Smartphones are having a significant impact on the global digital ecosystem. This digital revolution has resulted in the e-commerce industry, which has grown in recent years as a result of the boom in mobile app development. Application porting from one operating system to another is a significant business decision. It assists in maximizing resources and time based on the interests of various target audiences.
As per StatCounter, Android has 71.45 percent of the global market share, while iOS has 27.83 percent. These statistics make it critical for businesses to adapt iOS apps to Android.
Android is a popular open-source operating system. The applications are written in Java or Kotlin and are useful for developers and end-users. It is a strategic step that allows capturing the attention of many people due to characteristics such as flexibility and scalability, rich functionality, usability, and user-friendly aspect of Android-based apps.
iOS is a mobile operating system based primarily on Swift and Objective-C in rare cases. The foundation model is closed, while open source components are included. iOS is the market leader, with billions of consumers trusting it. The main downside is that iOS apps only work on Apple devices.
Many Android and Apple users want to have similar apps on other operating systems. With increasing demand, people are curious if it’s possible to migrate Android apps to iOS and more and more. The first thing that comes to attention while exploring converting an iOS app is how to do it. You can always hire iOS developers who have converted iOS to Android apps.
Let’s start with why you should consider converting your iOS app to Android.
Why should you consider porting your iOS software to Android?.
Let’s take a look at the reasons why you should consider converting your iOS application to Android.
Develop Market Research
Google Play has far more installations than the App Store. That implies that if you don’t have an Android version of your software, you’re likely to lose many prospective clients.
Increased ROI
When software is ported from one platform to another, it can reach a bigger global audience. It allows the mobile app to reach millions of new users, ensuring a significant return on investment.
Competitive Advantage
Your competitors’ majority may pick one technology over the other, l. Creating an app that works on iOS and Android platforms provides you with a market edge. This enables you to increase your share of the market gradually.
Add-on Features
Change the iOS software to Android and employ various features like widgets, push notifications, android intents, and more to satisfy your target audience.
Challenges faced while porting an iOS app to Android
Along with a list of the most frequent difficulties, let’s talk about the key factors that should be considered while porting an ios version to an Android platform.
Code Migration
Swift/Objective-C is the primary programming language used in Apple’s mobile devices, while Android developers often use Java and Kotlin. The syntax of each programming language is unique. A challenging task is translating software made for one media into another. Therefore, it may take longer or need more work to provide the same functionality for different platforms. Android and iOS developers collaborate to produce high-quality applications.
Architecture Variance
The Android and iOS versions both receive updates almost annually. There is a chance that features from one edition won’t be present in another. So, on the most widely used operating system versions, your program should function without any issues. All you need to do is choose which OS versions you want to concentrate on; the developers will take care of the rest.
Frameworks & Libraries
Third-party libraries can help with app rules, visuals, customized templates, communication protocols, and other tasks. However, while converting an iOS app to an Android app, you must find the tools and applications that serve both os’s and allow for easy reproduction of functionality.
Various Display Sizes & Resolutions
The biggest and most frequent issue developers face when porting an app is creating an App on Android focused on the iOS UI design for different screen sizes. The size and resolution of each device’s screen vary. Apple products have set screen specifications. Hundreds of companies produce Android phones. Ensure that a variety of responsive designs are supported. It is imperative to do so. For producing graphic assets, the designer can use a standard aspect ratio.
How to Change an App from iOS to Android
It would be best if you didn’t let some things escape your notice. An iOS app must be carefully planned out to transition to Android properly. Before porting the iOS application to Android, it is crucial to think about how to sort the process.
Phases of porting iOS App to Android
It’s important to consider certain factors. When migrating the iOS application software to Android, thorough planning is required, and it is critical to examine how to categorize the process.
Design
Design creation is the initial phase in migrating iOS apps to Android. The two operating systems are very distinct and behave differently. As a result, as a development team, you must avoid replicating design aspects while transferring your iOS software to Android. Android benefits from Material Design. The actual innovation in this interface is elemental flexibility. iOS, on the other hand, employs a flat design.
Applicaiotn Architecture
You must select a reasonable version limit for the conversion exercise based on app characteristics and the intended audience. It is best to declare the app’s interoperability with a more recent version for Android development. Statista’s most recent data shows that Oreo 8.1 and higher versions typically cover more than 76 percent of Android devices mobile globally. Because of this, it is crucial to consider while designing the structure and even the quirks and differences of turning an iPhone app into an Android app. This is accomplished by examining the app structure and capabilities with either OS version.
Coding
The project will need the development team to rewrite the app’s code completely. Prioritizing the item’s time-sensitive components is therefore crucial. The code developed in the basic version of C, on the other hand, can be utilized when migrating to Android. It simplifies the conversion of an Apple software to an Android app by including several libraries to improve performance. If you are building the code from scratch, you can also build cross-platform apps using Xamarin or PhoneGap.
Testing
Quality assurance will be important for effective iOS to Android transfer. It includes mobile app testing during or after the development process. It includes the following steps:
- Testing the module amalgam
- The outcome of validation testing establishes if the ultimate software solution satisfies business requirements.
- Test user scenarios
- Beta testing and real-time data analysis are conducted before the product’s release.
Conclusion
Migrating your iOS software to Android necessitates careful planning and design. To provide a smooth user experience, you can hire dedicated developers with technical expertise on both platforms. This necessitates a good, systematic strategy to build a nearly identical solution to its prior iteration while still being the same in functionality, accessibility, and performance.
