Building your first iOS app is fun and exciting! But a lot of beginners don’t know how or where to start. In this article, you’ll know everything you need to get started in building your first mobile app.
App Idea
Everything starts with your app idea. What is your app idea? Why do you want to build an app? Will it solve an existing problem? Will it offer something new?
Before thinking about building your first app, it would help to know why you want to build one. With millions of apps in the App Store, the probability of finding applications with the same idea as yours is high.
However, that doesn’t mean you cannot build one anymore. You should determine what’s lacking in these existing apps and work towards solving them with your own app.
Target Audience
Think about who you’re building your app for, and who can benefit from it. Does your target audience typically prefer an iPhone over an Android phone? It’s a bad approach to go through the whole process without determining your target audience right from the beginning.
Having an in-depth understanding of your target audience, their likes, and dislikes, lifestyle, and spending habits will help you in deciding your app’s design, the experience you want people to have with it, and how you’re going to market it.
Your target audience is the foundation of your app’s success because even if you have a great app idea, if it is not something anyone wants or needs, then it can easily go downhill.
Gears, tools & software
Building an app will require specific gear and tools especially since iOS and Android apps are in two different operating systems.
If you want to build an iOS app, then, you need a Mac computer. Unfortunately, a Windows PC won’t work because you will also need specific software like Xcode that works only on Mac computers. An iMac or a Macbook will be your best bet.
When it comes to software, Xcode is definitely number one on the list as it’s the tool that you’ll use for developing your app. You will treat Xcode as bread and butter when building an iOS app, so make sure that you know the ins and outs of Xcode so that it can be your best friend.
For planning the design of your app, we recommend using Figma because its free version is already packed with features. Lastly, if you want to have some awesome icons while designing your app in Figma, Icons8 will be the best option for all your icon needs.
Support Community
When you’re learning something new, it helps to be a part of a community that is doing the same things. This gives you a chance to meet individuals with similar interests and goals as you. It also provides you with easy access to useful information shared in the community and it’s a great place to ask for advice and solutions if you encounter any issues.
At CodeWithChris, we have our CodeCrew Forum where students and experts are willing to help out anyone with technical issues or problems encountered while learning. It’s a safe space where people can ask for help and have a chance to discuss the problem and learn something new.
Resources & Good Materials
Finding good resources is crucial when learning something, especially iOS development. From different coding websites to free YouTube videos —you have endless choices for good materials, you just need to know where to find them.
For starters, our CodeWithChris YouTube channel offers video tutorials covering different beginner-friendly topics about iOS development. Some of our guest teachers Stewart Lynch, FloWritesCode, and Mikaela Caron also have their own YouTube channels that are great resources for learning too.
Practice your skills
Lastly, it’s very important to develop your skills. Everything you’ll read or learn will be useless if you don’t try it out yourself and experience how to code and build your app first-hand. Experience will be your best teacher, so whenever you learn something, make sure to apply them as soon as possible. With this approach, you’ll put your problem-solving skills to the test which is imperative in becoming an iOS Developer.
With all that said, CodeWithChris has all that you need to get started with your iOS journey!
We are more than happy to welcome you to the CodeCrew community and help you reach your goals.
Visit this page to learn how we can help you in your journey to iOS development!