The modern generation has already used to live without letting a smartphone from their hands. This recent tendency shows how big the phenomenon of the mobile phones and devices has become for an entire world. The biggest part of communications is conducted through portable and mobile devices and tablets. Even business gets its benefits from the usage of mentioned devices and software. The recent data showed the possible number of mobile users in 2019 might increase to five billion people worldwide. With such a big audience, the mobile apps developers have all the chances to make their applications globally famous.
Definitely, the developers mostly work under the demands of the two biggest app stores: Google Play and Apple Store. Both platforms offer a wide variety of options for developers and users. In the same time, there are many differences between Android and iOS. Once launching your application, the mobile app development process will greatly vary according to the chosen operating system. Let check and compare the main differences between creating applications for Android and for iOS.
Mobile Operating Systems for App Development
It is very useful to find enough data and information to compare the current market share of the named operating systems and the popularity of each of systems. According to the statistics offered by Forbes magazine, the up-to-date mobile market share of Android reached almost 80 - 90 percent. Therefore, the iOS gets other 10 - 20 percent of the market share, which shows the users less appreciate the system.
If looking at the very exact country, the differences become even more noticeable. The European countries like Spain, France, and Germany have a market share of Android of about 85%. The iOS improved its positions only on Great Britain market, where it gets the market share of 37%, while Android holds 63%.
With the great popularity of Apple in the USA, the iOS share should be quite higher. Still, the numbers show that Android holds 59,1% of market shares when iOS gets only 39%. Even without being proven by the world statistics, these two operating systems are definitely the leading players on the current market. The biggest part of modern smartphones run whether on Android or iOS systems.
Differences Between Android And iOS Operating Systems
Both top operating systems have a set of special features and options. The differences in development include programming language and development environment.
Programming Language
Android applications are programmed in Java since this is one the most popular programming languages nowadays in the world. Android offers alternative programming language, like Kotlin, the easy to read coding language. In addition, C# can be also called another popular programming language for Android applications.
Apple uses its original and highly popular Objective-C programming language. It is useful for creating applications on several devices. The current coding language Swift, which was created in 2014 in order to replace Objective-C, is also often used for iOS apps coding.
Development Environment
Among the tools that take a role of effective environment for conducting a back-end application development, Android and iOS offer its own choices. The Android uses the most popular Integrated Development Environment called Android Studio, Eclipse, and IntelliJ. In the same time, iOS brings Xcode 8 for developing iOS-based apps. This IDE is mostly used by the junior developers, while Appcode is a more complex IDE.
Design Differences: Android And iOS
The top operating systems have differences in other essential parts of the application development process.
Single Vs. Multiple Device Manufacturer
Apple works according to a single principle – to control the entire software and devices. With such an aim, the iOS is made to be available only for iPhone and iPad. Therefore, iOS often lacks interesting and innovative solutions in programming and design. Android is a globally popular operating system that can be installed on almost any type of tablet. This is a great benefit for modern manufacturers since they can control the entire design process and create their own UX.
UI Patterns
Both operating systems offer visualized menus, lists, and headers. Still, once using the UX guiding principles for iOS and for Android can be a little different, thus make sure to get more information about UI patterns before running your app.
The Famous Back-Button
The back-button system is the core system of placing buttons on mobile devices. Many Android devices have various physical buttons on the mobile phone itself aimed at helping to navigate, including the back, home, and overview buttons. iOS offers the home button and the lock button.
Once dealing with physical buttons, the developers mostly need to figure out how to build buttons to let users go “back” to the previous screen. With such a purpose, the developers can use a left-pointing arrow of an app or something familiar.
Testing And Debugging
It is crucial to adapt the design to the characteristics of the chosen operating system, in order to create a successful app for Android or iOS. The developers can test the app with the Android emulator or the iOS simulator in order to make sure the app is working perfectly. According to the top developers, the iOS simulator is faster but show inaccurate results. Android can provide you with more realistic simulation.
Google Play Store vs. Apple App Store
Apple brings more strict rules and guides for developers. Every iOS app is checked before being published, without exceptions. Furthermore, the Apple verification process takes up to 1-2 days.
Android brings no such strict verification procedures and guides. In the same time, it gives a great opportunity for fake apps to appear in the Google Playe regularly. Mostly, bad ratings and negative reviews allow the Android to reveal fake apps. In the first quarter of 2018, the Google Play Market was offering over 3.8M applications, when Apple Store showed 2M apps.
Android vs. IOS: Cost Of Development
The operating systems have numerous technical and visual differences. In the same time, the dissimilarities in cost of the app development process for Android and iOS are also existed. The costs of an app development on analyzed mobile platforms can vary a lot. It is difficult to estimate the total price for an app development since it depends on a wide variety of characteristics. Furthermore, there is a difference in cost for publishing an application. The Apple App Store requires a fee for the iOS app of $99 per year when Google Play charges a one-time fee of $25 for launching an Android application.
Android vs. iOS App Development – The Final Points
The mentioned examples in the article are just the most prominent differences between the top world operating systems. There are more other differences in various parts and components of the app development process. Therefore, it is important to learn every app development strategy well, before launching an app at any of the mentioned operating systems. In the same time, you can get much useful data once paying attention to described details that can affect your mobile development process greatly. We recommend you to work with qualified experts to make your application visible in the market and successful.
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