5 Vital Tips To Become an iPhone App Developer

A recent study suggests the average annual salary for full-time employed iOS app developers in 2011 was nearly $90,000. And by 2016, the total revenue generated from consumer mobile applications would approximately hit a whopping $50 billion!

If you are a coder, it’s a must to get familiar with Apple’s development tools and guidelines. Here are the tools you would need to start working on your first iOS application.

1)  Get a Mac:

By hook or crook, you will need a Mac – as it’s the basic requirement for iOS app development. Do remember; buy a Mac with an Intel-based processor running on Mac OS X version 10.8 (or higher). In case you own a PC, your cheapest go-to option would be to purchase a Mac Mini as you can pair it with the monitor of your PC as it should be able to run the iOS development tool smoothly. If you are feeling slightly richer, you can opt for the higher model of the iMac – much better processing power guaranteed!

2)  Register as an Apple Developer:

Once you have your app idea steady in place, the very next step is to sign up as an Apple developer. Now, kindly don’t mix this up with the paid iOS Developer Program as everyone is allowed to register as an Apple developer for free!

The term ‘developer’ doesn’t mean that you have to be a programmer with a sound techie background. It’s simply a name used for anybody who is specifically publishing the app. The Standard cost is minimal, and you should agree to the Apple’s terms and conditions, and signing and returning the contract.

Once you register for the developer account, you will have everything you need to get going as an iPhone App Programmer: the iPhone simulator for testing, the development environment XCode, performance analyzers, interface builders, and the entire documentation reference library.

Do read up on the Apple App Store Review Guidelines to be aware of the dos and don’ts of developing your first iOS App. If you don’t follow the rules, your app will be rejected at the first shot.

3)   Learn Objective C:

Objective-C is still one of the most valuable iOS languages and is a gateway to a great career as an iOS Developer. It’s also your first step towards other important skills, like Cocoa Touch, Cocoa, XCode and Swift. So what’s the best way to pick up on the primary programming language for iPhone development?

iPhone Developer Site: If you are well-versed with C/ C++ or Objective C, then you need to start working in sync with the API’s of the iPhone and what better option than the iOS Developer site?

Books: If you are a complete beginner and you don’t know where to begin, fret not. Pick up any beginners book, for e.g.: The For Dummies series is excellent if you would want to start right from the basics.

Online Tutorials: There’s a vast sea of information online in the form of free tutorials. You can check Treehouse, Code School, Tuts+, Lynda.com and Skillfeed for a great start.

4)   Work, work and more work:

Depending on the timeframe and your level of programming knowledge as an iOS app programmer, your iOS application can take around 6 weeks to anywhere around 6 months for development.

No amount of reading or watching videos is going to make you an expert iOS app developer. Take help from resources as your tools, but without any action nothing is going to happen by aimlessly browsing through tutorials and watching iOS talks.

Once you are done with the development process do remember; after all the efforts and brainstorming sessions that have gone into building your app, you need to make sure that the user have a positive experience whenever they use your mobile app. And the only way to rely on that is testing!

If you fail at effectively testing your app, most likely your customer is going to do it for you and unlike your testing team; they lack the tools or the time to report back problems which will simply result in the app getting uninstalled forever.

5) Submit your app to Apple:

The testing process is done, your app is thoroughly scrutinized and reviewed by you and the necessary changes are made on the basis of honest feedback.

Now it’s time for you to submit your app to the app marketplace for review. It’s a straightforward process – zip up the file, upload it with a description, a large and small icon and app screenshots. If everything is fine, it takes Apple a week for approval before your app makes it to the store.

An iOS App Development can be a quite a challenge, but it is a fun and rewarding experience once you get the hang of the basic tools required, guidelines regarding various Development Programs, Design policies and much more.

The iPhone development company popularity is constantly increasing, thus opening opportunities for you to join one such company and excel in that.

Author Ritesh Patil is the co-founder of Mobisoft Infotech that helps startups and enterprises in mobile technology. He loves technology, especially mobile technology. He’s an avid blogger and writes on mobile application. He works in an iPhone application development company.