFlight is mandatory.

Sketch: Design That Doesn't Feel Like iOS

Design is very important in the iOS world. And if your app doesn’t look and feel right, your users will notice right away.

Designers love Sketch for creating interfaces that conform to Apple’s style guidelines. It’s great for building clean, simple layouts when designing iPhone and iPad apps.

What Sketch Offers:

• Vector based design system optimized for mobile
• Reusable components to save time
• Easy export and collaboration with developers

If you're working with a designer or even designing yourself Sketch makes the UI/UX side of iOS development feel more accessible and efficient.

AppCode: An Creative Approach to iOS Coding

Enjoy coding but feel Xcode is putting you down? Enter AppCode from JetBrains, an IDE designed to make Swift, Objective C and C++ developers smarter and faster.

Key Features:

• Advanced code completion and refactoring tools
• Better navigation, faster indexing, and fewer slowdowns
• Works side by side with your existing Xcode projects

AppCode doesn’t replace Xcode. You still need Xcode to compile and upload to the App Store but it can make day to day coding a lot more enjoyable, especially for large or complex iOS mobile application development projects.

Firebase: Power Your App With a Full Backend

Not every iOS developer wants to build a backend from scratch and thanks to Firebase, you don’t have to. With features for storage, authentication, analytics, and more, this Google platform helps you to create apps more quickly.

Why iOS Developers Use Firebase:

• Fire Store and a real-time database to synchronize user data
• Built in user authentication (email, Google, Apple, etc.)
• Analytics and Crashlytics to track behavior and performance

Whether you’re building a chat app, social platform, or eCommerce experience, Firebase is one of the easiest ways to support your iPhone development app behind the scenes.

CocoaPods: Simplify Third-Party Libraries

If you've ever added animations, networking layers, or analytics tools to an iOS app, you've probably used a library and CocoaPods helps you manage those libraries with ease.

How It Helps:

• Easily integrate and update third party libraries
• Keeps your project files organized
• Works with thousands of open source pods

Instead of spending hours configuring dependencies manually, CocoaPods does the heavy lifting. It’s a must have tool in any iOS for developers setup.

Charles Proxy: See What Your App is Really Doing

When your app isn’t talking to your backend the way it should, Charles Proxy can help. It acts as a middleman between your app and the internet, so you can see every request and response in real time.

What You Can Do:

• Debug API calls
• Inspect HTTPS traffic
• Examine how your application responds to various network scenarios.

I think this would be particularly useful during QA, or when integrating with third party APIs. It’s your market research and every serious iOS developer should know how to apply it.

Fastlane: Automate the Boring Stuff

Let’s face it, App launching is stressful. But they don’t have to be.

Fastlane is an open source automation tool that can handle all these repetitive tasks like code signing, taking screenshots on your iOS/Android app and deploying your build.

Why 

• Automate TestFlight uploads and App Store submissions
• Generate localized screenshots for all devices
• Avoid manual errors in your release process

If you're releasing your app often, Fastlane will save you hours and your sanity.

Conclusion

It goes without saying that including these essential tools within our workflow is an absolute must when it comes to developing for iOS. From design, coding and testing to deployment, these tools allow you to build apps that look and feel great.

Whether you're just stepping into the world of iOS for developers or managing a full blown iOS mobile application development team, these tools will help you:

• Save time
• Catch more bugs
• Launch faster
• Deliver a better experience for your users

So explore them, try them out, and find the right mix that works for you. Great apps aren’t just coded, they're built with the help of great tools.