Navigate the pitfalls of iOS app development! From coding missteps to UX blunders, uncover the 10 common mistakes you must sidestep. Supercharge your app success with these insights!
Developing a successful iOS app can be a challenging and time-consuming endeavor. There are numerous factors to consider, from ideation to execution, to ensure a successful launch.
Even with the best intentions, it’s easy to make mistakes that could adversely affect your app’s functionality, user experience, and ultimately its success.
A Mac computer running the most recent version of Xcode is required to develop iOS apps. Apple’s IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for both Mac and iOS apps is Xcode.
The graphical interface you’ll use to create iOS apps is called Xcode.
When buggy apps are accepted in the App Store, it can lead to one-star reviews that cost companies money and developers their jobs.
With an adoption rate of over 85%, iOS is the world’s second-largest mobile operating system. Highly engaged users have high expectations, and any flaws in your program or update will be quickly identified.
Given that over 1,000 new apps are submitted to Apple Daily, iOS developers must possess skills beyond basic coding to avoid the common mistakes discussed in the article.
Eva always dreamed of having her successful app, and after studying programming in college, she finally launched her own.
She spent months perfecting the app’s design and features, pouring her heart and soul into every detail.
The day of the launch arrived, and Eva couldn’t wait to see her app in the hands of consumers and receive feedback.
However, her excitement was short-lived. Within hours of the app’s release, Eva began receiving complaints and negative reviews. Users were having trouble navigating the app’s interface, and it was slow and unresponsive.
Determined to figure out what went wrong, she revisited her code and realized that she had made several common mistakes, including not optimizing the app for different screen sizes, neglecting app accessibility, and not optimizing for battery life.
Over the next few weeks, Eva worked tirelessly to improve her app’s performance and user experience. She added accessibility features, optimized the app’s battery usage, and tested it on a variety of devices. Slowly but surely, the app’s reviews began to improve, and users started praising its user-friendly interface and impressive features.
Finally, the hard work paid off. Eva’s app became a huge success and was featured in the App Store’s “Top Apps” list. She realized that developing iOS apps was a challenging and complex process.
Now you can be like Eva and learn the hard way, or you can choose to work smart from the start so you don’t have to work harder later!
In this article, we’ll go through ten typical mistakes that iOS app developers make and how to avoid them. But, before we get started, here are some top-performing iOS apps to get you started.
CapCut is a video editing app developed by ByteDance, the company behind popular social media platforms like TikTok and Douyin.
The app allows users to edit and create professional-quality videos using a variety of tools and features like video trimming, cutting, merging, adding background music, filters, and more.
CapCut is popular among social media users who want to create engaging and visually appealing content for platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
The app is free to download and use and is available on both iOS and Android devices.
The app also allows users to collaborate with friends, share their videos directly on social media platforms, and join creative communities to showcase their skills and get feedback from others.
Ask AI is your go-to resource for having conversations on any subject is Ask AI. Ask AI is always ready for a talk, whether your interests are in sports, politics, science, or everything in between.
You’ll experience it as a friendly conversation.
With the aid of ChatGPT and GPT-3, the “Ask AIAI-powered “writing assistant can help you come up with ideas, create outlines, and even write complete paragraphs.
Easily complete any writing assignment. Make use of Ask AI, powered by ChatGPT and GPT-3, to unleash your creativity. Compose a tale, a poem, or rap music lyrics.
It is a wonderful resource for anyone wishing to enhance their writing skills or who needs assistance with a writing project.
NOVA AI Chatbot is an AI-powered virtual assistant that enables businesses to automate customer support and sales interactions.
The chatbot can handle a range of customer queries and requests on a variety of topics, including product information, billing inquiries, general customer support, and more.
It uses natural language processing capabilities to understand the user’s messages and provides relevant responses based on predefined algorithms and models.
Apart from customer support, NOVA AI Chatbot can also be used to automate sales interactions, such as lead generation, booking appointments, and processing orders.
The chatbot is designed to save businesses time and money while providing customers with a better overall experience.
Shadowrocket is a popular third-party app for iOS that enables users to use proxy servers and VPNs to bypass internet censorship, access geo-restricted websites, and protect their online privacy.
The app uses various types of protocols such as Socks5, Shadowsocks, HTTP, and HTTPS to connect to different servers and networks.
Shadowrocket is popular among users in regions where internet censorship is prevalent or where access to certain websites is restricted.
Shadowrocket is a paid app, and it is primarily used to enhance online privacy and security.
It is not intended for malicious purposes, and the app’s developers have stated that they do not condone illegal activities or the use of their app to circumvent laws or regulations.
Apart from these, here’s a list of some commonly known yet high-ranking iOS apps:
Now that we’ve got some ideas, let’s look at some frequent blunders that developers make when developing iOS apps.
Mobile devices come in a variety of screen sizes and resolutions, and when developing iOS apps, it’s essential to optimize for all of them.
Failing to optimize your app for different screens can make it difficult to use or look awkward on some devices.
You can use Auto Layout to create flexible user interfaces that adapt to different screen sizes or use size classes to design for specific screen sizes.
Another approach could be to create different layouts for different devices, such as using different images, font sizes, or colors, depending on the screen size.
By testing your app on different devices, you can ensure a consistent and user-friendly experience.
Here’s an example of how not optimizing an app for multiple screen widths might cause problems:
Assume you create an iOS app that looks great on an iPhone X’s 5.8-inch screen, but when you try it on an older iPhone 6’s 4.7-inch screen, some UI elements become too small and difficult to tap accurately. Users may have difficulty accessing the app, resulting in irritation and unfavorable ratings.
To avoid this, utilize Auto Layout to ensure that UI elements are correctly positioned and scaled on different screen sizes, or use size classes to generate separate layouts for different screen sizes.
You can catch any bugs and ensure a pleasant user experience across all screen sizes by testing your app on different devices.
Memory management is critical for app performance, and it’s important to keep memory usage to a minimum.
If your app uses too much memory, it can slow down or crash the app. ARC (Automatic Reference Counting) is a memory management feature that automatically deallocates objects when they’re no longer needed, and it’s recommended to use it when developing iOS apps.
Also, avoid retaining unnecessary objects in memory or using retain cycles, where two or more objects retain a reference to each other, causing a memory leak.
If you’re creating photo editing software, for example, it’s customary to load high-resolution photographs into memory for editing. However, if you keep all of those images in memory for an extended period, they will quickly consume a large amount of memory and cause performance issues. Consider dynamically loading and unloading photos based on the user’s editing activities, freeing up memory as images are no longer required.
Additionally, when using closures or delegates, keep in mind that they can accidentally create strong references to objects, preventing them from being deallocated.
Testing your app on simulators is a good start, but it’s not enough to ensure a high-quality experience.
Real devices can vary in performance, memory, network connection, and other factors that simulators can’t replicate.
It’s important to test your app on real devices that match the hardware and iOS version your users have. You can use Xcode’s built-in device simulator or test on actual devices using TestFlight or other testing tools.
By testing your app on different iOS versions, devices, and network conditions, you can identify and fix any issues that may arise.
A developer, for example, may test their program on a simulator for the latest iPhone model and then think it will operate flawlessly on an earlier iPhone model.
Older models, on the other hand, may have less memory and slower processors, causing the app to operate poorly or even crash.
Testing on actual devices would reveal these flaws and allow the developer to optimize the software for a broader variety of devices.
Auto-Layout is an essential feature for developing iOS apps, and it allows you to create flexible user interfaces that adapt to different screen sizes and orientations.
By using Auto Layout, you can specify constraints between UI elements and let the system adjust their position and size based on the available space.
You can use the Interface Builder to create or define constraints programmatically using the NSLayoutConstraint class.
Another approach to consider is to use Size Classes, which allow you to create different layouts for specific screen sizes, such as iPads and iPhones.
For example, if you design a button with a relative position to the top of the screen, it may show in the wrong place on a device with a different screen size.
You can apply a constraint to Auto Layout that positions the button relative to the top of the screen, ensuring that it remains in the right position regardless of the device’s screen size.
Third-party libraries can save time and effort when building iOS apps, but using too many of them can cause problems. They can make the app slow, increase its size, and introduce security risks.
It’s important to evaluate the necessity of each library and its impact on the app’s performance, stability, and security.
You should also make sure to keep them updated to fix any bugs, security vulnerabilities, or compatibility issues.
Consider using lightweight or open-source libraries that have a good reputation and a large community of developers.
Assume you’re developing a photo editing app and want to use a variety of third-party libraries for image processing, filters, and social media integration.
While these libraries can save time and provide extra functionality, they can also add significant bloat to your app and slow it down.
You may choose the necessary libraries and prevent excessive dependencies by carefully examining each library and its influence on your project.
Accessibility is essential for developing inclusive apps that are usable by everyone, including people with disabilities like blindness, low vision, and hearing impairment.
Failing to include accessibility features can result in a poor user experience for disabled users and reduce your app’s reach.
It’s important to design your app with accessibility in mind and follow accessibility guidelines such as VoiceOver, Closed Captions, and Dynamic Type.
You can use Xcode’s Accessibility Inspector to test your app’s accessibility and identify any issues.
A common accessibility mistake, for example, is failing to supply alternative text for photos.
Users who are visually impaired or use screen readers will be unable to understand the image’s content if the alternative text is not provided.
Adding descriptive alternative language to your app is a simple but critical step toward making it more accessible.
Feedback is essential for keeping users engaged and informed and should be provided for all user actions in your app.
If your app doesn’t provide enough feedback, users may feel lost or frustrated, which can affect the app’s usability and user retention.
Feedback can be in the form of animations, sounds, notifications, or messages that inform users of the app’s status and actions.
It’s also important to provide feedback when errors occur, such as showing an error message with clear instructions or suggestions.
For example, if an app has a button that performs a certain function, such as sending a message, it must provide feedback that the button was tapped and the activity is being completed.
This can be accomplished by incorporating a loading spinner, a progress bar, or a success message.
Similarly, if an error occurs while executing the activity, such as an online connection problem, the app should provide feedback describing the incident and suggesting ways to remedy the issue, such as checking the internet connection or doing the action again later.
Battery- life is critical for mobile devices, and users expect apps to be efficient and not drain their batteries quickly.
You can optimize your app’s performance and minimize its battery usage by using efficient algorithms, reducing network requests, and using sensors and background tasks responsibly.
You should also be mindful of how often you update the UI, as it can consume a significant amount of resources.
Apple provides guidelines and tools to help you optimize battery life, such as Energy Diagnostics and Energy Loggers.
An app that constantly tracks the user’s location in the background and sends information to a server, for example, might quickly deplete the battery.
To improve battery life, the app might employ a combination of location services and substantial location changes to minimize the frequency of updates and send them only when needed.
Instead of constantly querying the server, the app might use background refresh to update the data regularly.
By optimizing these aspects, the app may provide a better user experience while consuming less battery power.
Human-Interface Guidelines (HIG) are a set of design principles and best practices for iOS app development.
They cover various aspects of app design, such as layout, icons, typography, and navigation. not following the HIG.
Failure to adhere to the HIG can result in a perplexing and inconsistent user experience. For example, if your app employs non-standard navigation or iconography, users may struggle to grasp how to utilize it, and job completion may take longer.
It is critical to adhere to the HIG and design an intuitive and consistent user experience that people can easily browse and comprehend.
You can utilize Xcode’s Interface Builder to apply HIG concepts and guidelines to the design of your project.
Apple provides guidelines for iOS app development, including user interface design, app architecture, and submission requirements.
Ignoring these guidelines can result in the rejection of your app from the App Store or a poor user experience.
Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines, for example, stipulate that apps must not include information that is derogatory, discriminatory, or defamatory or that infringes on others’ intellectual property rights.
If an app does not adhere to these criteria, it may be rejected or deleted from the App Store.
Similarly, if an app fails to adhere to Apple’s user interface design requirements, it may result in a confused or inconsistent user experience, leading to unfavorable reviews and low ratings.
To ensure that your app fulfills the required requirements and provides a fantastic user experience, you should always refer to and follow Apple’s recommendations.
Overloading the app with features: While it may be tempting to add as many features as possible to your app, it’s important to keep in mind that users may find it overwhelming and confusing.
It’s important to prioritize features and only include those that are necessary and enhance the user experience.
Poor user experience: A good user experience is key to the success of your app. It’s important to focus on creating an intuitive and visually appealing design that’s easy to use.
This includes factors such as the layout, navigation, and use of color and typography.
Ignoring localization: If you plan to release your app in different countries, it’s important to localize your app by translating its content and adapting it to local cultural norms.
This can improve user engagement and help your app reach a wider audience.
Not updating the app regularly: Regular app updates can help keep your app fresh, improve its performance, and fix bugs that users may have encountered.
It’s important to have a plan for regular updates and to communicate with your users about new features and improvements.
Ignoring security: Security is a major concern for app users, so it’s important to take measures to ensure that your app is secure by implementing encryption, protecting user data, and preventing unauthorized access.
This can help build trust with your users and prevent security breaches.
Lack of planning: Failing to plan your app’s development can lead to delays, budget overruns, and poor quality. It’s important to create a roadmap for your app’s development and establish clear goals and timelines.
This can help ensure that your app is delivered on time, within budget, and to a high standard of quality.
iOS app development can be a challenging process due to several factors, including:
Overall, iOS app development requires careful attention to detail and a strong understanding of the iOS platform and design guidelines.
So when starting, it’s always a good idea to research possible roadblocks and mistakes to avoid getting into a huge mess later!
What are the basic requirements for iOS app development?
Developing a successful iOS app can be a challenging and time-consuming endeavor. There are numerous factors to consider, from ideation to execution, to ensure a successful launch.
Also, a Mac computer running the most recent version of Xcode is required to develop iOS apps. Apple’s IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for both Mac and iOS apps is Xcode. The graphical interface you’ll use to create iOS apps is called Xcode.
What are common mistakes in iOS app development?
1. Not optimizing for different screen sizes
2. Ignoring memory management
3. Not testing on real devices
4. Not Using Auto Layout
5. Using Too Many Third-Party Libraries
6. Neglecting app accessibility
7. Not providing enough feedback
8. Not optimizing for battery life
9. Not Following Human Interface Guidelines
10. Ignoring the guidelines
11. Overloading the app with features
12. Poor user experience
13. Ignoring localization
14. Not updating the app regularly
15. Ignoring security
16. Lack of planning
Some commonly known yet high-ranking iOS apps are:
We create transparency for a global economy built on blockchains.