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Of the two main mobile operating systems, iOS is the second most used among consumers, with Android taking the top spot. While iOS may hold less global market share, evidence suggests it is preferred by mobile app developers and companies seeking to grow profits.
According to a Flurry Analytics report, seven of ten apps developed are for iOS, with over 2.2 billion apps available in Apple’s App Store. A primary reason for a greater number of iOS Apps is the superior revenue potential. Thanks to the iOS market catering mainly to high-income countries in North America and Europe, iOS apps for Apple mobile devices earn up to 75% more profit than Android apps. Higher profits mean higher income for developers, which means Android vs iOS developer salaries might be lower.
Another reason iOS is the favored platform is the ease of development. Apps intended for Apple devices are developed in the Xcode IDE environment with Swift and Objective-C programming languages — since there are a limited number of Apple device sizes, as well as a universal UI, iOS apps can be developed without the extensive fragmentation problems experienced by their competitor.
To build a successful iOS app, you will need to hire iOS developers who are familiar with the technologies you want to use. The following sections will help startup founders and hiring managers who plan to hire iOS developers, also known as “iPhone app developers.”
iOS Developer Salaries
To recruit the right tech talent, you’ll need to offer salaries consistent with market rates at the experience level you are looking for. To that end, this section will go over national and state iOS software engineer salary averages, as well as iOS freelance rates in the United States.
iOS Developer Salaries in the USA
Data from Indeed’s salary pages tell us the average salary of U.S.-based iOS developers sits at $135,862. Entry level salaries sit at around $89,717, and senior iOS developers can make up to $205,741 per year.
Average Salary By State
Average salaries vary across states and depend on the ratio of talent supply to demand, the cost of living, hot/cold markets, and more. Here is a list of iOS developer salaries in states with tech hubs or a high ratio of software engineer job openings.
- California: $147,692
- Colorado: $108,396
- Illinois: $108,768
- Maryland: $106,803
- Massachusetts: $131,587
- New York: $124,074
- Texas: $114,137
- Washington: $131,536
- Washington DC: $106,992
iOS Developer Freelance Rates
According to our data on freelance developers’ desired hourly rates, the average rate for a freelance iOS developer is $81-$100/hr.
Here we’ll briefly review monthly and annual salary estimations for freelance iOS developers. As part of this, we’ll take $90/hour (the mid-point of the freelance rate range).
Freelance iOS Developer Monthly Average Salary
40hrs/Week x 4 Weeks = 160 Hrs
160 hrs x 90 = $14,400 Per Month
Freelance iOS Developer Annual Salary
$14,400 x 12 Months = $172,800 Annually
In some markets, the more cost-effective option seems to be hiring a full-time onsite iOS developer. However, remember that non-salary benefits and indirect costs substantially increase actual expenditures on traditional employees. When making hiring decisions, you also need to consider the needs of your development projects, and whether or not your app will require future updates and ongoing support.
Popular iOS Libraries
When building iOS apps, mobile app programmers often rely on libraries to increase the speed of software development and stick to clean code practices. You may already be using certain libraries for your iOS project, or you may go with your developer’s preferred stack. Using most downloads as a metric, here are the top five iOS libraries.
- AFNetworking
AFNetworking is an all-purpose networking tool that uses blocks and Grand Central Dispatch. It has a modular architecture built on top of the Foundational URL Loading System. The library is compatible with iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. - SDWebImage
This is an async image downloader with caching support. This library is popular because it makes the task of downloading and caching images much easier. Its UIkit also has some helpful features, like:UIImageView,UIButton, andMKAnnotationView. - Cocoa Lumberjack
Cocoa Lumberjack is a simple but powerful logging framework for Mac and iOS. The framework is ideal for remote logging, logging to a local file, writing to multiple loggers, and creating different log levels. - Alamofire
Alamofire is an HTTP networking library similar to AFNetworking but written in Swift. It is built on top of Apple’s Foundation networking stack and gracefully wraps networking mechanisms in Swift. - MBProgressHUD
MBProgressHUD is a library that serves as a progress indicator for your app. It displays a translucent HUD with labels as a substitute for the undocumented private UIkit — UIProgressHUD. MBProgressHUD supports both Objective-C and Swift.
iOS Developer Communities and Networks
Online iOS programming communities are a great place to get the latest news and cutting-edge updates on iOS app development. You can also find forums to ask specific questions about your project and build relationships with developers you may be able to recruit later.
In addition, some communities offer rankings of the most active users or users with the most upvotes. You can use this feature to identify software engineers who are enthusiastic about app development and proactively expand and share their expertise.
The section below will also include a list of iOS-focused meetups and conferences, in case you want to step away from the computer to learn and network.
iOS Developer Newsletters
Browse and subscribe to iOS-focused newsletters to get tutorials, videos, news, and event notifications. Newsletters are also a potential outlet for hiring managers to share their job opportunities with a wider community of developers tuned into the iOS community.
iOS Meetups and Conferences
Ready to get out into the real world, exchange ideas face-to-face, and listen to knowledgeable speakers share the latest technological updates and schools of thought?
Great, you will have plenty of chances! There are over 1,500 iOS Development Meetups around the globe, and thousands of others on mobile development, Objective-C, Swift, mobile technology, and more. Find one in your area and join the community of developers and founders enthusiastic about iOS app development. Meetups are a great way to meet knowledgeable people in your locality and build long-term partnerships.
If you would prefer big-name speakers with packed auditoriums, hands-on workshops, and networking fueled with snacks and cocktails, consider a trip to one of the domestic or international iOS-related conferences. We’ve curated a selection of these below.
U.S. Events
- Try! Swift – New York
- SwiftFest – Boston, MA
- MobileWeek – San Mateo, CA
International Events
- SwiftAveiro – Aveiro, Portugal
- SwiftIsland – Texel, Netherlands
- iOSDEVUK – Aberystwyth, UK
- Pragma Conference – Bologna, Italy
- Swift Alps – Crans Montana, Switzerland
- Swift Connection – Paris, France
- SwiftConf – Online
Tailor Your iOS Developer Job Description
A job description is the first step to your hiring process. It serves as a branding message for your company and needs to convince candidates to give your job opportunity a shot. The job description should reflect the values and culture of your company — in fact, it wouldn’t hurt to include a mission and values section in the job post itself.
While there is no single template for a job description, there are five basic sections each job post should include. They are as follows:
- Job title, location, type of employment (full-time, part-time, etc.), salary range
- Company overview, vision, mission statement, and culture
- A detailed list of day-to-day responsibilities
- Required skills
- Benefits and perks
You’ll need to customize these core components of the JD for your company and the skillset you are looking for. Be specific to diminish the number of unqualified candidates that respond to the post. Emphasize the technical experience you require, such as familiarity with Objective-C, or Swift 3.0, or knowledge of certain libraries like AFNetworking, ReactiveCocoa, etc.
iOS Developer Interview Questions
Every software engineer should possess the ability to collaborate across departments, communicate with technical and non-technical team members, and be able to explain problems and solutions.
Beyond checking for these qualities during the interview process, you’ll need to evaluate candidates’ technical knowledge specific to iOS development.
To help you do so, here is a list of iOS-focused interview questions to use for hiring a developer:
- What was the latest version of iOS you have worked with? What do you like about it?
- Have you worked with Swift? What do you like about it? What don’t you like about it?
- What is method swizzling in Objective-C and why would you use it?
- How is memory management handled on iOS?
- Can you explain the difference between Delegate and KVO?
- How do you serialize data on iOS (JSON from the web or local app data to Core Data and other storage)?
- What is the difference between `viewDidLoad` and `viewDidAppear`? Which should you use to load data from a remote
- server to display in the view?
- What is a protocol, and how do you define your own? When is it used?
- What are blocks and how are they used?
- What mechanisms does iOS provide to support multi-threading?
Recap
With the mobile app market continuing to swell, it’s key that startup founders and managers recruit top iOS developers to help them bring the right product to users.
To recap, these four steps will put you on the path to partnering with the talent you need.
- Budget for current market salaries, or consider partnering with expert, pre-vetted remote developers.
- Network through online communities and build partnerships at meetups and events.
- Construct an appealing job description with specific experience requirements to draw qualified candidates.
- Optimize your interview process to gauge not only basic collaboration and communication abilities but also the
- technical ins and outs of iOS app development.