How much do iOS app developers make?

Mostly, a developer’s salary depends on a whole bunch of variable factors — their tech stack, experience, professional profile, place of employment, place of residence, and the type of employment they have. The tech stack is the factor influencing your salary in the most direct way. There’re technologies and profiles that are so-called evergreens — and you’ll get a decent remuneration no matter when you start working with them. However, there’re still others — the ones that were popular long ago and now are somehow forgotten or downgraded. Getting a decent rate for them is problematic. Luckily, if you’re an iOS app developer, your profile has been enjoying evergreen popularity. Seniors make more than Middles or Juniors — and that’s the law. However, if you’re working at a bidding marketplace and have a bit of luck, chances are, you can get more money than more experienced colleagues with a worse understanding of the process. If you’re a freelancer living in a richer country and looking for job opportunities online, you can lose the money competition to the professionals from countries with a lower cost of living: their demands will also be significantly lower. Generally speaking, iOS app developers can make somewhere between $30 and $80 per hour — depending on the project, employer, and all the factors mentioned above.

How many iOS app developers are there?

iOS development has always been popular, Apple has been blossoming and releasing new products every year, and cross-platform frameworks have been enjoying stellar popularity (because startup owners don’t want to build two versions of their application for Android and iOS). The post-covid app development boom is heating the competition more and more. Who will develop the next popular thing for all the mobile owners? What does it all mean for the number of iOS developers? The answer is obvious. iOS developers are multiplying like mushrooms after the rain! However, coders who sniffed the right wind direction and promptly rebranded themselves into iOS developers can be the wrong choice for you. It’s the skilled professionals you need, right? Their number is surely much less than the overall number of iOS developers. Hurry to hire the one that will give wings to your business. If you want to get your startup modern and compliant with the current app development trends, you’ll surely need the app developer for your nascent team — and if you don’t want to hire them yourself, you’d probably better address marketplaces.

What should I look for in an iOS developer?

The question is simple and complicated at the same time. One thing is clear: from the technical side, you want your iOS developer to be skilled in Apple systems and tools, iOS-related frameworks, and swift transitions between Android and iOS. All these are hard skills — but don’t think they are the only desirable ones. Soft skills are by no means less important. Your iOS developer should be able to plan their short-term and long-term working activities and manage their time and workload independently, clearly communicate with colleagues and employers on the project, and be empathetic and time-aware. These requirements will make their contribution to the general workflow bigger and better.

How long does it take to create an iOS app?

It always depends on the app. Some applications don’t demand extra complicated work, some do. Besides, the answer depends on your primary aim. The time frame for creating an MVP is significantly shorter than the time frame for creating a thoroughly polished, tested, amended, and improved version, ready to appear on AppStore.

What does a lead iOS developer do?

A lead iOS developer provides project guidance and development team management. Most lead iOS developers are experienced experts in the field, and this kind of proficiency gives them the right and possibility to provide mentorship and guidance to Juniors, Middles, and even Senior developers who are in their command.

Hire iOS developer and gain time to actually run your business

Ruling the company all by yourself? Trying to escape the deadline rush? Hire a team of professional iOS developers right now and keep calm.

Show me what you got

George has 4+ years of experience, including developing SDK for video calls and SDK for synchronization of HLS streams, real-time chat, and a car-sharing app.

An organized, collaborative, and highly ambitious developer with 5+ years of experience, Samet enjoys the freedom of working remotely — he even founded his own tech company.

Roman has 7 years of iOS experience, including watchOS and CarPlay apps. He is open in communication, has leading experience and can work autonomously with no guidance.

Ostap is an empathic and curious troubleshooting pro. Seven years of commercial experience make him a candidate worth more than 1000 words.

Kyrylo is a high-skilled iOS developer with 6+ years of commercial experience in Swift and Objective-C. Need a kick-ass app for iOS? — Kyrylo is here to help!

Vasyl has 15 years of experience, 10 of which he'd given to iOS & Android. Mobile development is his biggest passion. He's ready for any mobile project that boosts his experience.

Your company is getting bigger every day. You lack employees, every task is urgent, and you feel overwhelmed with work. Not that you didn’t like it. On the contrary, your startup is your life. But honestly, when things get intense you generally want to keep them under control and focus on the most pressing matters.

And then you realize your company needs an iOS application.

It does. Applications help enhance customer loyalty, make your brand closer to customers in their daily lives, and access your product whenever they want.

But, building an application also means a thousand collateral tasks. You will need to find, test, and hire iOS developers. Plan and execute the whole app development cycle. Learn in the process.

All this while still having to run a company.

There are shortcuts to avoid the hiring hassle. Even better: you get to save your company’s resources and avoid diverting efforts from your priorities. Trust us, you can hire iphone app developer of your dreams.

You don’t have to do everything on your own. But let’s first take a look at what awaits you, if you do.

App development routine you don’t have time for

Supposedly, you’ve already done your homework. You know exactly what your app is going to do and whom it’ll be designed for. Now, the actual fun begins. Except that it’s not fun at all.

Wireframing

Face ID login, geolocation features, history of purchases, etc. – along with the main function that the app is being actually designed for, you will need to plan other functionality.

Technical Requirements

You know what a real bummer is? When you’ve wireframed a great app, but half of its features cannot be implemented on the selected platform. Is your idea feasible on the selected platform at all?

The need for iOS developers starts somewhere at this point. Get ready to dig into the hiring process.

Prototyping

Found some reliable iOS devs? Good, but we are still not done with the preparation phase. Now you must build a working beta-version, test it, gather feedback, make necessary changes, and test it again. Beta-version involves only core functionality of your app.

UI/UX polishing

After you successfully test core functionality and decide on the main features your app is going to have, it’s time to develop UI/UX for your app. Because who needs cool functions when using them feels «meh»?

Actual development

Now we’re talking! As soon as you find a suitable Apple app developer, the process boils down to writing code, testing, and debugging. Rinse and repeat X times, then test the whole app. Each cycle takes time and resources, which as a startup you might be limited of.

Publishing your app

Publishing your app isn’t as easy as posting in WordPress. Every platform has its own deployment policies. You need someone who can bring your app in line with App Store’s requirements.

escape development routine

Recruiting iOS developers will distract you from your main tasks

Perhaps you noticed how giddily we mentioned hiring iOS developers before. This is not because it’s easy, but because the process description requires additional space.

There is a default set of skills that an iOS developer must have. You must make sure that your candidate:

Has solid Objective-C and Swift skills
Has read Apple Human Interface Guidelines (and actually goes by them)
Is familiar with Git and SVN
Knows what MVC, MVP, MVVN, Viper architecture patterns are
Is familiar with different methods of creating UIs (Programmatic UI, Xibs, Storyboarding)
Knows how (geo)location works on iOS.

Evaluating a candidate by each of these parameters will take too much of your CTO time. You’d need to figure out the technicalities yourself. Or to already have iOS developers in your staff to check the skills of the new employees (if that was true, you would not be reading this).

Besides, tech skills alone aren’t enough to hire a candidate. You probably know someone who is a great pro, but also a complete jerk impossible to work with. We all do. Which leads us to the list of soft skills your iOS dev should have.

Some of them include:

Communication

A developer must clearly report bottlenecks, problems, requirements, and solutions.

Teamwork

Forget the image of a lonely geek tinkering ingenious soft in their basement. An iOS developer today knows how to operate within a team.

Problem-solving

If there is a problem a dev cannot solve or bypass, they can figure out the solution using company resources at their disposal.

Responsibility

A developer takes ownership of the mistakes and failures caused by them, and can offer a plan of action to deal with the consequences.

Time-management

Multi-tasking is still a thing. When a developer has too much on their plate at once, knowing how to effectively deal with their tasks becomes crucial.

The list is far from complete. The only way you can make sure an iOS developer has these qualities is to interview them. Or to contact their previous employers for reference.

And it’s still just a tip of the iceberg known as the hiring process.

Need senior tech talent with quote from a client

You’ll waste weeks and $$$ before you hire iOS developer online

Dangers of hiring online

When you type in Google «hire iOS developer,» you must have seen websites like Freelancer or Upwork in the top search results. These are crowdsourcing marketplaces where registered users and contractors can meet each other. These platforms are crowded with iOS devs.

Come and take, right?

In reality, there are too many problems when you hire developers on such marketplaces.

Dozens of applicants

They often rely on bidding when matching clients with freelancers. Because of it, you will need to manually look through portfolios and testimonials of dozens of applicants before you find your perfect contractor. Yes, every single portfolio of your potential ios programmers. Imagine how much time it takes.

Too much fakes

Good-looking portfolios and testimonials can be fake. Scamming is still a thing on popular crowdsourcing marketplaces. Ios remote developer can be a con artist for all you know.

You risk hiring a complete newbie

You risk hiring a complete newbie who pretends to be a pro. On platforms like Upwork or Freelancer, there are few real means to check contractors’ qualifications before hiring them. Some developers can overstate their skills to look more professional and get contracts.

It’s not that bad. You can still hire ios app developers there. Online marketplaces have strong sides, such as the diversity of available skill sets or low hourly rates. But if you asked us, the risks outweigh the advantages.

So far, just know that there are services where you can safely hire skilled iOS developers. We’ll get to them later.

Hiring in-house iOS developers can cost your company a fortune

It really can. If you are hiring in the United States, you probably imagine how much an iOS developer may cost your business.

If you don’t, take a small glimpse at the average iOS developer salary in two cities where devs are in demand. And that is not counting all of the time needed to find ios developer.

New York iOS developers will expect you to pay them almost $95K annually.

yearly salary for ios developers in New york

We didn’t show you all the screenshots, but the tendency is that the closer you get to Silicon Valley, the more expensive iOS app developers become. Like, here is what hiring in San Francisco will cost you.

Maybe, that would still be fine if it was just about salaries. Alas, when you hire in-house developers, you must get prepared for extra expenses. What are those?

In brief, along with a regular iOS developer salary, here is what you will need to pay additionally:

FICA taxes (Social Security and Medicare taxes)
Office rentThere is no workaround. If you want in-house devs, you need to provide them with an office. In a comfortable area. With coffee and cookies. And a Playstation. And a lounge zone.
Equipment
You can ask your devs to work on their laptops – and they probably will. But there is still a whole bunch of necessary office equipment that you’ll need to buy. Starting with phones and ending up with fax machines and fridges.
Paid vacations and sick days
This is self-explanatory.
Unstable workloads
As a startup, sometimes you’re on fire, and sometimes there is no work at all. But, when working with in-house developers, you will have to pay them either way.

What about Indian iOS developers?

In India, the average iOS developer salary is 470K rupees. This looks like a lot of money, but actually it’s somewhere around $6K annually (exchange rate as of April, 2020).

Indian developers are a popular solution among younger companies. There are many skill sets available for hire in India, and the rates there are more than affordable. You’d think this is the best place for finding apple app developers for hire.

«Affordable» does not mean cheap. Really skilled Indian developers may charge not much less than their Western colleagues. But still, high-quality iOS app development is still going to cost you.
Plain cheap solutions often mean poor quality.
Think about whether you want to make advantage of the living conditions in India? The principles of fair trade imply fair payment for work well-done. Do you want to develop your business using the labor of people who have to work almost for free hoping to get hired?

Anyway, who needs in-house devs after COVID-19?

Coronavirus is giving the world hot and strong. But every cloud has a silver lining.

Now we know that if a developer has a laptop and an internet connection, they can effectively build an app for you wherever they are. If you thought that hiring in-house devs is a must, you might want to reconsider. The world has changed – make sure you’ve adapted to reap the benefits.

Focus on what’s really important for your business. We’ve already sorted all the mess out.

Lack iOS development experience? Keep cool, our devs will back you up

If you lack iOS development experience and have little idea how to start building your app, our developers got you covered. Used to working as a team on projects of all profiles and complexities, they will guide your app through all the development cycles. From the initial concept to publishing your app in App Store – devs from the Lemon database will back you up.

«Look ma, no hands!»

We hire and match you with only those iOS developers who can solve your problem even if you choose to take your hands off the steering wheel. Monitor and control them all you like, or completely turn a blind eye on them – Lemon iOS devs will continue developing your app nonetheless..

Save your budget for something more pressing

We hacked the system and found a way to provide affordable iOS app development without resorting to hiring in India or working with hungry students.

Our Objective-C/Swift developers are available for as low as $40-$45 per hour, anytime.

Hire affordable iOS app develper

How do we do all this?

We are Lemon

We snatch iOS developers from their natural habitats, and make them undergo accelerated natural selection to distill the best of the best. We uncover finest ios developers for hire. Then we assign the champions to your projects.

Survival of the fittest developers: why you can trust us

We work with remote iOS developers from Europe and Latin America. With the help of our unique vetting method, we handpick devs whose professional and personal qualities meet our unrealistic quality standards. Then we assign them to your projects.

In detail, this is what we do:

We probe the candidate’s background

First, we want to make sure the candidate understands us, so we test their English skills. Next, we check their portfolio: we want it to contain diverse and complex projects. We also evaluate their digital persona – behaviors and content in social networks can tell a lot.

We check the candidate’s reputation

We contact the developer’s former customers and employers, to make sure they were satisfied with our candidate.

We scrutinize the candidate’s professional and personal skills

We have a set of meticulous and sadistic proficiency tests aimed at verifying the candidate’s programming and problem-solving skills. As a bonus, we want them to be nice and easy-going.

We interview the candidate

When they sigh with relief, we insidiously hit them with our live interview. This is the final stage of our vetting process, and a crucial one: candidates still have high chances to screw up their vetting.

Only after a developer successfully passes all 4 stages do we add them to our talent pool. From it, we assign devs to your projects based on your requirements and their skills and experience. We have part-time and full-time options.

If a developer fails at least one stage, we say «good bye» to them. Sorry, devs who failed, Lemon has no work for you.

The Final Ultimate Test

AND FINALLY, we squeeze Lemons into the eyes of our candidates. If they don’t cry like babies, we hire them. ARRGH!!!

Why so affordable?

$40-$45/h for iOS app development? How is that possible?

«Easy-peasy Lemon squeezy», we say. Lemon works with offshore European and Latin American developers. Living costs are about 40% lower than in the United States. On the other hand, work ethic and quality standards are the same.

These two factors combined allow you to hire a highly qualified remote iOS developer for a reasonable price.

Discover how Lemons can be… suspiciously good

350+ handpicked Lemon developers at your disposal

Any tasks. Any skill sets. Any project complexity. Anytime.

Lemon matching is accurate like a sniper shot

There is a 99% chance that our devs either worked on projects similar to yours, or know the technologies necessary to successfully complete their jobs.

Lemon matches you with devs in 24 hours

We know our developers like the back of our hand. You tell us what you need, and the next day you start working with the developer we found for you.

Lemon’s customer support is omnipresent

You just start typing, «What the…» and our support team will jump in to save your day and help you out, whatever your problem is. That is, IF you ever have any problems with our service.

We always have a backup developer up our sleeve for you

If you are not satisfied with the match we found for you, we will instantly provide you with a software engineer of similar qualification, free of charge.

To cut a long story short

Lemon.io provides dedicated iOS developers who do not require you to micromanage them.
Lemon.io allows you to quickly hire iOS developers with no sweat, even if you have little to no experience. iPhone app development with Lemon? Easy. iPad app development? Still easy!
Lemon.io perfectly balances price and quality. iOS developers from our database are available for as low as $40-$45 per hour.

Free yourself from the hiring routine

Do you have any questions left? Read our brief FAQ — and learn more about iOS development with Lemon.io!

How much do iOS app developers make?

Mostly, a developer’s salary depends on a whole bunch of variable factors — their tech stack, experience, professional profile, place of employment, place of residence, and the type of employment they have. The tech stack is the factor influencing your salary in the most direct way. There’re technologies and profiles that are so-called evergreens — and you’ll get a decent remuneration no matter when you start working with them. However, there’re still others — the ones that were popular long ago and now are somehow forgotten or downgraded. Getting a decent rate for them is problematic. Luckily, if you’re an iOS app developer, your profile has been enjoying evergreen popularity.
Seniors make more than Middles or Juniors — and that’s the law. However, if you’re working at a bidding marketplace and have a bit of luck, chances are, you can get more money than more experienced colleagues with a worse understanding of the process.
If you’re a freelancer living in a richer country and looking for job opportunities online, you can lose the money competition to the professionals from countries with a lower cost of living: their demands will also be significantly lower.
Generally speaking, iOS app developers can make somewhere between $30 and $80 per hour — depending on the project, employer, and all the factors mentioned above.
How many iOS app developers are there?

iOS development has always been popular, Apple has been blossoming and releasing new products every year, and cross-platform frameworks have been enjoying stellar popularity (because startup owners don’t want to build two versions of their application for Android and iOS). The post-covid app development boom is heating the competition more and more. Who will develop the next popular thing for all the mobile owners?
What does it all mean for the number of iOS developers? The answer is obvious. iOS developers are multiplying like mushrooms after the rain! However, coders who sniffed the right wind direction and promptly rebranded themselves into iOS developers can be the wrong choice for you. It’s the skilled professionals you need, right? Their number is surely much less than the overall number of iOS developers. Hurry to hire the one that will give wings to your business.
If you want to get your startup modern and compliant with the current app development trends, you’ll surely need the app developer for your nascent team — and if you don’t want to hire them yourself, you’d probably better address marketplaces.
What should I look for in an iOS developer?

The question is simple and complicated at the same time. One thing is clear: from the technical side, you want your iOS developer to be skilled in Apple systems and tools, iOS-related frameworks, and swift transitions between Android and iOS. All these are hard skills — but don’t think they are the only desirable ones. Soft skills are by no means less important. Your iOS developer should be able to plan their short-term and long-term working activities and manage their time and workload independently, clearly communicate with colleagues and employers on the project, and be empathetic and time-aware. These requirements will make their contribution to the general workflow bigger and better.
How long does it take to create an iOS app?

It always depends on the app. Some applications don’t demand extra complicated work, some do. Besides, the answer depends on your primary aim. The time frame for creating an MVP is significantly shorter than the time frame for creating a thoroughly polished, tested, amended, and improved version, ready to appear on AppStore.
What does a lead iOS developer do?

A lead iOS developer provides project guidance and development team management. Most lead iOS developers are experienced experts in the field, and this kind of proficiency gives them the right and possibility to provide mentorship and guidance to Juniors, Middles, and even Senior developers who are in their command.

Our experience with Lemon was second-to-none.

Our experience with Lemon was second-to-none. We were matched with a great engineer who’s incredibly smart, proactive and punctual. We will be using Lemon again for upcoming dev project!!

Oct 22, 2020

Great communication + Sourcing

Lemon was excellent to work with! They are quick to respond and I have always have positive interactions with them. Not to mention the most important part – they sourced us a great iOS engineer who was better than what we were expecting!

Apr 19, 2021

I was looking for a backend rails...

I was looking for a backend rails developer to lead the charge on developing our APIs and platform integrations. We reached out to Lemon.io and they found the perfect engineer in a day. He’s been on the project for almost 2 months and has consistently delivered quality work.

Dec 22, 2020