iOS / iPhone App Development Company in Singapore

Potado is an top iOS app development company in Singapore that build award-winning mobile apps for iPhone devices. We are a team made up for designers, developers and product managers who work with startups as well as established brands in Singapore. Technology advances so quickly, sometimes it can be hard to keep track of it all, so we make sure to always stay ahead of the curve, using the latest technologies for mobile and web as well as emerging tech such as machine learning and IoT.

We work closely with our clients to ensure that we develop the iOS app exactly as they had imagined it. As iOS developers we understand the Apple ecosystem and the developer toolkit available in order to build the best possible mobile applications. We do this by setting up an excellent feedback system and transparent workflow. Then iterate, iterate, and iterate some more until we are ready to launch. Our team has a strong technical understanding but communicate with our clients in a non-technical, easy to understand way.

Our iOS App Development Services

Native iOS App Development

Native iOS applications are built using programming languages that are native to the iOS operating system. iOS apps are typically built using Objective-C and Swift, with Swift being the more modern, and preferred language of the two. When developing applications with Swift, we also have the added benefit of using Swift UI, which allows us to build responsive user interfaces for all iOS devices in the Swift language. Our team uses Swift for all new projects, but we do also work on legacy Objective-C iOS projects.

The main benefit of developing a native iOS applications is that you have the best access to native iOS hardware and APIs, which is going to give you the best performance and security possible. You can do all of this with cross-platform frameworks, but you need to rely on a 3rd party or "bridge" that makes it possible. This also means that when a new sensor or platforms is released native applications will be able to leverage them right away, while cross-platform frameworks need to wait for the 3rd party libraries to be released.

Cross-Platform iOS App Development

The downside of developing a native iOS app, is that we need to develop a separate application for Android. We can solve this by building a cross-platform iOS application. This is simply an application that is built from a single codebase, but runs on both iOS and Android devices. These apps are built using hybrid frameworks such as React Native, Flutter, and Ionic. These frameworks have become so good that they offer a performance equal to native applications so many large technology companies have been using them in their tech stacks.

The downside of developing a cross-platform iOS app, is that there might not be the best support for accessing device hardware. But it is possible to build some of the application cross-platform and other parts native. So if you wanted to develop a photo sharing app with many camera features. A good solution would be building the camera natively and then the profile, settings, and login screens with cross-platform frameworks. But most applications don't rely much on hardware at all. Shopee, a popular e-commerce app in Singapore, doesn't need to use device hardware for example. It's simply an online store where people can buy and sell products. In this case it will be much better to use cross-platform technology.

Platforms We Develop iOS Apps For

iPhone App Development

When developing a new app, mobile is going to be the most important, and iPhones are one of the most popular mobile devices that consumers use today. While someone might use their desktop, Macbook, or iPad for different tasks, the device people interact with most, is without a dought their iPhone. If you look at other operating systems like Android, you get multiple different companies using the OS software, with iOS, it's just going to be iPhones. This makes developing iPhone apps much simpler as you only need to design the app for a few different devices and screen sizes. So no matter if your users will be on the iPhone mini, iPhone Pro, or iPhone Pro Max, our iOS developers will make sure they have the best possible experience.

iPad App Development

In the past both iPhones and iPads ran the iOS operating system, but now iPhone runs on iOS and iPad runs on iPadOS. The reason Apple did this was to transition iPad into a portable desktop. But even though the operating systems are different, iPadOS is still very similar to iOS so it's easy to build for both devices. The main difference would be the screen size. When you develop an iOS app you can't just keep the same layout across iPhone and iPad as that isn't an optimal user experience. With a larger screen you can display extra features on the screen instead of just enlarging the same view as you would have on iPad.

Our iOS App Development Toolkit

Swift

Swift is a compiled programming language used for developing applications within the Apple ecosystem. This includes applications for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. The language was created by Apple themselves in 2014 and has become the favorite language for iOS developers today. Swift is open source with a large community of developers and an abundance of developer tools. Swift is both fast and safe, which allows developers to build the most performant applications (with 2.6x the speed of Objective-C) and do so with clean and consistent code which ensures that projects are easy to scale and maintain. Because of this we use Swift for all new iOS projects we take on.

Before Swift was around Objective-C was used for iOS development, so many applications are based on the language. Another reason we love Swift is because of it's interoperability. Because of this Swift can be used alongside Objective-C in the same codebase.

Objective-C

Objective-C is an object-oriented programming languages that is primarily used for developing applications for iOS, iPadOS, MacOS, and other Apple operating systems. Objective-C is also a superset of the C language and inherits many of its syntax and types from there. Because of that, developers with a background in C or C++ programming are easily able to pick up Objective-C.

Unlike Swift, Objective-C doesn't include type inference, meaning developers need to specify the type of each variable. In development, more code is always a contributor to messy code. With Objective-C variables use references instead of values. This means that whenever a new variable is created, instead of just copying the object value, it replaces it. Where in Swift, it just sets the variable equal to a copy of the value. This creates a chance of the a variable being accidentally modified when it is not supposed to be. Also with Objective-C dynamic typing is possible, meaning you can assign any type of value to a variable. This sounds convenient, but it's better to keep a a variables type consistent if you don't want to run into problems later on.

Objective-C has also stopped receiving updates, while Swift is continually being improved. This is why we only use Objective-C when needed to maintain an existing project, because Swift is clearly the future of iOS development.

SwiftUI

SwiftUI is a tool we use to design user interfaces for Apple operating systems. It has a declarative syntax, which means we simply state what the user interface should do. Let's say we wanted to build a contact list list. This means we need a list, and each list item should have a name and number. We would use the Swift UI syntax to declare we need a list of 2 text fields and then specify the size, color, and font. Apple also provides developers with great design tools which allow us to drag and drop certain components and automatically generate the syntax. When creating the interface, developers are also able to see previews in real time. SwiftUI is currently the best way to design iOS applications, and we use it for all new projects. For applications that were built using the older UIKit and AppKit tools, the good news is that SwiftUI works alongside them so it's easy to integrate into those projects. That way you can keep your existing codebase and use SwiftUI for the new pages and components.

UIKit

Similarly to SwiftUI, UIKit is used to create user interfaces for iOS applications. SwiftUI is the newest tool, while UI Kit has been around for a while. UI Kit can be used with both Swift and Objective-C and it works by leveraging the Interface Builder to design views without any code. This then generates the necessary XML files with the layout document. Even though we use SwiftUI for new projects, there are cases where we need to depend on UIKit for certain APIs. We also continue using UIKit on projects where it is mainly used.

XCode

Xcode is IDE (integrated development environment) used by Apple developers to build applications, for iOS, IpadOS, WearOS, tvOS, and MacOS. This is the place where developers write the Swift or Objective-C code that creates iOS applications. Xcode has SwiftUI and UIKit integrated into it, making it the one-stop-shop for designing and developing iOS apps. Apple continually works on making Xcode both lighter and faster so developers can compile applications as quickly as possible. It also is designed for multiplatform development. What this means is that you can design interfaces for iOS, iPadOS, wearOS, and tvOS, all with their own unique customizations. So with design simplified, xCode then makes the development process much easier for developers by providing productivity features such as smart code completion, dynamic snippets, and syntax highlighting.

TestFlight

Once you have all the design, and development out of the way, all that's left is to test the application. Testflight is used by iOS developers to test applications to ensure they work smoothly before releasing. With Tesflight you can create a beta build of the application and share it with up to 100 internal and 10 000 external testers. Testers can be invited to try the application by email or a private link. During testing, we get our clients set up on the Tesflight application and work with them to ensure all works well and there are no bugs before we launch.

iOS Technologies We Leverage

Machine Learning

By using on-device machine learning we are able to provide users with a personalized experienced by understanding their behavior and interests. By doing this on device instead of on the cloud, we are ensuring that users have their privacy protected. This is all possible, by using Apple's ML Core library that let us tap into vision, natural language, speech, and sound API's. With this we can now create iOS applications that analyze sound images and videos, understand text, recognize speech, understand sound, and more.

Health & Fitness

Developers can integrate HealthKit into health and fitness apps for iOS and watchOS. This makes it possible to read users health information and also add new data on simple and secure way. With this we can build iOS applications that help users track and improve their health.

Maps

Maps have found their way into many iOS applications especially location based ones. With MapKit, we can create powerful map experiences in applications. Apple Maps include powerful visualizations and 3D mapping features, as well as the ability to overlay and annotate useful information. We can also convert human readable addresses to geo-locations and back, get directions and travel times, and more.

Widgets

With WidgetKit, we can now build widgets for iPhone lock screens, as well as complications for Apple Watch. With widgets users can continue to access information on their lock screens and home screen when they do not have the application open.

Wallet and Apple Pay

With Apple Wallet we can access the users identity information for verification. Some use cases for Apple Wallet include boarding passes, coupons, event tickets, store cards, and passes. With Apple Pay, merchants can now accept payments from Tap to Pay on iPhone or Apple Watch. This includes everything from merchant tokens, order tracking, pay later, and more.

Our iOS App Development Process

When working with a iOS app development team, having a clear and transparent process paves the way for a successful partnership. At Potado we do just that. We start by working with you to plan out the project, from blueprints and design to developing and launching your iOS app. Whether you are building an iPhone, iPad or wearable app, planning essential if you want to complete the project on time. Here is a brief rundown of how we work.

Plan

Planning is the most important part of the project. It's where our iOS app developers share all our industry expert advice and work with you to discuss features, monetization, and technologies.

Wireframe

Once we have an idea of what the app will do we need to plan the screens we need. We will draw up some wireframes to plan the interfaces and our developers will start designing our database structure.

Design

Our design team will then start the user interface designs. These designs are the actual look and feel of the app. We will work with you to find a design that you and your users will love by iterating until you are happy.

Develop

Then the main part of the project will commence. Our iOS app developers will now start building the iPhone app using the designs and plans. You will be as involved in this part of the process as you want and we will allow you to test the app as it is being developed so you can share continual feedback.

Launch

When the app is complete and we have run tests to ensure there are no bugs we can launch the app on the Apple App Store. We will assist with setting up the listings. There is a review process done by Apple, so we just need to go through that and then the app will be live.

The iOS App Market In Singapore

Now iOS isn't the most popular mobile operating system in Singapore, but it is an important one. Just over 20% of the population in Singapore uses an iOS device, which is about 1/4 of population. Some people might that just developing an app for Android would be a good move for their startup as Android owns the larger part of the mobile OS market share in Singapore, but it's important to remember that 20% of an entire population will be over 1 million people, even in a small country like Singapore.

Another important statistic is that people who buy Apple devices such as iPhone and iPads are bigger spenders, as Apple doesn't produce low budget devices. This attracts the wealthier half of the population and they are more likely to pay for your services in your iOS app. So although iOS users are more likely to spend more, it's important to build mobile applications for both operating systems if you want to reach more users.

Hire A Top iOS App Developer In Singapore

If you are looking for world class iOS app developers you have come to the right place. If you want to build an iOS to try out a new startup idea, improve your brands customer loyalty, or build an iOS app to use internally to improve your companies operations you will need an experienced developer who can build an iOS app that can support all the needed functionality and features. Our team has built apps that have been featured on the Apple App Store and been downloaded by millions of users so we are ready to build your companies application. This is what a few of your clients have had to say about us:

"We use paper forms for our employees to complete surveys after every duty. That data is important as it helps us understand how they did their job and how our customers responded to the service. We decided to build an iOS app with Potado that we could install on iPads. We then got our staff to use that instead, and using a dashboard within the admin section of the app, we were able to see the data and results in real time. This removed the need to have a team manually do it every time. That's the power of technology!"

"Since so many people in Singapore are Android users, we decided to build an Android app for our customers as we didn't have the budget to build both, but after the app received such great user feedback, we worked with Potado to develop the app for iOS. The challenge was that we needed a layout that fit both iPhone and iPad devices as our customers use both mobile and tablet devices to interact with our service. We decided to develop the app using Cross-platform tech so we could keep maintained and upgrade costs low."