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Hire Freelance iOS Developers and Engineers

Mauricio C., iOS freelance programmer
Mauricio C.
Uruguay
Hire Mauricio

Senior iOS Developer

I've been writing code since 2007 and getting paid for it since 2013 (outside of college), a bit over a year since getting my BS in software engineering from [UNET](http://www.unet.edu.ve/). I fell in love with mobile development, primarily because of the app's fad back then. Now, more than a decade since smartphones made their way into our everyday lives it's not a trend anymore: it's the standard. If you don't have a digital mobile presence, a.k.a. a site/app that looks well and performs properly on a mobile device then you (or the team behind your business/company) are doing something wrong. Beyond that, I like reading ([A LOT](https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/95758480-mauricio-chirino)), also collaborating, and [give back](https://stackoverflow.com/users/2376336/mauricio-chirino) to the community when time and family obligations allow me to. Feel free to [reach me out](https://github.com/mchirino89) or leave some [comment](https://twitter.com/Chirino89M). If it's a business/idea topic you can also [find me around](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mauriciochirino/) with a more serious face 👨🏽‍💻 I'm a big believer in crypto power and that lead me to work on [Bitso](https://bitso.com), one of the most valuable fintech in Latin America. You can read more about me and my work philosophy on my [blog](geekingwithmauri.com)

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Zahid N., freelance iOS developer
Zahid N.
Pakistan
Hire Zahid

Freelance iOS Developer

Apple iOS, iPadOS, macOS software developer and power user of Apple hardware, software, services & tools. Proficient with Swift, SwiftUI, and Objective-C programming.

Hire Zahid
Jeann C., freelance iOS developer
Jeann C.
Brazil
Hire Jeann

Senior iOS Developer

Hello there, I'm a Software Engineer since 2008. For the past seven years, I have specialized in mobile app development. I had the chance to work with both Android and iOS native platforms but nowadays my focus is on iOS using Swift, UIKit, and also SwifUI. I was able to contribute to leading market companies such as Shell Gas Stations and Renner Stores that had millions of users daily and also startups in the first steps of life, such as Able and YouAgro. Also, I was exposed to several different markets, such as e-commerce, finance, pharmaceutical, agribusiness, and a few other consumer apps. As an excellent communicator, I have the flexibility to work well as an independent developer as well as a part of a development team.

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Miroslav K., iOS freelance programmer
Miroslav K.
Hire Miroslav

Senior Freelance iOS Developer

11 years of professional iOS developer experience (iOS 4-16), 20+ AppStore apps, Czech Technical University graduate. Obj-C & Swift, strong in OOP patterns, Jenkins CI, Auto-Layout, Responsive Design, GIT, RESTful API's, Multithreading, In-App purchases, Push Notifications, Firebase, Parse, Backendless, Google Analytics, OneSignal, Branch.io, Fabric, Facebook SDK, Instagram, Uber, Twitter, OAuth2, Braintree Payments, Apple Pay, HealthKit, ... you name it:) When it comes to iOS development, I am your guy! Excellent English, experience in Czech, US, CA and UK startups. I'm here for you. Let's talk! You can schedule a session instantly with me here: http://calendly.com/kutakmiroslav/meeting

Hire Miroslav
Lie L., iOS programmer for hire
Lie L.
Indonesia
Hire Lie

Senior iOS Developer

Mobile Developer with over 12 years of experience developing and delivering mobile solutions, focusing in iOS & RN development. Expertise with Xcode, MVVM, Unit Testing, Swift, RxSwift, MySQL, Java, and CodeIgniter. Good communication, analytical and leadership skills with tremendous problem solving abilities. Able to analyze and suggest solutions for optimum results.

Hire Lie
David S., freelance iOS developer
David S.
Austria
Hire David

Senior Freelance iOS Developer

Staff mobile engineer, problem solver and code mentor with almost a decade of experience. Supporting companies to build products that delight users and providing development structures for teams to succeed. Focused on rock-solid, testable & scalable architecture. Striving to be a little better every day.

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John G., iOS developer for hire
John G.
United States
Hire John

Senior Freelance iOS Developer

I love working with clients of all sizes from individuals all the way up to large enterprises. - Mentoring individuals or teams - Architecting applications from scratch - Solving problems in existing applications I believe no job is too small or too hard, and will always be a member of your team. I look forward to working with you!

Hire John
Alin P., iOS developer for hire
Alin P.
Romania
Hire Alin

Senior Freelance iOS Developer

Mobile engineer eager to face new challenges and deliver high-quality products. Brings hands-on experience with mobile applications architecture, high-quality design and user experience, incredible app performance, and responsiveness, and also, among many others, excellent social skills. Takes ownership, delivers on time, and aims for the best possible outcome in any given scenario.

Hire Alin
Dimas G., freelance iOS developer
Dimas G.
Brazil
Hire Dimas

Senior Freelance iOS Developer

I'm a Mobile Software Engineer with ten years of professional experience focused on native iOS and Android development. I'm passionate about building great user experiences and delivering clean, reusable and scalable code.

Hire Dimas
Franklin V., iOS freelance programmer
Franklin V.
Guatemala
Hire Franklin

Senior Freelance iOS Developer

Software Engineer with over 5 years of experience, mainly in mobile development (Swift/iOS, React Native, and Flutter), web development using React and NextJS. Experience working in the backend building APIs and microservices using cloud technologies. Focused on solving business problems by delivering high-quality products following the best practices. I believe in creating amazing apps that look good and are easy to use for users but that also have solid engineering practices. Customer-oriented and team player. I enjoy mentoring and sharing my knowledge with co-workers.

Hire Franklin

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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.

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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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, and MKAnnotationView.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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

International Events

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:

  1. Job title, location, type of employment (full-time, part-time, etc.), salary range
  2. Company overview, vision, mission statement, and culture
  3. A detailed list of day-to-day responsibilities
  4. Required skills
  5. 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:

  1. What was the latest version of iOS you have worked with? What do you like about it?
  2. Have you worked with Swift? What do you like about it? What don’t you like about it?
  3. What is method swizzling in Objective-C and why would you use it?
  4. How is memory management handled on iOS?
  5. Can you explain the difference between Delegate and KVO?
  6. How do you serialize data on iOS (JSON from the web or local app data to Core Data and other storage)?
  7. What is the difference between `viewDidLoad` and `viewDidAppear`? Which should you use to load data from a remote
  8. server to display in the view?
  9. What is a protocol, and how do you define your own? When is it used?
  10. What are blocks and how are they used?
  11. 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.

  1. Budget for current market salaries, or consider partnering with expert, pre-vetted remote developers.
  2. Network through online communities and build partnerships at meetups and events.
  3. Construct an appealing job description with specific experience requirements to draw qualified candidates.
  4. Optimize your interview process to gauge not only basic collaboration and communication abilities but also the
  5. technical ins and outs of iOS app development.

FAQs

What kinds of iOS programmers are available for hire through Arc?

You can find a variety of iOS developers for hire on Arc! At Arc, you can hire on a freelance, full-time, part-time, or contract-to-hire basis. For freelance iOS programmers, Arc matches you with the right senior developer in roughly 72 hours. As for full-time remote iOS developers for hire, you can expect to make a successful hire in 14 days. To extend a freelance engagement to a full-time hire, a contract-to-hire fee will apply.

In addition to a variety of engagement types, Arc also offers a wide range of developers located in different geographical locations, such as Latin America and Eastern Europe. Depending on your needs, Arc offers a global network of skilled software engineers in various different time zones and countries for you to choose from.

Lastly, our remote-ready iOS developers for hire are all mid-level and senior-level professionals. They are ready to start coding straight away, anytime, anywhere.

Why is Arc the best choice for hiring iOS developers?

Arc is trusted by hundreds of startups and tech companies around the world, and we’ve matched thousands of skilled iOS developers with both freelance and full-time jobs. We’ve successfully helped Silicon Valley startups and larger tech companies like Spotify and Automattic hire iOS developers.

Every iOS developer for hire in our network goes through a vetting process to verify their communication abilities, remote work readiness, and technical skills (both for depth in iOS and breadth across the greater domain). Additionally, HireAI, our GPT-4-powered AI recruiter, enables you to get instant candidate matches without searching and screening.

Not only can you expect to find the most qualified iOS engineer on Arc, but you can also count on your account manager and the support team to make each hire a success. Enjoy a streamlined hiring experience with Arc, where we provide you with the developer you need, and take care of the logistics so you don’t need to.

How does Arc vet a developer’s iOS skills?

Arc has a rigorous and transparent vetting process for all types of developers. To become a vetted iOS developer for hire on Arc, developers must pass a profile screening, complete a behavioral interview, and pass a technical interview or pair programming.

While Arc has a strict vetting process for its verified iOS developers, if you’re using Arc’s free job posting plan, you will only have access to non-vetted developers. If you’re using Arc to hire iOS developers, you can rest assured that all remote iOS developers have been thoroughly vetted for the high-caliber communication and technical skills you need in a successful hire.

How long does it take to find iOS developers on Arc?

Arc pre-screens all of our remote iOS developers before we present them to you. As such, all the remote iOS developers you see on your Arc dashboard are interview-ready candidates who make up the top 2% of applicants who pass our technical and communication assessment. You can expect the interview process to happen within days of posting your jobs to 350,000 candidates. You can also expect to hire a freelance iOS programmer in 72 hours, or find a full-time iOS programmer that fits your company’s needs in 14 days.

Here’s a quote from Philip, the Director of Engineering at Chegg:

“The biggest advantage and benefit of working with Arc is the tremendous reduction in time spent sourcing quality candidates. We’re able to identify the talent in a matter of days.”

Find out more about how Arc successfully helped our partners in hiring remote iOS developers.

How much does a freelance iOS developer charge per hour?

Depending on the freelance developer job board you use, freelance remote iOS developers' hourly rates can vary drastically. For instance, if you're looking on general marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr, you can find iOS developers for hire at as low as $10 per hour. However, high-quality freelance developers often avoid general freelance platforms like Fiverr to avoid the bidding wars.

When you hire iOS developers through Arc, they typically charge between $60-100+/hour (USD). To get a better understanding of contract costs, check out our freelance developer rate explorer.

How much does it cost to hire a full time iOS developer?

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the medium annual wage for software developers in the U.S. was $120,730 in May 2021. What this amounts to is around $70-100 per hour. Note that this does not include the direct cost of hiring, which totals to about $4000 per new recruit, according to Glassdoor.

Your remote iOS developer’s annual salary may differ dramatically depending on their years of experience, related technical skills, education, and country of residence. For instance, if the developer is located in Eastern Europe or Latin America, the hourly rate for developers will be around $75-95 per hour.

For more frequently asked questions on hiring iOS developers, check out our FAQs page.

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