How to Convert iOS App to Android App?

Quick Summary: It’s sensible and often the only option for businesses to first develop an app for a single platform. Especially if they’re just getting started in a new niche or customer acquisition channel or if they’re short on cash. If the initial software fails to meet your expectations, converting iOS apps to Android or vice versa is an option. By sticking to one Platform app, you risk alienating many potential clients from another platform. This post will answer all of your questions about converting your application.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Why Convert iOS App to an Android app?
• How to Convert iOS App to an Android app?
• Challenges while porting iOS App to Android app
• Benefits of Migrating iOS App to Android app
• Cost of converting iOS app to Android
• FAQs
• Conclusion

Introduction

Smartphones have a huge impact on the digital environment all around the world. The e-commerce business results from this digital transition, and it has advanced tremendously in recent years thanks to the surge in mobile app development. Currently, every E-commerce company has either developed or is about to develop specialized mobile apps for their business.

The split in market share is the biggest concern with developing a custom mobile app.

According to Statcounter, Android has a market share of about 73 percent, while iOS has a 26.42 percent share.

This type of segmented market makes it difficult for entrepreneurs to grasp the audience’s preferences for various operating systems and develop specialized apps.

Another advantage of moving from an iPhone app to an Android app is earning more money in the app market. Once your iOS version of the software is doing well in the market, you may go on to the next step.

It’s a great idea to have an Android version of the app. If you’re wondering why you should convert your iOS app to Android, here are some of the most significant reasons to consider.

Why Convert iOS App to an Android app?

The following are some of the benefits of migrating your iOS app to Android.

Wider Audience Reach

As we all know, Android users account for roughly 73 percent of the global smartphone market. You may reach out to a broader audience and expand your app’s market reach. The Google Play Store generates much more downloads than the Apple App Store. This means you’ll lose a lot of potential customers.

Liberal App Upload Policy

Android developers can upload their apps to the Google Playstore for a one-time cost of $25 to activate their developer account. After that, you have 24 hours to upload 15 apks. Compared to the iOS app store, the regulations for uploading apps on the Google Play store are far more lenient. The Google Play Store currently offers 3.48 million apps, while the iOS App Store has roughly 2.22 million.

Increased Revenue

Even if your audience is devoted to a particular platform, porting your app to another platform may increase revenue. You’ll also be able to reach and service a far broader target audience.

Competitive Edge

If most of your competitors want to build a specific platform application, you should leave the other one available. You gain an early mover’s edge by developing an app for both platforms or porting an iOS app to Android. It assists you in gaining a steadily larger market share.

Save on resources

You can save money by not employing an Android App Development Firm to produce something new if you’re on a limited budget. The same basic design and structure are used when converting an iOS app to an Android app. By cloning your iOS app, you will save a lot of time, effort, and money.

Add-on Features

When you decide to convert an iOS app to an Android app, consider the following factors:

1. Back Navigation Buttons
2. Widgets
3. Push Notification
4. Android Intents
5. Android Wear and more to appease your target audience.

The most important advantage of porting an apple app to Android is that Android is known for its versatility and flexibility. You can add more functions as market need dictates and change them afterwards. Once the conversion is complete, Google Play Store provides seamless support by rapidly launching the app on the marketplace.

How to Convert iOS App to an Android app?

You should engage a reputable mobile development business with skilled developers and testers to convert the iOS app to Android to achieve the best final product. It is a common misconception that developers must intercept one language into another when working on platforms that employ several languages. That, however, is incorrect. A development process is required to make the switch to Android.

Designers working on the iOS app’s migration to Android will require some time to become acclimated to the server’s interaction. Designers must also consider the performance of the Java coding language, which is inferior to Objective-C because Android apps use XML, whereas iOS apps prefer JSON.

Let’s Consider A Few Key Points

Analyze the app requirements and functionality

While migrating the iOS app to the Android apk, there are a few factors to bear in mind. It’s critical to conduct a thorough analysis of your swift iOS app to comprehend its features and determine workflow. The following crucial questions should be addressed in the analysis:

• How does the iOS app work?
• What are the issues with the app?
• Identify the Optimization scenario.
• Understand how Back-End Tech stack works
• Which Third-party library is used
• Understand which technology is used to create the application
• Functional Specification
• Design Review
• Code Review

Android Fragmentation

Fragmentation is advantageous for mobile users that use outdated operating systems. Mobile app developers devote a lot of time and effort to each version of Android to ensure that the app runs flawlessly. It’s something to think about while converting iOS apps to Android apks.

Furthermore, the Android SDK supports 20 distinct screen resolutions based on a wide range of Android-based devices available on the market. As a result, while moving from iOS to Android, developers must examine many app versions on Android to guarantee that the program functions properly in each release.

Customize the design to transfer iOS app to Android

To code an application from the ground up, the user interface and layout need to be altered. Many individuals make the error of duplicating the existing UI rather than modifying it as an integral application element. The following are some things to think about before making changes to your app’s appearance. You must also recall and comprehend the metric differences. Varying Android screen resolutions, different icon sizes, the 480DP rule supremacy in UI design, and so on.

On the Apple platform, icon and font size are measured in points (pt) rather than pixels. The point-to-pixel ratio is approximately 0.75. The iOS resources grid is shown below.

Libraries, Frameworks, Code

When developing a mobile app, app developers almost always employ third-party tools and libraries. To convert an iOS app to an Android app, you must first ensure that the tools in Android are compatible. If they are incompatible, a suitable alternative framework must be found.

When converting an iOS app to an Android app, there is a significant difference in the code. Morden Most iPhone apps are written in Swift, whereas Android apps are written in Java/Kotlin.

Meanwhile, both the iOS and Android systems can run C code, which can be ported in specific situations. In practice, the app is completely rewritten in a different programming language for iOS app to android conversion. However, keep in mind that the time it takes will vary depending on the app’s complexity, architecture, libraries, and other factors.

For your convenience, we’ve put together a tech stack that describes the components you’ll need before starting the iOS app to Android conversion.

In addition, to all this, integration of the 3rd party service is much required

Payment Systems:  Braintree, PayPal

Analytics:  GoogleAnalytics, Fabric, Crashlystics, Mixpanel

Social Platforms:  Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Instagram, and more.

Testing & Release

The development teams will have to do serious quality assurance to move iOS software to Android successfully. Mobile app testing is jeopardized, both during the design and development phases. It includes the following procedures:

• Software module integration testing (individually and as a group)

• Validation testing: determining whether the finished software solution satisfies business needs.

• Testing of user scenarios

• Before its final release, beta testing with real-time data analysis (by users and a client).

Challenges while porting iOS App to Android app

Now that we have covered how to transfer the iOS app to Android, along with its benefits. Let’s take a look at the challenges faced while converting the iPhone app to android apk.

Code Migration

iOS devices mainly use Objective-C/Swift for programming, whereas Android developers use Java and Kotlin. Every programming language varies in syntax. It is an overwhelming task to convert one language to another. So, the time required to create build the same feature may vary for different platforms. Android and iOS developers work in the cycle to provide high-quality applications.

Various Screen Sizes and Resolutions

Creating an Android app with iOS UI is the biggest & most common challenge that developers face while converting an ios app to Android. One of the challenges developers face while converting iOS apps to Android is the variety of screen resolutions available. Each device has a unique screen size and resolution. Apple devices have fixed screen resolution whereas, android devices are manufactured by hundreds of companies resulting in a variety of screen resolutions.

Architecture Differences

Almost every year Android and iOS versions are updated. It may happen that features supported in one version may not be available in the updated version. It becomes critical that your application works seamlessly on the most popular versions of the operating system.

Framework and Libraries

Adding rules, visuals, altering templates, communicating protocol, and more are all simple tasks with the help of third-party libraries. However, if you want to convert iOS to Android, you’ll need to figure out which frameworks and libraries support both operating systems and make functionality replication simple.

Navigation

There is a difference between the look and feel of each operating system. Android UI components like toggles, buttons & tabs are more leaned towards the square look, whereas iOS UI components are leaned towards a more roundish shape with smooth edges. As a result, it is critical to ensure that users can navigate the app components as quickly as possible. Because if the user needs to re-learn the navigation, it can cause a negative effect.

Cost of converting iOS app to Android

The minimum price for a small project is $3000. The cost of converting an iOS app to Android completely depends on the application’s complexity, size, and features. Your budget should be between $6000 to $20000 for developing the average feature app. Again keep in mind that price depends on all the factors listed below.

The factors that should be taken into consideration while calculating the cost of conversion are:

• Programming Languages used
• System Frameworks
• User Interface (UI) design
• APIs
• Software Development Kits (SDKs)
• App’s interaction with the device hardware
• Types of devices and Android version supported

FAQs

1. How long does it take to convert an app?

It can take up to 1 – 6 months. But the timeline depends on the complexity of the application, features included and frameworks, design, and others.

2. How many developers/resources are required?

One app developer and one designer are musts. But keep in mind you should not expect that there will be quicker results if there are more developers. The best option would be to hire the same team that created the initial application.

3. Why convert an iOS app to an Android app?

There are several reasons you should convert your iOS app to Android. For example, you want to tap into the pool of a wider audience and expand your reach. Migrating applications can be tricky, but it’s worth it as Android comes with various benefits.

4. Do Android apps make more money than iOS?

That’s not necessary. According to the report by the techjury, As of Q1 of 2021, google play store made $36.7 billion, whereas Apple made $31.8 billion. The growth of the apple store is 22.3 % higher than last year.

5. Is there any tool that converts iOS apps into Android?

There are few tools available in the market that can convert your basic iOS app to Android. Still, if you want an application with more features and complexity, you must go for the holistic approach as it requires expertise to port all the elements from the system.

Final Thoughts

Thus, how do you convert an iOS app to an Android app (or the other way around)? As previously stated, there is no way to accomplish this utilizing app converters, code translators, or other similar tools. Professional porting necessitates a thorough understanding of logic and coding. Consider this procedure as if you were creating an app from the ground up. If you’re planning to convert your application, planning for both technical and business aspects is essential. You need a systematic approach to convert the iOS app to Android. You can hire a reliable Android app development service to get your application’s reliability, accessibility, and performance.