Apple Store or Google Play: Which is the best marketplace for a developer?

Both Apple and Google allow developers to create apps, although the development process is different in many ways: from the initial cost, the programming language or the monetization of the app. Both platforms have advantages and disadvantages, so It is important that you carefully study both platforms before beginning the development of your app.. Below we will tell you what the most important differences between both stores to help you recognize which is the best marketplace to launch your app. Without a doubt, and even more so after the fall of Windows Mobile, iOS and Android are the 2 main mobile platforms available on the market. Each operating system has its own characteristics, so it is not easy to decide between programming for one platform or the other. While the debate about which of the two ecosystems is better, we bring you a Comparison between the marketplaces of both platforms from the point of view of a mobile application developer.

iOS App Store vs. Google Play Store

Android in its early days, especially with the Gingerbread and Honeycomb versions, had a bad reputation in its app market, as there were numerous cases in which users found spammy apps, full of ads or with poor performance. Today this has completely changed and the Google Play store is completely different. Let's see what the strengths and weaknesses of each platform:

Development

Developing applications for Android is technically more complicated due to the fragmentation of the operating system itself. At the same time, different versions coexist for different devices with different screen sizes. While the development language for Android is Java, for iOS you need to know Objective-C or Swift.

Membership

Becoming an Android developer entails a one-time payment of 25$, while becoming an iOS developer costs an annual fee of 99$.

Initial cost

To create iOS apps you need a Mac computer and an iPhone, while you can use any computer and any Android phone to develop for this platform. The price of a MacBook starts at €1,200, while you can find a fully functional laptop for creating Android apps from €500. The same goes for phones, with the cost of an iPhone far exceeding that of an Android smartphone.

Name of the apps

Google allows up to 30 characters for your app name, while Apple allows up to 255, which is great because you can freely include keywords. Studies have shown that including keywords in your app name can have a significant effect on your app's ranking in both marketplaces. On the other hand, changing your app name in the Apple store requires an update, while in Google Play you can change it whenever you want. This makes A/B testing your app names in the Android store much easier. Keywords While the App Store has a dedicated section for adding keywords, on Google Play you have to include them in the app description. Apple allows you up to 100 characters for keywords, so make sure you only include the best ones. On their store, app descriptions have no impact on SEO optimization.

Purchasing process

The App Store has the best apps in terms of quality. The reason why this happens is because when you submit your app to the market, each app is downloaded and reviewed by the Apple team. This logically Prevents illegal or malicious content from appearing in your store. But this is perhaps the biggest problem for developers: apps can be rejected for a minor error and can take up to 2 weeks to be available in the App Store. On the other hand, on Google Play, once you upload your app, it is available in a couple of hours.

Monetization

The fact that the App Store's subscription fee is more expensive than that of Google Play is justified by this aspect: according to studies, iOS users download and purchase more applications than Android users. So if you're developing for profit, iOS should be your priority. In both stores, developers earn 70% from sales.

App Ranking

On Google Play Rankings are affected by external links that the application receives, whether from social networks, blogs, press releases… In the Apple Store, these links do not affect the search results. Google search offers very good results even with typos. iTunes is also able to recognize some common typos. But since the search algorithm is a secret on both sides, developers cannot do much testing. These algorithms are changed quite frequently on both systems and often have a big impact on apps that did not make it into the top 20. As you asked, the iOS App Store and Google Play have advantages and disadvantages. As a developer, you should analyze each and study exactly what you need from your app before starting development on one of the two platforms. If possible, create your app for both platforms. You will be able to increase its reach by bringing it to a larger number of potential users.