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Mobile app development plays a significant part in global software development. It is expected that by 2023 the worldwide mobile app revenues will grow to $935.2 billion.
iOS is the second most popular mobile operating system after Android. Additionally, the global software developer survey shows that 87% of mobile software developers work on Android operating systems as of 2021 compared to 60% of iOS developers.
However, iOS app development is no less important than Android development (learn more about Android developer salary). Considering the popularity of Apple devices and the company’s pace of innovation, the iOS audience constantly grows. Therefore, there’s always a need for iOS app developers to help you create applications for Apple devices.
But how much does it cost to hire such a specialist?
According to Indeed, the average income of iOS software developers is $115,451 per year.
The salary rate based on Payscale is slightly lower — $91,196 per year.
Glassdoor's average salary for an iOS developer is $97,215 per year.
Before hiring an iOS developer, it is worth getting a comprehensive picture of the job market. This article covers iOS developer salaries, the median cost for iOS developers in major US cities, and an iOS developer pay range in other countries. We’ll also look at what iOS mobile app development may cost in the future.
Read Also: NFT marketplace development
Read on to get useful tips and recommendations on how to hire an iOS developer. Learn their salaries in different regions and save a list of websites to find juniors, middle-level specialists, and seniors.
Benefits of Creating an iOS App
Apple devices will hardly become obsolete in the foreseeable future. Thus, the number of iOS applications keeps growing as well.
AppStore has roughly 2.22 million available apps for iOS. This number increases every day.
However, for some businesses, the necessity of building an iOS app is still under question. The pros, however, outweigh the cons. Here are five main benefits of creating an iOS app for your company:
High app revenue
In 2020, an average in-app spending per one active iPhone in the US was $138.
High level of security
A higher level of data security is guaranteed due to integrated data handling systems, preventing data duplication, and implementing data encryption.
Safe money transactions
iOS users have gotten used to opt-in payments as this service is one of the safest ways to pay for something because Apple uses end-to-end encryption for securing data.
Better customer experience
Apps for iOS are well-known to have user-friendly UI/UX, frequent updates and seamless ecosystem. So, when you provide your users with an option of a mobile app for their OS, they get more satisfied and loyal to your business.
Easy testing
Apple has a limited number of devices and versions, saving time and production costs on testing, ensuring the end-product quality.
What to Check Before Hiring an iOS App Developer?
When you decide you need an iOS app for your business, you should start looking for an iOS app developer to hire. To make this process easier and more effective, we’ve created a list of six basic recommendations you need to consider when hiring an iOS app developer.
Know more about a candidate
Before you invite a candidate to interview, you need to check the CV and research the candidate’s social profile (for example, teaching courses, podcasts, interviews, Stack Overflow, etc). It’s also important to check the GIT repository and the quality of the code.
Understanding theory is essential
Before you check practice skills, make sure the candidate is good with programming theory and technologies/frameworks planned to be used in development.
Check logical thinking
After examining the theory, you are to review practice skills and the ability to implement diverse approaches in different situations.
Try live coding
Sometimes, it’s necessary to see how the candidate deals with programming issues in live mode to make a final decision.
Give test tasks if only you’re sure they are necessary
Gone are the days when the test task was obligatory for any position. Today, the practice of test tasks is out-of-the-date. Still, if you are not sure the candidate demonstrated all knowledge or skill, you can give them a test task.
The final summary makes everything clear
At the final stage of the interview, the project manager should estimate the candidate's soft and hard skills and make the final decision.
iOS Developer Roles and Responsibilities
The list of roles and responsibilities for an iOS developer will be different depending on the candidate’s level. Likewise, the required skills will also differ.
| Roles | Responsibilities |
|---|---|
|
Junior iOS Developer |
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Mid-level iOS Developer |
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Senior-level iOS Developer |
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How to Find iOS App Developers
Before you start to conduct interviews for an iOS app developer position, you need to find candidates who can satisfy your business needs. Where to find them? There are many sources to find candidates, check their CVs, and even get acquainted with their codes.
Here are the top 5 places that will help you find the best candidate for your job.
Toptal
A service that helps to match a specialist with the team.
Github
One of the apparent advantages of Github — you can immediately check the candidate’s code.
Stack Overflow
A widespread community of programmers where you can find an iOS developer for your requirements.
Job boards
Mostly, recruiters are looking for candidates on job boards like Careerbuilder, Indeed, Glassdoor, and others.
Freelance platforms
If you are planning to hire freelance or outsource specialists, visit Upwork and Fiverr.
What Hiring Options Are There?
Do you need to create a simple and small application to support your marketing activities or a scalable iOS app representing your business?
Depending on your goals, you can hire an in-house specialist, outsource an iOS developer, freelance specialist, or even a developer team for your project.
In-house iOS developer
If you plan to develop a small or a mid-sized app for your business and regularly update it with features, you will need an in-house developer.
Outsource specialists
It is perhaps the best option for small businesses that are not ready to hire a full-time developer but still want to build an iOS app.
Read Also: Why Engineers Can't Estimate Time: Software Development Estimation The Right Way
Freelance specialists
If you want to develop a non-scalable app with limited usage time, a freelance developer is your choice.
Developer team
It is the best option for small and medium businesses and enterprises to create scalable apps and regularly update them with various features.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire an iOS App Developer
The average salary rate of an iOS app developer depends on the:
- level of specialist
- years of experience
- the region you are hiring in
Surprisingly, location is the crucial factor. For instance, in Canada, the average salary for a mid-level iOS developer is $95,000. The candidate from Australia expects to get $120,000 per year. In Europe, the situation is as follows:
| Country | Salary |
|---|---|
|
Germany |
$60,868 |
|
France |
$53,362 |
|
Poland |
$36,950 |
|
Spain |
$44,922 |
|
Italy |
$35,073 |
|
|
|
Data from Glassdoor
In the US, salaries vary in different states and cities.
For example, in Raleigh, North Carolina, you will pay $88,754 per year for your iOS developer. In New York, the same-level specialist will get $97,084. In LA, the average salary is $104,589.
So let's dwell upon the discussion about the effect of location and developer experience on iOS developer salary expectations.
Smaller Cities (And Other Countries) Have Lower Developer Salaries
As mentioned above, the average iOS developer salary in the USA ranges from $91,196 to $115,451.
That's a national average. The city where you do business may have higher or lower average iOS developer pay.
At the high end of the range are San Francisco and Seattle. With companies like Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon, you can bet that those cities have attracted some incredibly talented (and expensive) developers. The average iPhone app programmer cost in Seattle is $136,487 per year.
The average Apple app developer payroll in San Francisco is a staggering $145,754 per year!
Lower dev pay is the norm in Europe and Asia, and even in Canada, the neighbor to the north, iOS dev salaries don't come close to those in the US. It costs $95,000 to hire an Apple developer in Canada.
The average iOS developer salary in Singapore is only $80,820, but the absolute lowest dev pay you can imagine is in India, where iOS engineers are typically paid around $6,665 per year.
Newbies VS Seasoned Pros — Experienced Developers Cost More
The amount of experience your iOS developers have can play a big part in how much they will expect to earn.
Let's look at iOS engineer salaries based on experience. The numbers show that developers who have been around the block a few times and learned the ropes usually earn much more than newbies. A typical senior iOS dev income is $117,201 per year. The average pay for mid-level iOS developers is around $97,000.
If you want to hire a recent college grad who's trained but has zero experience, you should know that the average entry-level iOS developer salary is $79,592.
You can expect an entry-level iOS developer to understand basic iOS development fundamentals like wireframing and storyboarding, Objective C, and the Xcode IDE. More qualified developers should be experts with frameworks and APIs like Foundation, UIKit, and Cocoa. These engineers should also be familiar with popular bug tracking systems, version control, and key features for iPhone apps development.
If you're looking for a specific skill set, even if it's a widespread one, you may have to pay your developers more. Take Swift, for example, the popular programming language for macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS. If you need to hire Swift developers, you can expect to pay slightly more than you would for garden-variety iOS developers.
A developer's area of expertise can also impact what they get paid. One with several years of experience in writing eCommerce apps might expect more than a regular developer. An engineer who's an expert in apps that handle secure banking transactions would probably want an even higher salary.
That wraps up our discussion of how location and experience affect iOS developer pay. Now, let's look at some more salary numbers from around the country and the world.
iOS Developer Salaries Around the World
iOS developers overseas do not earn as much as their US-based counterparts. For example, the average annual iOS developer salary in New Zealand is $50,450, about $47k off the US national average. An iOS programmer's average income in the UK is only $69,150.
Before throwing out even more international pay numbers, we should note that all these figures are converted from the country's currency to US dollars. (We didn't want you having to do the conversions yourself!)
Here's a snapshot of iOS developer salaries in various countries. They were selected to illustrate the high and low extremes and highlight some countries where midrange salaries are reasonable.
These overseas pay averages paint a clear picture. If your business happens to be located outside the US, you can budget much lower for iOS developer pay than you would have to if you were doing business in the US.
Read Also: Front end developer salary worldwide
iOS App Developers Rates in Ukraine
According to PayScale, the average salary for iOS developers in Kyiv, Ukraine, is $30,000 per year. In Lviv, an average Swift software developer earns $32,400.
The average salary of a Swift tech lead in Kyiv, Ukraine, is $57,900. In Lviv, the salary rate for this position is a little bit lower, $51,600.
Source: According to data from Google
Top iOS App Developer Interview Questions
When conducting an interview, you are to find out the candidate’s strengths and weak points. Use these five essential questions to notice the difference.
Clarify the skillset of the candidate
Check that the skills the candidate listed in the resume are up to date.
Make sure the experience is relevant
If the candidate has two years of experience, you must ensure this experience is relevant to your vacancy.
Good speaking and written English
If you are hiring a team or a developer overseas, be sure you can easily understand each other.
Check soft skills
You probably have some expectations from the candidate regarding their soft skills. Should they be loyal? Do they need to be team players? Make sure that a candidate corresponds to your expectations.
Verify hard skills
To understand the hard skills of the candidate, ask these exemplary questions
about iOS development:
- Which JSON framework is supported by iOS?
- What is the difference between atomic and nonatomic properties?
- Which are the ways of achieving concurrency in iOS?
- What are iOS application states?
- What is Cocoa Touch?
Cost-efficient iOS Development is Possible
In this article, we've looked at some interesting statistics. It's plain to see that the location of your business, along with the skill level of the developers you need to hire, can have a massive impact on how much your engineers will expect in salary.
For any company located in an area with very few iOS developers or doing business in a city where developer salary is way too high for their budget, outsourcing can make a lot of sense.
Any company wishing to save time and money on their app development project should consider outsourcing the work to an experienced iOS development team — for instance, the team at Softermii. You could save as much as 30%-50% in your development budget and get your app to market much faster than if you hired an internal team.
We hope this article has given you some insight into average salaries for iOS engineers. No matter how you decide to move forward with your project, having a good idea of what iOS developers expect to get paid will help. Wishing you the best of luck in finding and hiring the development talents you need. And if you would like a piece of advice on doing it, just drop us a line!
Frequently Asked Questions
If you want to hire a dedicated iOS app developer, create a vacancy description at job portals like Indeed and Glassdoor.
You can search to find a perfect Swift programmer or wait until the candidates send you their CVs.
Of course, it’s important to conduct interviews with app developers for hire to determine whether their skill list meets your requirements.
The cost of hiring an iOS app developer depends on the level of specialist and your region. The hourly rate of an entry-level specialist is usually more affordable than even consulting rates of a senior software engineer.
Hiring iOS engineers in the US will be more expensive than hiring iOS developers in Europe on the international market.
Looking for an iOS developer? Want to find an iOS developer who will help you create a brilliant app, but you don’t know the skills a developer must have?
Dedicated iOS developers should be good in Swift or Objective-C, know the Xcode IDE, have experience with Cocoa Touch and UIKit, understand RESTful APIs and UI/UX design designers standards, have advanced knowledge of code versioning tools like Git, and be proficient in Core Data framework.
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