10 Dev Tools iOS Devs Can't Live Without

Introduction

Mobile developers building apps for iOS face many challenges - fragmented workflows, disjointed tools, gaps in testing capabilities, and more. To build high-quality iOS apps efficiently, developers need a robust set of dev tools to improve productivity and streamline development. This article highlights the top 10 most useful and popular dev tools that iOS developers simply can't live without.

These tools were selected based on popularity, utility, essential features, and how highly they are rated by iOS devs. They span a range of purposes from debugging to testing to project management. While some are paid tools, others are free or have free versions available. The goal is to showcase tools that will make iOS developers' lives easier and help them be more effective. With the right dev tools, iOS developers can save countless hours, reduce frustrations, and deliver better apps.

Overview of Top 10 Tools

Here are quick previews of the 10 developer tools we'll be covering:

• Appium - Open-source test automation framework for native and hybrid apps. Enables automated UI testing for iOS.
• Charles Proxy - HTTP/HTTPS proxy and monitor for traffic inspection and debugging requests.
• Fastlane - Automation framework for iOS dev workflows like building, testing, and deployment.
• Reveal - Visual debugger allowing inspection of live iOS app UI views.
• xCode - Apple's integrated development environment for iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS.
• Spark Inspector - Inspection tool for iOS apps to view layer hierarchies and debug UI issues.
• CocoaPods - Dependency manager for Swift and Objective-C projects to manage libraries and dependencies.
• SwiftLint - Linter tool for enforcing Swift style and conventions.
• Bugfender - Mobile app crash reporter and remote logger for debugging iOS issues.
• Instruments - Performance analyzer and debugging tool built into Xcode.

These both paid and free tools aim to boost productivity for iOS developers through test automation, debugging, dependency management, and more. They were chosen based on research and polls of popular tools used daily by iOS developers.

Developer Pain Points

iOS developers face frustrations like:

• Slow debugging and inability to inspect running apps easily
• Testing gaps, lack of automation, and quality issues
• Managing dependencies across projects and teams
• Disjointed tools and splintered workflows
• Build failures and slow release cycles

Tools that can alleviate these pain points and minimize context switching are invaluable. Well-integrated tools that augment and enhance workflows allow developers to deliver higher quality apps more efficiently.

Detailed Tool Overviews

Each of the top 10 tools will be covered in depth, providing background, features, use cases, comparisons, and tips.

Appium Overview

Appium is an open-source test automation framework designed for use with native, hybrid and mobile web apps. It enables automated black-box UI testing for iOS and Android apps through a simple API without modifying code.

Some key features and benefits:

• Supports testing on simulators, emulators, and real devices
• API supports Java, Python, JavaScript, Ruby, C#/.NET for test scripts
• Integrates with frameworks like Selenium, WebDriverIO and more
• Enables cross-platform testing workflows
• Active open-source community with strong documentation

Compared to alternatives like Frank or Keep It Functional, Appium is more flexible across platforms and offers native app automation versus just web views.

Here's an example workflow using Appium Studio to automate some login tests for an iOS shopping app:

• Record a test scenario in Appium Studio like entering credentials and logging in
• Generate the test code in desired language like Java or JavaScript
• Run the test on iOS simulators or devices, recording results
• Expand and customize tests to cover other scenarios
• Integrate tests into CI/CD pipelines for regression testing

To get started with Appium, I recommend checking out their comprehensive documentation and intro guides. The Appium Desktop app offers an easy way to launch the server and inspect elements.

Appium's cross-platform automation support allows you to leverage shared test scripts for both iOS and Android apps. This avoids duplicating efforts while enabling consistent testing across platforms.

Charles Proxy Overview

Charles Proxy is a useful HTTP/HTTPS monitoring tool for iOS developers to inspect network traffic. It acts as a proxy server that sits between your apps and the internet.

Some key features include:

• Inspect requests/responses in real-time
• Debug failing network requests and connections
• Monitor performance metrics like latency and bandwidth
• View JSON, image, and other response content
• Manipulate requests and replay sequences
• Export session histories for later analysis

Compared to other proxy tools like Fiddler or Mitmproxy, Charles offers easy SSL certificate configuration and a native macOS app.

Here's a sample debugging workflow using Charles to analyze network requests from an iOS app:

• Install Charles root SSL certificate on iOS device
• Configure iOS device or simulator to use Charles as proxy
• Browse app while viewing requests in Charles interface
• Inspect problematic requests for errors or failed responses
• Retry requests and analyze differences in responses
• Share session history with other developers to debug collaboratively

To get started with Charles, check out their documentation on basic configuration and usage. Using the recording and exporting features helps analyze sessions later.

Fastlane Overview

Fastlane is an open-source automation tool designed to streamline tedious iOS dev workflows. It aims to automate repetitive tasks to improve developer productivity.

Some key features include:

• Building and packaging iOS apps
• Running tests and generating reports
• Screenshot management
• Deploying apps to TestFlight and the App Store
• Managing code signing certificates and provisioning profiles

Compared to scripting these tasks manually, Fastlane provides a robust framework and easy configuration for CI/CD automation.

Here is an example setup to automate screenshot capture and App Store deployment:

• Install Fastlane and init project with desired lanes
• Configure screenshot capture lane with devices and locales
• Add App Store deployment lane with app metadata
• Setup lane to run screenshot capture then deploy to App Store
• Trigger automated lane to regenerate screenshots and release new app version

To get started with Fastlane, their documentation provides setup instructions and premade lanes to customize. Defining common workflows as lanes helps organize automation scripts.

Reveal Overview

Reveal is a powerful visual debugger for inspecting UI views and layers in live iOS apps. It provides runtime view debugging to understand visual issues.

Some key features:

• View hierarchy visualization
• Inspect 3D layer trees
• Live view property inspection
• Customizable visualization

Compared to Xcode's built-in tools, Reveal allows more flexible real-time inspection without recompiling or relaunching.

Here is a sample workflow for debugging a clipped UI element:

• Launch Reveal server and enable on device via USB
• Load affected app screen and visualize view hierarchy
• Inspect clipping masks, frames, and transforms on layers
• Adjust properties and see updates real-time
• Pinpoint clipping cause in code by tracing view structure
• Iterate on fixes until issue resolves

To start with Reveal, try their demo project to familiarize with the inspector. The Reveal-Alcatraz plugin also helps integrate with Xcode.

xCode Overview

Xcode is Apple's integrated development environment for creating iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS apps. It includes the SDKs, compilers, debuggers, and frameworks needed for development.

Some key features:

• Swift and Objective-C support
• Sophisticated debugger
• UI design tools and Interface Builder
• Built-in simulators and emulators
• Integrated with GitHub support
• Robust profiling/optimization tools

Compared to alternatives like AppCode, Xcode offers tighter integration with Apple's ecosystem yet remains fully-featured for iOS dev workflows.

Here is a sample debugging scenario using Xcode during app development:

• Set breakpoints in code where bugs occur
• Launch debugger and interact with running app
• Step through code line-by-line to isolate issue
• Inspect variable values and memory in real-time
• Fix code iteratively while assessing changes
• Profile memory usage and performance with Instruments

Xcode is included in Apple's developer tools suite. New developers should walk through Xcode tutorial and documentation to learn debugging and UI workflows.

Spark Inspector Overview

Spark Inspector is an iOS UI debugging tool for inspecting layer hierarchies and visualizing rendering performance. It helps debug animation lag, clipping issues, memory usage, and other UI problems.

Some key features:

• View layer property values
• GPU profiling
• Slow animation identification
• Memory debugging
• Network profiling

Compared to Xcode, Spark offers more robust performance analysis and UI debugging. It integrates nicely with Xcode workflows.

Here's an example of diagnosing a slow scrolling issue with Spark:

• Profile scrolling animation in real-time
• Inspect layer rendering performance metrics
• Identify costly layers that are slowing things down
• Tweak animations and reprofile iteratively
• Debug memory leaks or bottlenecks
• Share reports for collaborating on fixes

Spark Inspector offers a free trial to test out features. Their documentation provides tutorials on common use cases.

CocoaPods Overview

CocoaPods is a dependency manager for Objective-C and Swift projects. It allows developers to integrate and manage third-party libraries and frameworks as project dependencies.

Some key features:

• Simplifies adding and updating libraries
• Handles transitive dependencies automatically
• Supports public and private spec repositories
• Integrates tightly with Xcode

Compared to using git submodules or file checkouts, CocoaPods streamlines integrating libraries into projects.

Here is an example workflow for adding AFNetworking using CocoaPods:

• Create a Podfile specifying AFNetworking dependency
• Run pod install to install dependencies
• Use provided xcworkspace for project configuration
• Update AFNetworking version by updating Podfile
• Run pod update to get new versions

To start with CocoaPods, their guide covers installation and basic usage. CocoaPods integrates directly into Xcode for a smooth development workflow.

SwiftLint Overview

SwiftLint is a popular linter tool used to enforce Swift style and conventions. It helps teams maintain a consistent code style and minimize bugs.

Some key features:

• Highly configurable rule sets
• Xcode integration with warnings and errors
• Inline disabling with flags
• Custom rule creation
• Extensive default rule sets

Compared to relying on individual developer styles, SwiftLint helps unify and streamline project conventions.

Here is an example workflow to add SwiftLint to a project:

• Add SwiftLint via CocoaPods, Carthage, or as an Xcode build phase
• Create .swiftlint.yml config file with desired rules
• Run on project and inspect warnings/errors
• Customize rules as needed for project
• Integrate SwiftLint into CI/CD pipelines to enforce during builds

SwiftLint's documentation covers installation methods and rule customization. Starting with an existing config helps adopt best practices.

Bugfender Overview

Bugfender is a mobile app remote logger designed to help debug issues by capturing detailed logs from user devices.

Some key features:

• Logs console, network requests, crashes
• Device data like location, OS version
• Alerting and filtering capabilities
• Crash reporting and stack traces
• Embed feedback and annotations

Compared to basic logging or general analytics services, Bugfender provides more robust remote debugging capabilities targeted to developers.

Here's an example of debugging a reported app crash:

• Reproduce crash scenario on test device
• View crash details and stack trace in Bugfender console
• Inspect logs leading up to crash for clues
• Add logging to suspect components for more data
• Match crashes and annotate logs for team
• Identify root cause and implement fixes

Bugfender offers a free trial. Their docs cover iOS SDK installation and usage. Remote logging is invaluable for understanding real-world issues.

Instruments Overview

Instruments is a performance analysis and testing tool included in Xcode for profiling iOS apps. It enables debugging overall app performance, memory usage, leaks, and other issues.

Some key features:

• Memory debugging and leak detection
• CPU and thread profiling
• Network traffic monitoring
• Automated testing frameworks
• Block-by-block code coverage

Compared to ad hoc performance testing, Instruments provides integrated profiling workflows. It's invaluable for optimization.

Here's an example performance debugging workflow:

• Launch Instruments and select profiling template
• Exercise suspect app behaviors and interactions
• Stop profiling and inspect reports
• Drill down on expensive operations and memory spikes
• Correlate to code paths triggering problems
• Improve performance with fixes and repeat

Instruments has powerful capabilities accessible directly within Xcode. Apple's docs provide tutorials on profiling workflows.

Comparing Paid vs Free Tools

The dev tools highlighted include both paid and free options. Paid tools like Reveal and Charles Proxy provide advanced capabilities that justify their cost for some developers. However, excellent free open-source tools like Fastlane and Appium also exist.

Free tools are great for starting out before investing in paid solutions. They allow experimenting with core workflows. Paid tools offer premium features, extensive customer support, and detailed documentation. Evaluate your needs to determine if those benefits warrant the cost.

Many paid tools offer trial versions to experience full functionality before purchasing. For teams, the productivity gains of paid tools can quickly offset license costs. Carefully weigh the pros and cons of paid versus free to make the best choice for your needs.

5 Tips for Selecting Dev Tools

Here are 5 quick tips for evaluating and selecting the best dev tools as an iOS developer:

• Identify Pain Points - Determine what frustrations you encounter most in your dev workflows. Let pain guide tool selection.
• Research Popular Options - Lean on community knowledge by researching popular tools for each need.
• Try Free Trials - Take advantage of free trials of paid tools to evaluate before purchasing.
• Start Small - Add tools incrementally over time, starting with free and open-source options.
• Ask iOS Peers - Get insight from other iOS devs on the tools they can't live without.

Key Takeaways

The top 10 iOS developer tools we covered aim to streamline workflows, boost productivity, and help build quality apps. Key capabilities included test automation, debugging, crash reporting, dependency management, and more. Both paid and free solutions exist for evaluating based on your needs and budget.

Well-integrated tools that solve multiple pain points can create powerful synergies for developers. Hopefully this overview of "can't live without" tools like Fastlane, Reveal, and Charles Proxy helps iOS developers discover options to streamline their next app project.

For more resources on the latest iOS libraries and dev tools, check out DevHunt's discovery platform showcasing new innovations for developers to evaluate.