Why Is Learning iOS App Development So Hard?

iOS app development is hard but not impossible to learn. My journey into iOS app development was hard just like everyone else. You might doubt my own experience if I revealed to you I’ve risen to CTO for venture funded startups, become a full fledge iOS coach with over 600 five star plus reviews and written best selling iOS courses. But it was hard and the purpose of this article is reveal some of the reasons why this journey is difficult.

Unrealistic Expectations

We have all probably come across the odd course or two that promised you would become a developer in less than 48 hours. For the beginner peering in, you probably would not know any better. Let me just say, you will not master iOS app development in a couple of hours or weeks. Any expectation you’ll master iOS app development quickly will lead to frustration. As the legendary Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”.

Unclear Roadmap

The modules in the Apple ecosystem are so many. No one mortal could thoroughly master them all. There are modules that accomplish different tasks. For example, CoreLocation handles location and AVFoundation handles camera. Only a few of these are essential to every day iOS app development. Learning iOS app development requires a dedicated roadmap to first mastering essential modules before looking into less essential modulels. Without a clear roadmap on what you need to learn you inevitably find yourself overwhelmed.

Stalled Progression

The problem with developing for iOS is that you kind of have to know a lot of things at the same time. But it’s only feasible for you to learn one thing at a time. Take for example building a To Do List app. You need to know the Swift programming language, how to use autolayout, how to connect UIViews like buttons to logic and how to create data structures. All of these can be taught in a modular way but you would have to learn all of them to make a basic To Do List App. The problem here is you might go along learning each topic on its own wondering what relevance it has in a grand sense. And when you do learn all these topics you might struggle putting them together to build an app. This often builds into a sense of self doubt on whether you are learning anything effectively ultimately stalling progress.

Brute Force Logic

While the term itself isn’t very endearing it does capture the problem perfectly. Developing for iOS is it’s own thing. When you come in from a different field say web development you can not brute force iOS to work the same way web development does. And if you expect iOS to work like web development you are putting yourself up for failure. The same problem extends to beginners with no programming background. It might sound nice if Xcode had a feature that allowed you to describe how a button should work in plain english as if it were a ChatGPT prompt. The problem is this does not exist. This might sound naive but I’ve just shared a true story.

Inadequate Practice

iOS app development is more a way of thinking than something you know. There’s a way of thinking around problems in iOS and this skill takes practice. It is essential you aquire this skill because you will face unfamiliar problems in iOS all the time. The most efficient way to get this skill is to practice iOS a lot — almost daily — especially if you are a beginner. How you practice is important. A large chunk of your time should be spent building fully functional apps of your own and each getting progressively complex. You won’t build an Instagram clone straight off the mill of learning how functions work. The problem a lot of beginners face here is they spend most of their time in follow along code sessions.

Lack Of Perseverance

Whether you are seasoned or not, you need a certain level of perseverance to solve problems in iOS. You see, there comes a time when you are developing an app and you get stuck. Forget what you see in the movies, you won’t type your solutions as if you were writing an essay for finals. Actually, you’ll just stare at the screen completely empty. There’s no magic thing to get around this other than to have perseverance. In times like these you’ll have go through many iterations to try solving the problem and you’ll need to do so without getting overly frustrated.

To Conclude

I do not know where you are coming from. But if you were like me then the thought of getting into building apps came with a lot of excitement. There are a lot of different motivations of course. Everything from building the next viral startup to getting employed as an app developer. The motivation is important. The problems only start to arise when you realise iOS app development is hard. I hope pin pointing some of the issues here might help. But sometimes the path to overcoming these is to find high quality learning material and a mentor to help you along the way.