The Pros and Cons of Using Swift in iOS Native app Development

Before starting work on a mobile app, the most important point is the choice of a programming language. When talking about iOS and native app development, the first thing that comes to mind is Swift. It is the native language for Apple ecosystem apps: iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, and macOS. With its help, mobile apps and desktop programs are written. And more recently, mobile apps can be run on a computer.

Swift's ancestor, Objective-C, is already losing ground and losing in speed. Plus, Swift code is much better readable and easy to learn even for beginners.

Let's talk about why Swift is good and should you choose native iOS app development.

What Is Swift?

Swift language has become a great replacement for Objective-C programming language, even though it has been around for a short time.

 Swift is a young open source programming language that was developed by Apple in 2014 specifically for devices running macOS and iOS. Swift is a general-purpose programming language that was built using a unique approach to data security, design patterns, and performance.

Swift was created as a language that can be applied in a wide variety of areas - from systems programming to mobile and desktop apps. It also makes it possible to scale projects to cloud services (an impossible task for a most app built platforms).

Swift memory can be managed automatically. Swift has borrowed and improved a number of parameters from other languages. Among these features are named parameters, which are also in Objective-C. But in Swift, they are presented in pure syntax, which makes the API easier to read and maintain Swift.

Swift has libraries for developing apps for Macs, iPhones, and iPads. This is a large and rich market, and Swift programmer salaries are high.

But it is important to understand that Swift is not yet a mobile development language, but the language of the Apple ecosystem. There are solutions to compile Swift code on Android, but they are rather unstable.

The ideal scenario for Swift is a program for Mac, iPhone, and iPad, written in the same logic. But not a program for iPhone, Android, Mac, and Windows - Swift has not yet reached such a position.

A Brief History of Swift Language

In 2014, the Swift language was introduced at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. Its development began in 2010 by Chris Lattner, who, along with other programmers including John McCall, Doug Gregor, Ted Kremenek, and Joe Groff, worked at Apple. The main idea behind Swift was borrowed from a number of other languages: Haskell, Rust, Objective-C, CLU Python, C #, and so on.

The first version of Swift was 1.0, which underwent a major update to Swift 2 at WWDC 2015. Update 2.2 was later released for Apple and Linux platforms.

But in Swift 3.0, the syntax was significantly changed, and this allowed it to bypass the popularity of Objective C. In Swift 4.0, the code was changed even more, and the ability to use the migration functionality built into Xcode was added.

What Are The Advantages Of Using Swift?

Swift and Objective-C share similarities, such as extensible programming, dynamic dispatch, and late binding. Swift is quite easy to use, which has a beneficial effect on the speed of development. Speaking of the benefits of Swift, there are a few more to be mentioned:

• Having a Super Open-Source Swift community, means that the language is as convenient and simple as possible for developers. They also have access to language improvement and bug fixes. 
• For Swift, there is a special Playground tool - a kind of interactive sandbox, where the programmer immediately sees the results of the program's work. Sometimes this increases the speed of the development process several times and helps to quickly deal with the problematic section of the code.
• Swift code is easy to maintain because all the contents of the implementation and header files are combined into one file. That is, app developers can work with app logic instead of supporting multiple files.
• Thanks to a simple and understandable syntax, you get rapid development. Compared to Objective C, Swift is 2.6 times faster.
• Compatibility is extremely important for any language, and Swift is really good at it. Swift works well with Objective-C through its use of generic methods and classes.
• With Swift's ability to define values as optional or value types, developers can develop with timely responses to errors and exceptions. That fact helps during iOS app development.
• Swift is supported by a number of devices, including iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Mac. Moreover, it can run on Linux and Windows devices. 
• Swift is supported by dynamic link libraries, so it helps to link different versions of apps with each other.

What Are the Disadvantages of Using Swift?

Despite its high performance and ease of use, Swift mobile app development has some drawbacks. Let's consider them in more detail.

• Swift is a little over 5 years old, in comparison, Objective C has been around since the 1980s. Although Swift is constantly being updated, it is still limited by its libraries and has some instability after each new version is released.
• Swift has a limited talent pool, so it can take a long time to resolve issues.
• It doesn't have the best compatibility with IDEs and third party tools. This complicates the solution of some tasks. Also, Xcode has some issues with refactoring tools and syntax highlighting.
• Swift does not support early iOS versions. It only works for iOS7 and later.

Objective-C Over Swift?

A conversation about Swift simply cannot do without mentioning Objective-C, so there is a need to clarify why this is so, and when which language should be used. The compared Objective-C language is really mature and has a solid base of specialists. When you need to create a native app, it’s important to be sure of your choice.

• If for the purposes of your project, support for older versions of the OS, then it is better to choose Objective-C; Swift only supports iOS 7 and macOS 10.9 or above.
• Learning Swift definitely makes sense in the long run, as its development is still ongoing. But given the limited number of Swift talent, chances are you will have an Objective-C talent on your team. Therefore, if your project should be launched as soon as possible, it will be irrational to waste time studying or hire developers with this stack.
• While Objective-C is a language of the C group, using the C and C ++ libraries is easy and hassle-free. In the case of Swift, this is not possible.

So, for What Projects Should You Use Swift?

Apple has no reason to replace Swift with another language in the next decade. Add to this 4 years of progress, both in terms of development and popularity, steadily growing sales of iOS devices, and expansion of the lineup. Based on these facts, it's safe to say that the demand for Swift developers who will develop native apps will grow. Swift best practices prove its potential capacity.

The advantage of native development is the ability to build the perfect app to its full potential. For example, only the native app can set up the geofencing function. You can also place the app in AppStore.

To create a high-quality, working app, you need a good iOS developer. How to find an iOS developer and how much it costs, we have already written earlier.

Summary

To date, there are over 3,400,000 apps on the AppStore, about half of them written in Swift, and this is clearly just the beginning. Despite the fact that Swift is still a very young language, it already has a lot of weight and popularity in the field of app development. With each new update and features Swift, becomes improved and advanced.

Apple is famous for its ecosystem, but it still has limited support for older versions. Therefore, it is likely that Swift will soon completely replace Objective-C.

Thus, if you want to get a working app and reduce the time spent on developing the app, we recommend starting your search for an iOS app developer now.