Top iOS App Development Best Practices - 2024

Mobile App Development is a long process which is basically a compilation of multiple long processes which involves a great amount of strategizing and decision making. Each and every intricate detail that goes into the app making process has its own merits and demerits. 

And when it comes to iOS apps, quality matters the most. "As per CNBC’s reports, in the year 2020, Apple rejected around 1 million apps from the app store." While some were rejected for being a fraud or outright copies of other apps, many were rejected due to their poor quality and user experience.

Apple takes pride in being serious about the apps it offers in their app store. Apple believes a well-designed app is a good way to engage the users, retain them, and improve the overall monetization efforts.

Best iOS App Development Practices

Let us share some best practices with you that you can implement to create an iOS app that will cater to your and Apples’ requirements.

1. Pick a suitable Architectural Pattern

An architectural pattern will describe how the app logic is divided into components. The aim is to make the app development and post- development maintenance much easier. A straightforward example of this would be to separate the UI of the app from its internal code. This will allow you to develop, test, and update them as and when needed.

There are all kinds of app architectures, ranging from N-tier to monolith. But when it comes to iOS development you are most likely to come across these three structures: MVC, MVP & MVVM.

Each of these structures have their own advantages and disadvantages that you should be considering, depending upon the requirements of your project.

Now let us take you through these three structures to help you decide:

↪ MVC

Using this, we separate the app into three major parts- the Model, the View and Controller. The Model is responsible for the data and the business logic of the app. It basically extracts the data from a database and then processes it. It can also be called as the brain component of the app. 

The View is responsible for presenting the data to the users. It is where the UI is located. View is also responsible for getting the user input and passing it on to the Controller. 

The Controller is the connection between the Model and the View Components. The controller receives, and in some cases, validates the input from the user, alerts and passes it to the Model. Which then further updates the View to reflect the changes. However, the biggest disadvantage of MVC is that it always requires to accurately classify the code into the three categories- which may not be always possible for the developer. Which further ends up in overloading one or more components in large/ complex apps.

↪ MVP

This structure comprises the Model, View and Presentation Components. For most of the part, MVP is pretty similar to MVC. 

However, there are a couple of differences which sets them apart from each other.  While in MVC, the Model is able to directly interact with View. In MVP, the View has no knowledge of the Model. In MVP architecture, everything is processed through the Presenter Component. 

MVP is proven to be more flexible and modular than MVC. The developer can easily develop, maintain, and update the components independently which makes it more suitable for larger apps.

↪ MVVM

The third type of architecture is MVVM or Model- View-View-Model.  Similar to MVP and MVC, MVVM also comprises Model and View Components. 

However, the View component in MVVM is passive- it can’t change the UI directly. This responsibility is passed to data binders- they act as the connector between the View and ViewModel components. 

This way, MVVM becomes more modular and simpler to maintain as compared to MVP & MVC. We believe that for larger and complex applications, MVVM is the suitable choice since it allows you to manage the code into smaller and manageable chunks.

2. Use the Recommended Technologies

Apple is famous for having a tight control over its entire ecosystem. And when it comes to iOS development, it is no different. Apple has composed a list of tools and technologies that they strongly advice developers to use. And even though it is not a mandate, it is best to comply with them. The reason for this is simple- Quality.

When you comply with Apple’s recommended technologies, it gives you a better chance at building a high-performing and compliant app.

It comes in handy when you publish your app at the Apple App Store and it also makes the iOS development faster and easier.

Two of the most recommended technologies by Apple are iOS SDK & XCode, The official Apple integrated Development Environment (IDE)

The iOS SDK includes all the relevant and needed libraries for developing iOS apps. On the other side, XCode provides an intuitive environment to create your apps. It offers powerful debugging and detailed documentation. As an added benefit, you will also get support from Apple directly. 

 iOS apps also have their own programming languages- Swift and Objective-C. 

And amongst these two, Swift is the most recommended because of its simplicity. If we talk about performance, it is also 2.6 times faster than the Objective-C language.

3. Write Clean and Concise Code

The term “Clean Code” refers to the code that is well-structured and is easy to understand.  This should be every developer’s top priority when developing an iOS app.

A readable code makes your code easier to handle & manage which further leads to a better app. A readable code allows other developers to figure out “what” the code is saying instead of first understanding what the code is. 

There are multiple ways to write cleaner code for iOS apps, and the most simple one is following the coding standards of Objective- C and Swift. 

4. Adhere to Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines

Human Interface Guidelines refers to the design principles and best practices set by Apple while designing an iOS app.

These guidelines typically cover every aspect, including, typography, layout, navigation, UI Components, colours and accessibility. The aim of these guidelines is to provide a universal handbook that ensures all iOS apps are intuitive, accessible and visually unified.

We would highly recommend you follow these guidelines since it helps in removing most of the guessing activities in the app design. These guidelines also help in making your app more accessible to the people with visual or hearing impairments.

It is imperative to note that Human Interface Guidelines are one of the major factors in App Store Approval. Apps which don’t follow these HI guidelines are perceived as the apps having low usability and quality and may have a higher chance of being rejected by Apple's app review process.

5. Always be Compliant with App Store Guidelines

The Apple App Store is believed to be notorious for one of meticulous review processes. To make sure your app passes such a review, you must ensure that your app passes, you must ensure that it abides by the Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines. These guidelines are a set of safety, performance, business, design, and legal requirements every iOS app must adhere to.

Another major aspect that Apple looks for in an app is the Performance. Apps which crash frequently or have long processing or loading times are signing towards poor app performance which can majorly impact the user experience.

Safety is another major critical issue that Apple  pays attention to. Apps with minimal cybersecurity measures like encryption or authentication are likely to get rejected. Similarly, a lack of privacy policy can also result in your app getting rejected in the review process.

And in the end, if any app is incomplete, it will also be a failure in review. “Incomplete” refers to incomplete metadata, placeholder content (for example- lorem ipsum content), broken links, etc.

6. Thorough Testing

Thorough and In-depth testing is another crucial process that comes under the iOS app development best practice. Let us discuss some testing best practices:

➖ Unit Testing: You can write unit tests to validate the behaviour of the individual components of the app along with ensuring the code reliability. You can utilize the XCTest framework which is provided by Apple for an efficient & seamless unit testing.

➖ UI Testing: You can automate user interface testing to make sure the app  has consistent UI across various devices. Apple’s Xcode’s built in XCTest framework provides UI testing capabilities.

➖ Beta Testing: You can also involve beta testers to receive their feedback and address possible issues. This is an important procedure under the iOS best practices guidelines. You can utilize platforms like TestFlight, these will help you streamline the beta testing process.

6. Optimize Battery Usage

Battery life is one of the most pivotal aspects for mobile users. Your iOS app should use the lowest amount of battery. You should implement strategies to optimize battery usage in order to significantly enhance the user experience of your app.

You can utilize the following strategies for the same:

➖ Reduce the Background Activity: When you are building the iOS app, it is pivotal that you take care of the unnecessary background activity which might be draining the device’s battery. It is advised to be mindful of any of your app’s background tasks which may be affecting the power consumption.

It is advised to consider pausing or minimizing the non-essential background tasks and only perform the critical operations once the app is not idle. This approach will make sure your app is efficient and respectful of the user’s device.

➖ Efficient Networking: As one of the best practices, optimize network requests by reducing the frequency of updates and utilizing techniques like batching or delta updates. We would recommend you to use smart caching mechanisms to minimize network usage and improve the overall performance.

➖ Manage CPU and GPU usage: It is essential to optimize CPU and GPU usage. Minimizing the unnecessary resource consumption will enhance the app’s overall performance and efficiency. You can utilize optimization techniques for animations, graphics rendering, and image processing.

7. Implement Continuous Integration and Delivery

The CI/CD or Continuous Integration and Delivery processes helps in streamlining the app development process and also maintains the quality.

It is advised to utilize CI/CD pipeline tools like Jenkins, Fastlane, or XCode server. You can also automate tasks such as building, testing and deploying your app to reduce human error.

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Final Words

We strongly believe these best practices can help you create compliant and qualified apps that will surpass iOS App Store Review Process without any failure.

If you are an organization looking for skilled iOS app development companies, contact us today!