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iOS

Posted by Harry James
Harry James
14,780 Points

What is the importance of an iOS device?

Hello,

I am looking to possibly get into iOS Development in the future however, I currently do not own an iOS device.

I understand that you can emulate an iOS device however, I also heard about this not being an accurate representation by someone else.

I'm looking for your opinions on whether an iPhone is a "must have" for developing iOS apps or whether it's just beneficial to have. Most importantly, would I be able to create apps that both look and function as they would on an actual device?

Thanks in advance!

2 Answers

Michael Hulet
Michael Hulet
47,913 Points

Having an iOS device is quite crucial to all but the most trivial iOS development. The simulator is awesome for emulating simple tasks, but there are a couple problems with it. The first is that running an app in the simulator is way faster than running it on an actual iOS device. This is because your Mac is way more powerful than your iPhone, and the simulator gets to take advantage of that. The second problem is that the simulator can't simulate some key sensors present in iOS devices, like 3D Touch or the accelerometer. For those (and many other sensors), you'll need an actual device. Good luck in your quest to learn iOS!

Luke Glazebrook
Luke Glazebrook
13,564 Points
Luke Glazebrook
Luke Glazebrook
13,564 Points

Hi Harry!

I'm presuming you saying you want to get into Android on the first line is a typo? If so then you don't really need to have an actual physical device to build iPhone apps. I developed some iPhone apps just for fun before I actually owned an iPhone myself and I managed it just fine. Xcode is really good at showing you how your layout will look on all of the different iPhone's screens.

However, if you are wanting to build big apps that you are going to release on the App Store and etc then getting an iPhone would be a really good move just so you can actually test it out on a phone rather then emulator. The reason this is important is because the experience is different having it on an actual device.

I hope I managed to help you out anyway! If you have any more questions then don't hesitate to ask them.

-Luke

Harry James
Harry James
14,780 Points

Hey Luke!

Yep, that was a typo there! I've corrected that now.

Also, thanks for explaining that there! Thought that would be the case! Just out of interest, I saw on your profile that you have also done Android Development - is the experience with emulators basically the same here, or any better/worse?

Luke Glazebrook
Luke Glazebrook
13,564 Points

Yeah I have delved into both Android and iOS development. Overall I find the iOS emulator that comes built into Xcode a lot nicer to work with than the Android Emulator that comes with Android Studio. However, you can download third party emulators for Android like Genymotion which is supposed to be quite good!