It’s time to tackle the age old debate: iOS or Android? Like many developers we’re pretty big fans of all things Apple (there are more than a few iPhones in this office!), so it’s no surprise that we enjoy developing apps for iOS.
Don’t get us wrong, Android is great too. In fact, we’ve written a whole blog post about why it’s not as bad as even the most avid Apple user might think! But ultimately, many of us here at Compsoft Creative have a love affair with Apple. Let us explain why…
It’s easier to make money on an iOS app through in-app purchases or charging a flat rate for your app than it is on Android. Apple’s app store generates twice as much revenue as the Google Play store [1] and, consequently, apps are generally released on Apple weeks before they are on Android. Apple users tend to part with their money more freely thanks in part to the premium nature and therefore high cost of the hardware, and the way Apple has developed their ecosystems to make spending as easy as possible for the user.
There's more to building the best business app than building on iOS. Find out our secrets in our guide.
Though the cost for build is similar on both platforms, chances are you’ll be paying more for that premium UI with awesome animations you are looking for if you’re developing on Android. With Android, there are A LOT more devices and manufacturers, each with their own idiosyncrasies for which you’ll have to adjust your design, whereas with iOS you’re designing for a strict set of standard screen sizes. Apple have also kindly given us developers access to a huge suite of animation and visual effect APIs – so that your app can have that on-the-fly Gaussian blur brought in with a spring dampening animation which produces an almost liquid smoothness that we have come to know and love, nay expect on iOS.
This reason also contributes to iOS making more money than Android, but iOS users tend to be more loyal and engaged than Android’s [2]. They test different apps to find which is right for them but stay with their favourites, giving you the opportunity to gain their loyalty, and explore in-app purchases and associated apps.
As a general rule amongst mobile app developers, developing on iOS is much easier than developing on Android. Apple’s app-making interface, XCode, has been praised for its ease of use. Fewer lines of code are needed with fewer bug occurrences and better developer tools too. On top of this, it can take 2 – 3 weeks less time than it would take on Android [3] and, at the end of the day, time = money!
As you can see, iOS certainly has its advantages - but whether it’s the right platform for you entirely depends on what your developers are comfortable with and what you want the outcome of your app to be.
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Sources
[1] http://bgr.com/2016/07/20/ios-vs-android-developers-profits-app-store-google-play/
[2] http://whallalabs.com/mobile-application-development-ios-vs-android-vs-windows-phone/
[3] http://theappsolutions.com/blog/development/ios-vs-android/