The Top 8 iOS Developer Skills to Hire For in 2025 (SwiftUI, AI & More)
Carl Bailey
The Top 8 iOS Developer Skills to Hire For in 2025 (SwiftUI, AI & More)
Core Language Proficiency: Swift and Objective-C
Swift: The Modern Standard
Objective-C: When Is It Still Relevant?
The UI Revolution: SwiftUI vs. UIKit
SwiftUI: The Future of iOS Development
UIKit: Essential for Legacy Code and Complex UIs
Asynchronous Programming: Combine and Async/Await
Combine: For Reactive Programming and Data Streams
Async/Await: For Cleaner, Sequential Code
The Rise of On-Device Intelligence: Core ML
Core ML: Integrating Machine Learning Models
Create ML: Building and Training Custom Models
Beyond the Code: Essential Soft Skills
Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking
Communication and Collaboration
References
The Top 8 iOS Developer Skills to Hire For in 2025 (SwiftUI, AI & More)
The iOS ecosystem is in a constant state of evolution, and hiring a developer with an up-to-date skill set is critical for building a successful, modern application. When you're looking to find your next iOS developer, knowing which competencies to prioritize can make all the difference. This article will guide you through the most important technical and soft skills for iOS developers in 2025, ensuring you can identify and attract a candidate who can deliver a high-quality, future-proof product.
Understanding these skills is the first step, but effectively crafting the perfect job description is how you attract them. Once you've identified what you need, showcasing your project in a compelling way will help you stand out to top talent in a competitive market.
Core Language Proficiency: Swift and Objective-C
A deep understanding of Apple's programming languages is the bedrock of any great iOS developer's skill set. While Swift is the modern standard, Objective-C still holds relevance in many projects.
Think of programming languages as the foundation of a house. Without a solid foundation, everything else becomes shaky. The same principle applies to iOS development. Your developer needs to speak Apple's languages fluently to build apps that work seamlessly across iPhones, iPads, and other Apple devices.
The language landscape has shifted dramatically over the past decade. Swift emerged in 2014 and quickly became the go-to choice for new projects. But here's the thing - millions of lines of Objective-C code still power some of the world's most popular apps. That's why understanding both languages can be a game-changer for your project.
Swift: The Modern Standard
Proficiency in Swift is non-negotiable for new projects. It's the primary language for building robust, high-performance apps on all of Apple's platforms. Look for developers who are not just familiar with the syntax but also understand its advanced features and best practices.
Swift brings several advantages to the table. It's safer than Objective-C, catching errors at compile time rather than runtime. This means fewer crashes and happier users. The language is also more concise - developers can accomplish the same tasks with less code, speeding up development time.
But knowing Swift syntax is just the beginning. Top developers understand Swift's powerful features like generics, protocol-oriented programming, and value types. They know when to use structs versus classes, how to leverage Swift's type system for safer code, and how to write performant algorithms using Swift's standard library.
Real-world Swift expertise shows up in clean, readable code. A skilled developer writes Swift that reads almost like English, making it easier for teams to collaborate and maintain the codebase over time. They also stay current with Swift's evolution - the language gets major updates yearly, introducing new features and improvements.
Objective-C: When Is It Still Relevant?
While most new development is in Swift, many established applications have large, legacy codebases written in Objective-C. A developer's ability to read, maintain, and integrate with Objective-C code is a valuable asset for these projects.
Consider this scenario: You're working with a popular app that's been around since 2010. Its core functionality runs on hundreds of thousands of lines of Objective-C. Rewriting everything in Swift would take months or years. Instead, you need someone who can work with the existing code while gradually modernizing it.
Objective-C knowledge becomes crucial when dealing with third-party libraries too. Some specialized frameworks and SDKs are still written in Objective-C. A developer who can navigate both languages can integrate these tools without breaking a sweat.
The interoperability between Swift and Objective-C is another key consideration. Apple designed Swift to work alongside Objective-C in the same project. Developers who understand both languages can create bridging headers, handle memory management differences, and ensure smooth communication between Swift and Objective-C components.
The UI Revolution: SwiftUI vs. UIKit
The user interface is a critical part of any application, and developers must be proficient in Apple's UI frameworks. The choice between SwiftUI and UIKit often depends on the project's age and goals.
User interfaces make or break an app. You could have the most innovative features, but if users can't navigate your app intuitively, they'll delete it. That's why UI framework expertise is so crucial. The iOS ecosystem offers two main approaches, each with its strengths and ideal use cases.
The UI landscape is experiencing a major shift. SwiftUI represents Apple's vision for the future, while UIKit remains the workhorse of existing apps. Understanding when to use each framework - and finding developers who can work with both - gives you maximum flexibility.
SwiftUI: The Future of iOS Development
SwiftUI is Apple's modern, declarative framework for building UIs across all its platforms. Its adoption is surging for new apps, and developers who are proficient in it are in high demand as it allows for faster and more intuitive development.
SwiftUI changes how developers think about building interfaces. Instead of imperatively telling the app how to update the UI step by step, developers describe what the UI should look like in different states. SwiftUI handles the transitions automatically. This declarative approach leads to less code and fewer bugs.
The framework's real power shows in cross-platform development. A single SwiftUI codebase can run on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV with minimal modifications. This dramatically reduces development time for apps targeting multiple Apple platforms.
Live previews are another game-changer. Developers see their UI changes instantly without building and running the app. This rapid feedback loop speeds up the design process and helps catch issues early. It's like having a conversation with your code - you make a change, and you immediately see the result.
SwiftUI also embraces modern development patterns. It works seamlessly with Swift's Combine framework for reactive programming. State management becomes more predictable with built-in property wrappers like @State and @ObservedObject. These features help developers build more maintainable, testable code.
UIKit: Essential for Legacy Code and Complex UIs
Despite SwiftUI's rise, UIKit remains the backbone of a vast number of existing applications. Expertise in UIKit is still essential for maintaining legacy systems and for implementing complex, highly customized user interfaces that SwiftUI may not yet support easily.
UIKit has been around since the iPhone's inception in 2008. This maturity brings incredible depth and flexibility. Need a custom gesture recognizer? UIKit has you covered. Want pixel-perfect control over animations? UIKit provides the tools. This level of control is why many complex apps still rely on UIKit.
The framework's extensive ecosystem is another major advantage. Thousands of third-party libraries and components are built for UIKit. From custom calendar views to advanced photo editors, there's likely a UIKit solution for almost any UI challenge. Developers experienced with UIKit can leverage this vast resource pool.
Performance optimization is often easier with UIKit too. When you need to squeeze every bit of performance from your app, UIKit's lower-level APIs give you more control. This matters for apps with complex animations, games, or interfaces handling large amounts of data.
Many companies face a hybrid reality. Their apps have UIKit foundations but are gradually adopting SwiftUI for new features. Developers who can navigate both frameworks smoothly are incredibly valuable. They can maintain existing UIKit code while building new features in SwiftUI, creating a bridge between the old and new.
Asynchronous Programming: Combine and Async/Await
Modern apps need to be highly responsive, which requires efficient handling of asynchronous tasks like network requests. Swift offers two powerful approaches: the Combine framework and the native async/await syntax.
Think about the last time you used a slow app. Frustrating, right? Users expect instant responses, even when apps are fetching data from servers halfway around the world. Asynchronous programming is how developers keep apps responsive while handling time-consuming tasks in the background.
The challenge with asynchronous code has always been complexity. Callback hell, race conditions, and difficult-to-debug timing issues plague many apps. Swift's modern async tools aim to solve these problems, but developers need to understand when and how to use each approach effectively.
Combine: For Reactive Programming and Data Streams
Combine is a reactive framework ideal for handling streams of values over time, such as user input or real-time data updates. While it has a steeper learning curve, it's powerful for complex, event-driven scenarios.
Imagine building a stock trading app. Prices update constantly, users type search queries, and multiple data sources need coordination. Combine excels in these scenarios. It treats events as streams that can be transformed, filtered, and combined in powerful ways.
The framework's operators are like building blocks. Developers can chain them together to create sophisticated data pipelines. Need to debounce user input, make a network request, parse the response, and update the UI? Combine handles this elegantly in a few lines of code.
Error handling becomes more systematic with Combine. Instead of scattered try-catch blocks, errors flow through the same pipelines as successful values. This consistency makes apps more robust and easier to debug. Developers can handle errors at any point in the chain or let them bubble up to a central handler.
Combine also shines for coordinating multiple asynchronous operations. The framework provides operators like merge, zip, and combineLatest that make complex coordination scenarios manageable. This is invaluable for apps that need to synchronize data from multiple sources.
Async/Await: For Cleaner, Sequential Code
Introduced in Swift 5.5, async/await provides a much simpler and more readable way to write asynchronous code, making it look sequential. It is now the preferred method for many common asynchronous operations, reducing complexity and improving maintainability.
Async/await transforms how developers write asynchronous code. What used to require nested callbacks or complex promise chains now looks like regular, sequential code. This dramatic simplification reduces bugs and makes code reviews much easier.
The syntax feels natural to developers coming from other languages. Mark a function as async, use await when calling it, and Swift handles the complexity behind the scenes. This familiarity reduces the learning curve and helps teams adopt it quickly.
Error handling with async/await uses Swift's standard do-catch mechanism. No special error types or handling patterns to learn. This consistency with synchronous code makes the entire codebase more uniform and easier to understand.
Performance benefits come built-in too. Swift's async/await implementation is highly optimized. It uses cooperative threading to minimize overhead and maximize efficiency. Apps using async/await often see improved battery life and responsiveness compared to older asynchronous patterns.
The real win is maintainability. Async/await code is easier to read, test, and modify. When a developer returns to code months later, they can understand the flow immediately. This clarity reduces maintenance costs and speeds up feature development.
The Rise of On-Device Intelligence: Core ML
Integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning features is a major trend in app development. Developers with skills in on-device AI can create smarter, more personalized user experiences.
AI isn't just for tech giants anymore. From photo filters that recognize faces to keyboards that predict your next word, machine learning enhances everyday app experiences. The key shift? This intelligence now runs directly on users' devices, ensuring privacy and lightning-fast responses.
On-device AI opens doors to features that seemed impossible just a few years ago. Real-time language translation, advanced image processing, and personalized recommendations all become feasible without sending data to remote servers. This local processing addresses growing privacy concerns while delivering superior performance.
Core ML: Integrating Machine Learning Models
Core ML is Apple's framework for integrating trained machine learning models directly into an app. Look for developers who have experience with Core ML for tasks like image recognition, natural language processing, or creating other intelligent features.
Core ML makes AI accessible to iOS developers. Instead of building complex neural networks from scratch, developers can integrate pre-trained models with just a few lines of code. This democratization of AI means even small apps can offer sophisticated features.
The framework supports a wide range of model types. Vision models can identify objects in photos or track body movements. Natural language models understand text sentiment or extract key information. Sound classification models can identify music or detect specific audio events. Each opens unique possibilities for app features.
Performance optimization is built into Core ML. The framework automatically leverages the device's neural engine, GPU, or CPU depending on the task. This intelligent resource management ensures AI features run smoothly without draining the battery or slowing down the app.
Privacy becomes a competitive advantage with Core ML. Since models run on-device, sensitive data never leaves the user's phone. This is crucial for health apps analyzing personal data or business apps processing confidential documents. Users get AI benefits without privacy compromises.
Real-world Core ML applications showcase its versatility. Photo editing apps use it for automatic enhancements. Fitness apps analyze workout form in real-time. Language learning apps provide pronunciation feedback. The possibilities expand as models become more sophisticated.
Create ML: Building and Training Custom Models
While not always necessary, experience with Create ML, Apple's tool for building and training custom machine learning models, is a significant plus. It shows a deeper understanding of the ML pipeline and an ability to create bespoke AI solutions.
Create ML empowers developers to build models tailored to specific app needs. Instead of settling for generic models, developers can train AI that understands their unique use cases. This customization often leads to better accuracy and more relevant features.
The tool's simplicity is remarkable. Developers don't need deep machine learning expertise to get started. Create ML provides templates for common tasks like image classification, object detection, and text classification. Just provide training data, and Create ML handles the complex mathematics.
Data preparation becomes straightforward with Create ML. The tool accepts common formats and provides clear feedback about data quality. It automatically splits data into training and validation sets, helping developers avoid common pitfalls like overfitting.
Model iteration is fast and visual. Create ML shows training progress in real-time, letting developers see how accuracy improves. They can experiment with different parameters, add more training data, or try different model types to achieve better results.
Integration with Xcode streamlines the workflow. Developers can train models, test them, and integrate them into apps without leaving their development environment. This tight integration reduces context switching and speeds up the development cycle.
Beyond the Code: Essential Soft Skills
Technical proficiency is only half the battle. The best developers also possess crucial soft skills that enable them to collaborate effectively and contribute to the product's overall success.
Building great apps is a team sport. A brilliant coder who can't communicate or collaborate effectively often creates more problems than they solve. The most successful iOS developers combine technical excellence with strong interpersonal skills.
The modern development environment demands more than coding ability. Developers interact with designers, product managers, stakeholders, and users. They need to translate technical concepts into plain language and understand business requirements beyond the code.
Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking
iOS development is fundamentally about solving problems. A great developer can analyze complex issues, break them down into manageable parts, and devise elegant and efficient solutions.
Problem-solving in iOS development goes beyond fixing bugs. It starts with understanding user needs and translating them into technical solutions. A skilled developer asks the right questions: What problem are we really solving? Who are our users? What constraints do we face?
Critical thinking shows up in architecture decisions. Should we use a monolithic architecture or microservices? How do we structure our data models for future flexibility? These decisions have long-term impacts, and developers need to think several steps ahead.
Debugging requires detective-like skills. When an app crashes only on certain devices or under specific conditions, developers must systematically eliminate possibilities. They form hypotheses, design tests, and interpret results. This scientific approach separates good developers from great ones.
Performance optimization demands creative problem-solving too. When an app runs slowly, developers need to profile, analyze, and identify bottlenecks. Sometimes the solution is algorithmic, sometimes it's about caching, and sometimes it requires rethinking the entire approach.
The best problem-solvers also know when not to solve a problem. They recognize when a simpler solution would work better or when a problem isn't worth solving. This judgment comes from experience and saves teams from over-engineering.
Communication and Collaboration
Developers rarely work in a vacuum. The ability to clearly communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and collaborate effectively with designers, product managers, and other engineers is essential for a smooth development process.
Clear communication starts with active listening. Great developers seek to understand requirements fully before jumping to solutions. They ask clarifying questions, repeat back what they've heard, and ensure alignment before writing code.
Technical documentation is another crucial communication skill. Code comments, README files, and API documentation help future developers (including their future selves) understand the codebase. Well-documented code reduces onboarding time and prevents knowledge silos.
Collaboration with designers requires empathy and flexibility. Developers need to understand design intent while also communicating technical constraints. The best collaborations happen when developers and designers work together to find creative solutions that satisfy both aesthetics and feasibility.
Code reviews showcase communication skills too. Giving constructive feedback requires tact and clarity. Receiving feedback requires humility and openness to learning. Developers who excel at code reviews help entire teams improve their skills.
Remote work has made written communication even more critical. Developers need to articulate ideas clearly in Slack messages, pull request descriptions, and technical proposals. They must also be responsive and proactive in their communication to keep projects moving smoothly.
Cross-functional collaboration extends beyond the immediate team. Developers often need to work with QA engineers, DevOps teams, and customer support. Understanding these different perspectives and communicating effectively with each group ensures smoother product development and deployment.
The ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders is invaluable. Whether it's helping a product manager understand why a feature will take longer than expected or explaining security implications to executives, clear communication builds trust and enables better decision-making.
References
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Posted Jul 6, 2025
Hiring an iOS developer? Discover the most in-demand skills, from SwiftUI and Combine to AI integration with Core ML. Ensure your next hire is future-proofed.
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