iOS vs Android Development — How Do We Choose?

【51CTO.com Quick Translation】I believe many of you are interested in mobile application development, but it is difficult to choose the right entry point. In this regard, the first difficulty you face is naturally the choice of a specific mobile platform. Although the current situation is very clear, iOS and Android have occupied more than 95% of the market share, but the further choice is related to the existing technology stack, learning curve and market dynamics and other trends.

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Learning Difficulty

Although iOS is more mature, has a more complete set of predefined rules, and has more powerful related development tools, on the other hand, Android applications are easier to pass the review of the official app store. With the birth of Apple's Swift programming language, newcomers can learn iOS application development knowledge faster and successfully complete application construction. On the other hand, developers who already have Java knowledge are more inclined to choose the Android development platform - because their original experience can be directly applied to mobile application development.

Related requirements

Developing mobile applications on any specific platform requires practitioners to have a technology stack, development tools such as Xcode and Android Studio, and related hardware equipment. In the specific development process of mobile applications, we must focus on specific hardware for design, testing and debugging. So what devices do you already have? What operating system does it run? Which mobile operating system do you prefer? Which do you think will provide a better user experience, iOS or Android? Android Studio is compatible with the three major desktop systems of Linux, OS X, and Windows. In contrast, Xcode is exclusive to OS X, which means that Android development work is cheaper for most practitioners.

Return

Although Android devices have a larger user base than iOS, apps on Apple's App Store tend to generate more lucrative revenues - this is because Apple users are more willing to pay for apps, unlike Android platforms, which can only rely on advertising support. Of course, these two ways of getting returns have their own advantages, and the latter can also provide excellent developers with good income and more flexibility to experiment with their design ideas.

In short, while Android provides users with more control and freedom during development, if you have never been exposed to Java programming before, you will face a steep learning curve. On the other hand, iOS's companion language Swift contains a large set of predefined rules that allow you to quickly complete the learning process - but it also limits the developer's ability to modify the application through various default features.

How to choose? Please make your own judgment.

Original title: Should I Learn iOS or Android Development?

Originally Posted by Gurmukh Singh

[Translated by 51CTO. Please indicate the original translator and source as 51CTO.com when reprinting on partner sites]