iOS
Apple Inc. invented the iOS operating system for mobile devices. Many Apple mobile devices, such as the iPhone, iPod, and iPad, run on iOS. iOS is widely used and only behind Android in popularity.
The structure of iOS is layered. It has a layer between the apps and the hardware that prevents them from directly communicating. The lower the cost
Android
Google’s Android operating system is a mobile phone operating system. It’s built on the Linux kernel and is primarily intended for touchscreen devices like tablets and smartphones.
The Android architecture is divided into 5 divisions and four primary layers.
Similarities Between iOS and Android
The basic functions in iOS and Android are alike. Both the iOS and Android phones have calling, messaging, web browsing, video chat, maps, voice commands etc.
The user interfaces of iOS and Android have a lot of similarities. Both of these support swiping, tapping, pinch and zoom etc on their phone screens.
There is a status bar on both the iOS and Android devices and it offers similar information such as battery life, time, app notifications, wifi etc.
4G cellular network can be enjoyed on both the iOS and Android devices. This is very important as cellular network is crucial for internet surfing.
Privacy settings are paramount in both iOS and Android. Users are presented with app permissions as this lessens the risk of data leakage.
Differences Between iOS and Android
Some of the differences between iOS and Android are as follows −
iOS is a closed system whereas Android is more open. Users have barely any system permissions in iOS but in Android, users can customize their phones easily.
Android software is available for many manufacturers such as Samsung, LG etc. and this may lead to some quality problems in the cheaper phones. However, iOS is strictly controlled by Apple and there is no quality problem as there are few models.
The Android applications are obtained from Google Play while iOS applications are available in the Apple app store.
Integration with other devices is better in Apple iOS as compared to Google Android.
There are different voice assistants for iOS and Android namely Siri and Google Assistant. Google assistant is much more powerful than Siri.
The running speed of iOS devices remains consistent with time. In contrast to this, the performance of Android devices may decline over time.
10 Major Differences Between Android and iOS App Development
Developing an app is a challenging and tall task. It is increasing fast due to the mobile phones penetration, popularity among end-users and evolving business needs. According to Statista survey, the smartphone users number is predicted to reach more than 2.53 billion in 2018. The number of mobile phone users in the world is expected to pass the five billion mark by 2019.
Development language
Java applies to Android-based apps when building. It requires a lot of code to be written. A brand-new language Swift was designed to develop iOS-based apps. The coding on Swift is much faster as compared to Java. It is required much more time for Java engineers to code as compared to Swift ones. Swift first appeared in 2014 and apps are built faster due to writing less code.
Design philosophy
Below you can read about design principles that should be considered when designing an app:
Screen sizes and resolutions. Apple-backed iOS devices have two screen sizes (iPhone/iPad) with more than three possible resolutions for iPhone and a few for iPad. iPhone 4 resolution is also used for iPad. Meanwhile, Google-backed equipment, which runs on Android, has a great number of screen sizes that respectively lead to a wide range of screen resolutions.
Navigation. Android-powered devices navigation bar is placed left while iOS one shifted to the top. Android-based prefers colorful icons while iOS keeps its navigation icons blue or gray by default.
Menu. Google-backed devices prefer having a drawer menu or a side/hamburger menu, which usually places on the left after the tap-and-pull gesture, whereas iOS prioritizes its tab bar which is typically placed at the bottom with a comparatively easier access to the hidden menu icons. Hamburger menu is also widely used for iOS-based devices, but should be customized.
Alerts and pop-ups. These tabs suddenly appear and require prompt actions. Therefore, there are some minor distinctions in alerts and pop-ups. Android users should submit an action to avoid the alerts by clicking “Agree/Disagree” or “Don’t allow/Okay” for Apple-backed users. There are two types of alerts for iOS-powered devices – alert and actionsheet. They look alike and their functionality is the same, but if it is required more than two actions (including Cancel), actionsheet is applied.
‘Back’ button. The Apple-backed platform does not have a real ‘Back’-button whereas Google-backed in order users can return to the previous page earlier opened. But iPhone users can use the top left button to go back to the previous screens in the hierarchical order without navigating through the entire app.
Monetization Strategy
Let’s consider the next factor the majority of your audience as the critical factor when selecting an OS platform to create an app. Apple users mainly focus on purchases while Android users rely predominantly on ad-supported apps.
Speed of development
According to the paragraph above, Android-based platform creation is more time-consuming and slow in terms of OS fragmentation. It takes 30-40% longer for engineers to build an Android-powered mobile app in contrast to the app that runs iOS. And it is even despite not very complex Java/Kotlin languages.
Cost of development
To define how much it costs to make an app based on the business requirements and needs, firstly, you need to make a decision on the platform, choose the dev team and ask for a rough estimate. You should also keep in mind that app development cost depends on the time taken to build it.
Deployment speed
The acceptance process or review process for Android-powered apps to be released on Google Play takes less time as compared to an iOS-based app to get on Apple Store. The reason is that Android-based apps are checked with automated tests while iOS apps require personal experts verification (7 days on average).
Google allows developers to handle some errors, multiple versions to be submitted during a day. Android engineers should be careful in order not to publish an app with errors while there is a risk for iOS app to be rejected after waiting response from experts so much time
Market share
Operating systems used on different devices such as smartphones, PDAs, tablets, etc. They allow these devices to run apps and programs, therefore, bringing advanced functions to mobile devices. Google-backed Android, Apple-backed iOS are the widespread operating systems (OSs) in the smartphone industry. In 2016 alone, nearly 1.5 billion phones with either Android-based or iOS-based system were sold to end users worldwide.
