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What are the best online courses for iOS development?
Thank you for your question about the best courses for iOS development. The short version is that Lynda and Ray Wenderlich have some of the best, most comprehensive, video-filled iOS Swift courses. Others with great courses include CodeSchool, Udemy, and Treehouse. Below I go into more detail.
METHODOLOGY
There are a number of courses available, many of them free – for learning SWIFT and iOS development, so I started out by searching for authorities on such apps, and their reviews, in order to determine which of these courses are the best. Then I researched each of the individual courses to find out what one learns from them, how they are structured, and how they are different. I've have only included Swift courses.
Reviewers I consulted included Blue Label Labs (iOS app developers), PC Mag, InfoSpace, DIY Genius, Upwork, MacWorld and Skilledup.
OVERVIEW
There are a lot of introductory courses out there, including from Apple and the iOS Dev Centres themselves. A lot of online learning platforms will also include introductory courses, then charge for students to dive deeper. I've focused here on courses that go beyond the basics. Paid courses tend to cost $14 to $40 per month.
7 BEST ONLINE SWIFT COURSES WITH VIDEO
Cost: free or $20 per month, or $14/month as part of a yearly plan.
What's included: This is a blog with tonnes of online iOS resources, including high quality programming tutorials for iOS developers and gamers. There are free tutorials as well as comprehensive ones on all aspects of iOS app design. There are 610 videos diving into all aspects of Swift and iOS development, and there's a full course that goes starts at core concepts, moves on to view controllers, then graphics an animation APIs, saving data, networking, WatchOS, other core APIs, software engineering, and tools and libraries. Then there are more how-tos (how to make an app like Runkeeper, how to create an x-code plug-in etc). Covers beginner through to advanced.
Why it's one of the best: Recommended by Blue Label Labs – a NYC team that builds iOS apps, among other things . You can vote on the next tutorial so they cover things you want to learn. Claims to be " the largest collection of Swift & iOS video tutorials anywhere."
Cost: 10 day free trial then $20/month for basic, $30/month for premium.
What's included : Video tutorials, many aimed at intermediate level but various starting at beginner, and going for 1 to 3 hours. Choose from a range of topics, such as building a note-taking app for iOS with Swift, iOS game development with Swift 3, iOS 10 app development essentials - application architecture and much more. In total there are around 79 courses and 2,851 video tutorials related to learning iOS development. Exercise files supplied with premium membership. Though the video classes can go for hours, they are divided up into many "chapters" of 1-4 minutes.
Why its one of the best: Recommended by Blue Label Labs – a NYC team that builds iOS apps, among other things, and by InfoSpace, Skilledup and MacWorld
Cost: $29/month
What's included: Quickly getting into the deep stuff, these courses combine professional screencast video lessons with editors, daily podcasts with the latest news, and there's a community discussion forum. Team subscriptions incude extra features like progress monitoring and motivational leaderboard stats. The iOS Swift course covers the basics and more common pieces of the UIKit framework . The course is just 4-5 hours and teaches Swift 3.0 with Xcode 8.0 and iOS 10.0.
Cost: Free for the basic iOS course, or payment for more.
What's included: The 8-hour iOS developer course consists of 98 classes and is designed for "beginners who have never coded in Objective-C or built an iOS app." Expert developer and trainer Bob McCune teaches you how to build iOS apps using the iOS SDK from Apple. He walks you through creating a fully functional app. You explore and setup Xcode to build your App. The course covers essential Objective-C topics, such as classes, methods, building objects, and coding conventions. Then you will work with strings, controllers, manage application data, create views and other UI elements, and work with iCloud. You will learn how to create a universal project, and create specific interfaces for each device. Build 21 apps, including working clones of Uber, Instagram and FlappyBird. Video lessons.
According to MacWorld, Udemy's most popular course for Swift though is the iOS 10 & Swift 3: From Beginner to Paid Professional course by Mark Price. With more than 26,000 students enrolled, and 264 lectures that total 71.5 hours. This one costs $10-$150, depending on if the site offers you a discount (its offering me one, but I'm in Mexico...). Other courses on Udemy worth checking out too: The Complete iOS 10 Developer Course - Build 21 AppsThe Complete iOS 10 Developer - Create Real Apps in Swift 3
Why it's one of the best: Recommended by PC Mag , professionals can sell their expertise through courses. Accessible on mobile devices. Also recommended by DIY Genius: "the most comprehensive online training program ... This best-selling course is taught by master teacher Rob Percival who has more than 100,000 students online...and he is always updating the course with new modules and information as iOS progresses" and by Upwork and MacWorld
Cost: 14 day free trial, basic $25/month, pro $49
What's included: Videos, quizzes and interactive Code Challenges. The Swift 2 course includes delegates, interactive story apps, generics, closures, autolayouts, and more. The Swift 3 course is more just the basics, and lasts 149 minutes. Other courses available are:
Swift Basics
Build a Simple iPhone App with Swift
Build a Weather App with Swift
Swift Functions and Optionals
Why it's one of the best: Recommended by InfoSpace, courses with "brilliant programmers" and by Upwork and Skilledup
Cost: Course fees range from about $20 to more than $200.
What's included: A new iOS development curriculum from the University of Toronto on Coursera. It includes three university courses: Introduction to Swift Programming, iOS App Development Basics and App Design and Development for iOS, as well as a capstone project where you build your own iOS app. 2-4 hours per week, with the first course lasting 5 weeks, and the entire program 6 months. Courses combine videos, readings, and questionnaires.
Cost: One off fee of $50
What's included: This is a video course suitable for programmers with some experience already. Unlike other courses, it focuses on both iOS and MacOS, but is otherwise similar to other Swift courses, covering constants, variables, conditional vs flow statements, and so on. Sample videos and lessons before signing up.
EXTRA
Cost: Free
What's included: Just text and screen captures, this tutorial takes you from the start through to file handling and application debugging. The left hand column lists the various chapters by topic, so its a handy, free reference to different iOS development topics.
CONCLUSION
Udemy was the most recommended place for a Swift course, and has a variety of options available, but Ray Wenderlich seemed like one of the best options, due to price and the fact that the site specialises in iOS. Thanks for using Wonder! Let us know if we can help with anything else.