iOS at the end of 2018. What next?

It’s been an “dark mode” year for an iOS developer. I’ve been enjoying switching all the apps to dark mode just because I feel the future of iOS development is darker than ever before (😬 just kidding)

Swift 4. iOS 12. Xcode 10

Finally we got a very stable version of Swift which I’ll comfortably using in any kind of products from now on. I have no doubt about the beauty of Swift syntax and usage perspective readability

A new version of iOS 🤕 Meh … I don’t have any feeling for that ✌️What I care is from now on I can kill iOS 9 on my build settings =]]

Xcode 10. Fine Apple 🤪 You keep increasing version number (Anyway thanks for Dark Mode again). I still hate storyboard. And I wish I could use VSCode to replace Xcode completely. Xcode eats my ram and Xcode eats my time.

React Native

People talks about React Native like crazy this year. People try it. People switch to it. People predict the end future of iOS. People are talking crazy stuff about mobile development future

And. I tried it too 🤣 (Yeah how curiuos I am). And I can tell you it has been one of the best developer experiences I have. Developing a React Native project with VSCode and Expo is just flawless

I have no doubt that the performance of RN app is not as good as native app in terms of screen switching and complicated views. But to be fair it’s quite smooth as I expected as a hybrid solution

The tradeoff is acceptable for any startups who want to have quick development cycles. Don’t need to care about what Airbnb talked. They are rich ✌️ they do what they want.

Flutter

I have a very weird feeling about this product of Google. The idea of working as a game engine makes me so resistence to learn it. The learning curve is high and the community is still very small. I’ll still wait one more year before suggesting it for any production products

What next in 2019?

Don’t be afraid that iOS will go anywhere soon in the next 5 years but knowing hybrid solutions like React Native or Flutter will give you better chances of finding jobs as Mobile Developer in 2019

As an iOS developer, I have been quite bored with features Apple release every year. Don’t expect anything cool great innovative in iOS development world this year. Maybe a “Darker Mode” in Xcode 11 😂 🤣