Differences in iOS and Android application creation process

For those who have never been exposed, programming an application on Android or iOS seems to be the same. But the truth is that these two operating systems have their own characteristics. There are many differences such as from technical basis to application development process.

Not only at the technical level but also in the design and mobile strategy. In other words, the idea of ​​an application will depend on the selected operating system. Therefore, programmers, who are switching from one operating system to another, or are approaching another programming language, will pay attention to this.

Differences in the development process

Structure of a project

The structure of an iOS project is relatively free in Xcode, where you can create folders and files wherever you want and initialize references between them. However, there will always be certain rules (such as icons for different resolutions) that you must comply with.

When writing an Android application, we have to get used to a tighter structure. The rules in Android programming must be complied with whether it is a folder, file or resources. Any Android application programming process will always be tight.

Application testing

Testing applications is an indispensable part of the process of designing mobile applications, similarly for games and other types of software. We need to ensure that our application works stably. IOS and Android emulators are used for this purpose.

The most obvious difference is that the iOS emulator works faster than Android. However, the Android emulator has the advantage of virtual machine system with virtualized CPU, making the experience more realistic than iOS. In fact, the iOS emulator often fails to accurately simulate Apple devices.

For this reason, we often have to test on real devices to accurately check the features, properly evaluate the application's errors.

Programming language

The difference of the operating system comes with differences in programming languages. This is the most obvious difference of the two operating systems: iOS uses Objective language – C / Swift, while Android uses Java. However, in the near future, this difference may not be available, because with the open source Swift, there is information that Google will use Swift to program Android.

Graphic interface

In the technical aspect, the programmer will build the XML file to design the interface on Android, similar to the iOS XIB file. However, again iOS is more Android than animation. Google tried to fix this through a preview of Android L and created a new design trend of Material Design. Meanwhile, Apple has always focused on soft, powerful animations and is very careful in noticing user aesthetics; Google – on the other hand, is addressing this issue, but new hardware optimization is their main goal.

Back button

Another big difference between the two platforms is that the 'Back' button is available in Android but not in iOS. Such button type is used to transfer views in Android, but in iOS, the programmer must design the other direction, placing the action back somewhere in the screen.

The remaining differences

  • Delegate and Adapter: iOs use the keyword 'delegate' when applying a delegation pattern while Android is the word 'adapter'. Although different from the platform and the keyword expresses, these are common concepts.
  • UIViewController and Activity: We use the clash Activity in programming a specific view on Android devices, but for iOS, this job will be handled by a controller named UIViewController. It is used to manage the lifecycle of events, subviews. Both have the same role, although the name is different.
  • Options and access: These tasks are better managed on iOS devices, when you can group them on the total settings. As for Android, the operation is a bit more sophisticated.
  • Map: we can use Apple maps or Google Maps when programming iOS apps. However, Google Maps is more optimized and is also used primarily in Android applications

Differences when creating applications

When it comes to creating applications, the difference between operating systems is not easy to find in the technical aspect. Design and marketing are clearly affected at a very basic level. Let's see how to deal with these differences

Cost

We discussed the difference in cost between creating apps for Android or iOS in the previous article. In fact, the iOS development process is more expensive than an uncle – although the difference is not important – based on the fact that the demand for iOS applications is lower than Android apps and more Charges for Apple's prepared resources are much more expensive.

Profit

We can see that iOS apps are usually sold directly to users and are similar to internal features, and Android apps are usually downloaded for free and okay and programmers will make money through ads embedded inside.

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