How hard is it to port an app? And what do you start with?
In short, in order to convert your project successfully, it is crucial to understand the key platform differences as well as differentiate business logic from coding aspects in each platform. The flow of an app conversion includes the next 4 sub-steps:
- Review the app requirements and functionality
- Adjust the app design to meet the standards of the platform
- Tailor coding and architecture components for a new platform
- Provide proper app testing and app store launch
Why Convert Android App to iOS?
- Positive current app indicators & metrics
- Existing market
Key Differences to Pay Attention to When Porting Android to iOS App
- Fragmentation of OS versions
2. Different device sizes
3. Device buttons and navigation
4. Unique aspects of programming languages
- Swift and Objective-C, programming languages used in app development for the Apple products.
- Kotlin and Java, programming languages used in Android development.
Step-by-Step Process: How to Port an Android App to iOS Wisely
Step 1: Review App Requirements & Functionality
Therefore, the first step taken by the chosen development team should be project revision in two perspectives: business and technical.
The main recommendations are:
- Check for app optimization and potential improvement possibilities
- Analyze business logic and apply it to the new project
- Check and approve compatibility with included 3rd party frameworks
Step 2: Adjust the App Design
- Material vs. flat design
Google and Apple have different design patterns; the first uses material design, and the latter uses flat design. - UI design
iOS and Android have many different UI components. Let’s now compare all these interface differences
- Fonts
The native fonts for each platform are San Francisco for iOS, and Roboto for Android. It is also possible to use custom fonts. - UI mirroring (for RTL languages)
Android has native built-in support for RTL interfaces, starting from Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, so if your app uses native controls on a large scale, most things will work out of the box. With regard to iOS, starting from iOS 9, they have comprehensive support for right-to-left languages, which makes it easier to provide a flipped user interface.
- Slicing design into assets
Prior to starting development, the design needs to be sliced into assets. For Android, assets are sliced into the following resolutions — mpdi, hdpi, xhdpi, xxhdpi (in some cases, ldpi, xxxhdpi). All the assets should be provided in .png format. With regard to iOS, the design is sliced in 1x *.pdf (as this is a vector format, developers can easily resize it to 2x or 3x if needed).
Step 3: Tailor Coding and Architecture Components for New Platform
The code should be rewritten almost entirely from scratch, as it is impossible simply recompile the code. Thus, it is crucial to check the compatibility of a new platform with all external solutions, libraries, and third-party services resources or think about alternative tools to fit functionality.
So that you may avoid the most common mistakes, here is a list of potential pitfalls. These could be especially difficult when porting from Android to iOS:
- Check the development works necessary in case of a multi-language app
- Check for the app localization functionality (especially for iOS)
- Check the work with out-of-the-box solutions (e.g. specific animation)
- Check for the possible adjustments to make with a system’s backend (e.g. functionality for push notifications or in-app purchases, especially for iOS).
- Create Google or Apple account beforehand
Step 4: Proper App Testing and Launch
Similar to other development tasks, converting an iOS app to Android should include quality assurance, which usually takes around 30% of the overall development time. The project should be tested in terms of design interface correspondence and app code for proper function.
How Much Does it Cost to Convert an App to Another Platform?
In many cases, converting an iOS app to Android is very similar to building a separate Android app, so don’t expect it to be over in a week. As well, it is important to consider the time spent on communication and defining the project details.
Application porting services are often customized. The cost to convert an iOS app to Android is formed from all of the mentioned aspects.
This is a brief summary of an article published on MLSDev blog. If you would like to learn more about converting apps from one platform to another, read the full article.
