We build native iPhone and iPad apps in Swift and SwiftUI, from a UK team that has shipped 50+ apps since 2017. Your app is built against Apple's current SDK, tested on real devices and ready for App Store review, at a fixed price agreed before development starts.
50+ apps shipped since 2017
iPhones make up about half of the smartphones in use in the UK (50.1% in October 2026, according to StatCounter), so for most UK consumer apps iOS is half your audience.
Foresight Mobile has been building native iOS apps since 2017 and has delivered 50+ apps for UK businesses. Our iOS developers in Manchester, London and Birmingham pair deep Swift knowledge with an understanding of what your app has to achieve for the business, so it meets Apple's standards and does the job you built it for.
Not every project needs native iOS development. As an experienced app development agency, we recommend native Swift when you need deep platform integration, access to new iOS features on day one, or performance-critical applications where every millisecond matters. Part of our agency value is honest technology recommendations based on your requirements, not what we prefer to build.
Swift 6 added a language mode with strict concurrency checking, which reports potential data races as compile errors. A data race happens when two threads touch the same memory at once, and it causes the intermittent, hard-to-reproduce crashes that drag down App Store ratings. With the Swift 6 language mode on, the compiler flags that whole class of bug before the app ships.
It doesn't stop every crash. Code can still opt out of the checks, and older Objective-C code isn't covered, so we pair it with crash reporting in production. The payoff is fewer late-night bug hunts and code that's cheaper to change later.
"Swift 6 now includes a new, opt-in language mode that extends Swift's safety guarantees to prevent data races in concurrent code by diagnosing potential data races in your code as compiler errors."
Holly Borla, Swift Core Team, Apple, Announcing Swift 6, swift.org
Airbnb's engineering team put a number on this discipline: adopting an @Equatable macro and breaking large SwiftUI view bodies into smaller, separately-diffable components cut scroll hitches by 15% on their Search screen. Swift 6.2 (September 2025) added Approachable Concurrency settings that make code main-actor isolated by default, which made step-by-step migration much easier.
For businesses with existing iOS applications, we offer Swift 6 Migration Services that rescue legacy Objective-C and older Swift codebases, transforming technical debt into stable, high-performance assets.
The 2026 market demands intelligent applications, but cloud-based AI introduces latency, data leakage risks, and compliance headaches. Apple Intelligence and our CoreML expertise enable sophisticated AI that runs entirely on the user's device.
Apple's Foundation Models framework gives our apps direct Swift access to the on-device model behind Apple Intelligence. At WWDC 2026 Apple added image input to the framework, and the on-device model costs nothing per request.
Our on-device AI implementations use Apple's Neural Engine to deliver:
For healthcare, finance and legal apps, keeping processing on the phone means less personal data to send, store and account for under UK GDPR. It doesn't make an app compliant on its own, but it removes a whole category of risk.
Apple's unified development approach means your iOS application can extend naturally across iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, Mac, CarPlay, and Vision Pro with minimal additional development effort. Our expertise in SwiftUI and modern Apple frameworks enables us to create applications that provide native experiences on each platform while sharing core functionality and business logic.
iPad applications deserve special attention given the device's unique positioning between mobile and desktop computing. Our iPad-optimised applications make use of the desktop-class performance of iPad Pro's M-series chips, Stage Manager multi-window support, and Apple Pencil Pro integration to create productivity applications that rival traditional desktop software.
Apple Watch integration puts health, fitness and quick-glance features on the wrist, while CarPlay compatibility brings your app into the car, with Apple listing more than 800 car models that support CarPlay.
Yes. visionOS apps are written in Swift with SwiftUI, RealityKit and ARKit, so an iPad or iPhone app built the right way can be extended to Vision Pro without starting again. We recommend it where 3D genuinely helps, such as product visualisation and training.
We create spatial-ready iOS applications that use:
From virtual showrooms in retail to surgical training in healthcare, we scope Vision Pro work as a separate phase so you can judge it on its own return.
Enterprise iOS development requires specialised expertise in Mobile Device Management (MDM), enterprise app distribution, and corporate security policies. The EU's Digital Markets Act has added complexity: alternative app marketplaces, Web Distribution and alternative payment processing create both opportunities and security risks.
Our enterprise applications implement defence-in-depth security:
Since 28 April 2026, new App Store Connect submissions and updates must be built with Xcode 26 or later and the iOS 26 SDK or later. Our builds have tracked this requirement since it was announced, so client submissions aren't caught out by it.
Our testing covers automated UI tests, performance profiling and device compatibility across Apple's hardware. We test on a device lab of current iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch models.
App Store submission expertise takes the uncertainty out of iOS launches. We look for anything likely to be rejected at the start of the engagement. Using our experience, current legislation and Apple's App Store Review Guidelines, we tell you early about features that are contentious or at risk of rejection, while there's still time to change the plan.
Not every engagement starts with development. Our Fractional CTO services provide high-level technical leadership for startups weighing technology decisions and enterprises modernising legacy systems:
Often, yes, but check your own audience first. In the UK, iOS and Android are close to an even split: StatCounter put iOS at 50.1% of mobile devices in October 2026. If your users lean one way, build there first. If they don't, a Flutter build may reach both for less, and we'll tell you which fits during the App Gameplan.
Ready to talk about your iOS app? Our Manchester-based team builds in Swift 6 and SwiftUI, and we'll tell you honestly whether native iOS is the right choice for what you need.
Book a free architecture audit to find out how ready your existing app is for Swift 6, or start with an App Gameplan for a new build.
Once your iOS app is live, iOS app maintenance from Foresight Mobile keeps it compatible with new Swift and iOS releases, App Store compliant, and performing at the standard users expect.
Written by Gareth Reese, Founder and CTO of Foresight Mobile. Gareth has worked in mobile for over 20 years and built iOS apps since 2009. From 2009 to 2017 he was Head of Engineering at Chillingo, later part of Electronic Arts.
An actionable four-week plan with clear deliverables and an unbeatable £3,500 price point, credited against your first development sprint.
Total client time commitment: 5-7 hours across 4 weeks
We meet with your key stakeholders to understand your business goals, user needs, and technical constraints. You'll share any existing research, designs, or documentation you have.
Our engineering team assesses the technical feasibility, identifies integration points with your existing systems, and evaluates architecture options.
We determine whether Flutter, native development, or another approach makes the most sense for your specific requirements.
We create clickable prototypes so you can experience your app before it's built. You'll test navigation flows, validate the user experience, and gather feedback from stakeholders.
Alongside this, we prioritise features based on business value and technical complexity, mapping out a phased delivery plan with a detailed cost estimate.
You receive your complete Gameplan pack, plus a presentation walkthrough with Q&A. Your team walks away with everything needed to make a confident decision.
Swift 6 catches data races before release, on-device AI keeps sensitive data on the phone, and every build meets Apple's current SDK requirements.
iPhones make up about half of the smartphones in use in the UK, so for most consumer apps iOS is half your audience, and a native build gets Apple's newest features on day one.
Apple makes far fewer device variants than the Android world, so testing effort goes further. Our App Store optimisation work covers keywords, screenshots and listing copy, so people can find the app once it's live.
About Half of UK Smartphones • Fewer Device Variants to Test • App Store Listing Support
Extend an existing iPad or iPhone app to Apple Vision Pro using the same Swift codebase, and add 3D where it genuinely helps.
We build visionOS apps with RealityKit and ARKit, using eye tracking, spatial gestures and immersive environments for retail product configurators, healthcare visualisation, enterprise training and shared workspaces. We scope Vision Pro work as its own phase, so you can judge it on its own return.
Shared Swift Codebase • RealityKit and ARKit • Scoped as Its Own Phase
Enterprise iOS apps stay secure as the EU's Digital Markets Act opens the iPhone to alternative app marketplaces, Web Distribution and alternative payments.
Foresight Mobile builds in defence-in-depth security with App Attest, DeviceCheck and runtime integrity protection, so your server can tell it's talking to a genuine copy of your app, including when it's distributed outside the App Store.
EU Distribution Options • Anti-Tamper Protection • Secure Enclave
One iOS investment extends naturally to iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, Mac, CarPlay, and Vision Pro with minimal additional development effort.
Our SwiftUI-first development approach creates applications that provide native experiences across iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, Mac, CarPlay and Vision Pro, sharing core business logic while respecting what each device does best. Features like Continuity, Stage Manager, Smart Stack widgets and Handoff let people carry on from one device to the next.
One Swift Codebase • Native on Each Device • Continuity and Handoff
Fewer of the intermittent threading crashes that drag down App Store ratings, because Swift 6 catches data races when the code is compiled. A data race happens when several threads touch the same memory at once, and in older apps it causes crashes nobody can reproduce.
Foresight Mobile's Swift 6 work moves those bugs from your users' phones to the compiler, and our migration service brings Objective-C and older Swift codebases across in stages. The compiler can't catch every kind of crash, so we pair it with crash reporting in production.
Compile-Time Data Race Checks • Staged Migration • Crash Reporting in Production
AI features run on the iPhone's Neural Engine, so sensitive data doesn't have to leave the device. For healthcare, finance and legal apps, that means less personal data to send, store and account for under UK GDPR.
Our CoreML, Apple Intelligence, and Foundation Models framework expertise delivers real-time image recognition, document scanning, natural language processing, and predictive analytics without internet connectivity. On-device inference means no network round trip, so features respond quickly and keep working offline.
Data Stays on the Device • Works Offline • No Per-Request AI Bill
Yes. iPad development is a distinct discipline from iPhone, not a scaled-up version of it. We build for Stage Manager multi-window layouts, Apple Pencil Pro input, and the iPad Pro's desktop-class performance from the ground up, rather than stretching an iPhone layout to fit. Our iPad applications have shipped for clients including Wildgoose and Pitchero, and we scope iPad-specific work separately in every proposal so you know exactly what you're paying for.
Xcode Instruments is our primary profiling tool for iOS, covering CPU usage, memory leaks, energy impact, and disk I/O during development. In production, MetricKit collects performance and diagnostic data directly from Apple's infrastructure, giving us real-world metrics across all device models.
App Store Connect analytics show crash rates, hang rates, and launch times segmented by device and OS version. We also integrate Firebase Crashlytics for real-time crash alerts and Xcode Organizer for reviewing diagnostic reports. For apps using Core ML, we monitor model inference times to ensure on-device AI doesn't degrade the user experience.
Our native iOS builds fall into three bands: £15,000 to £40,000 for a simple app or MVP, £40,000 to £80,000 for a medium-complexity app with custom UI, API integrations and authentication, and £80,000 or more for a complex app with Apple Watch, Vision Pro or deep Apple ecosystem integration. If you need separate native apps for iOS and Android, expect to pay more, because you're paying for two codebases.
Apple's ecosystem offers premium capabilities (HealthKit, ARKit, Core ML) but integrating them adds development time. Our App Gameplan (£3,500, fixed price) gives you a detailed breakdown before you commit. The Gameplan fee is credited if you proceed with us.
Most iOS apps earn through subscriptions, in-app purchases or a paid download, and StoreKit 2 handles all three. It simplifies subscription management with server-side validation and automatic renewal handling. We build apps that take advantage of Apple's pricing tiers, introductory offers, and promotional codes.
In-app purchases, subscriptions, freemium models, and premium paid apps all perform well on iOS. The key is matching your monetisation model to user expectations. We also engineer "win-back" flows for churned subscribers and dynamic paywalls for A/B testing pricing strategies before committing to a model.
Swift 6's language mode reports data races as compile errors, so a whole class of intermittent crashes is caught before testing even begins. On top of that, we use XCTest and XCUITest for unit and UI testing, Xcode Instruments for performance profiling (memory leaks, CPU spikes, energy impact), and TestFlight for structured beta distribution.
Every app goes through our device lab for real-hardware testing on current iPhone and iPad models. We look for anything likely to be rejected at the start of the engagement. Using our experience, current legislation and the App Store and Google Play review guidelines, we tell you early about features that are contentious or at risk of rejection, while there's still time to change the plan.
Maintaining an iOS app in the UK typically costs £675 to £1,495/month, depending on backend complexity, number of Apple platforms supported, and SLA requirements. iOS maintenance is generally more predictable than Android because Apple's hardware ecosystem is consistent: you're testing against a defined set of devices rather than hundreds of OEM variants. Swift 6 apps have lower maintenance overhead than older Objective-C or Swift 4/5 codebases. Swift 6's language mode catches race conditions at compile time, which means fewer emergency fixes. Key annual costs include Xcode and SDK updates (Apple releases a new iOS version each September), App Store compliance reviews, TestFlight beta testing cycles, and third-party SDK updates (Firebase, Stripe, analytics). On our App Care plans that works out at £8,100 to £17,940 a year (Essentials £675, Standard £995 or Premium £1,495 a month), with custom pricing for complex portfolios.
Our Fractional CTO services provide high-level technical leadership without full-time overhead. This is ideal for startups evaluating technology decisions or enterprises assessing legacy systems.
Services include: Technology roadmap planning for Native vs. Cross-Platform decisions based on 5-year business horizons; Swift 6 readiness and security audits; investor due diligence documentation for fundraising; and vendor selection support reviewing existing development partners or codebases.
You get an independent view on technology choices before you commit to a supplier. Fractional CTO support is charged at £95 to £300 an hour, with monthly packages from £2,500 for two to five days a month. See our fractional CTO service for the details.
A Swift 6 Code Audit is a free health check of your existing iOS application, evaluating readiness for Swift 6's strict concurrency requirements, security posture in the post-DMA environment, and performance bottlenecks affecting user experience.
The audit assesses: How much code needs refactoring for strict concurrency compliance; exposure to tampering, including for apps distributed outside the App Store in the EU; main thread performance issues affecting App Store ratings; and architectural alignment with Apple's platform direction.
The audit is free, and it gives you a clear picture before you commit to a larger modernisation project. Many audits reveal that targeted refactoring delivers stability improvements without complete rewrites.
The EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) has fundamentally changed iOS distribution in Europe. In the EU, developers can now distribute through alternative app marketplaces or directly from their own website (Apple calls this Web Distribution), and can use alternative payment processing. Each option carries different fee structures, technical requirements, and security implications.
Key considerations include: Apple's Core Technology Commission, a 5% commission on digital sales in apps distributed outside the App Store, which replaced the per-install Core Technology Fee from 1 October 2026; extra tamper risk for apps distributed outside the App Store, which calls for anti-tamper engineering; and complex geo-compliance logic for serving different payment flows to EU vs. non-EU users.
If you plan to distribute in the EU, we build the payment flows and anti-tamper protection your chosen route needs.
SwiftUI adapts one interface across iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, Mac and Vision Pro, and we then tune it for each device.
Device-specific work uses what each one does best: iPad's Stage Manager for multi-window productivity, Apple Watch Smart Stack widgets for glanceable information, CarPlay for in-car use, and Vision Pro's spatial computing for immersive experiences.
Performance is profiled on real hardware with Xcode Instruments, on current iPhone models and on the older ones your analytics show are still in use.
iOS applications get enterprise-grade security through hardware-backed encryption, Secure Enclave processing, and App Transport Security requirements. Face ID and Touch ID integration provides smooth biometric authentication while maintaining the highest security standards.
With the EU's Digital Markets Act allowing distribution outside the App Store, we implement additional defence-in-depth security: App Attestation and DeviceCheck to prevent tampering, runtime integrity protection against reverse engineering, and certificate pinning to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks.
On-device AI processing keeps sensitive data on the phone, which means less personal data to account for under UK GDPR. Enterprise deployment capabilities include MDM integration, custom app distribution, and managed Apple ID compatibility.
iOS development timelines depend mainly on how many screens and integrations your app needs. Development takes 3-6 weeks for a simple application, 6-12 weeks for medium complexity and 12-20 weeks for a complex enterprise application, after the four-week App Gameplan. Design, testing and App Store review add to that.
We work in two-week sprints with a demo at the end of each, so you see progress throughout. We also flag likely App Store rejection risks at the start of the engagement, so they don't hold up the launch.
Vision Pro integration or on-device AI features may extend timelines by 2-4 weeks, but these capabilities provide significant competitive advantages.
It helps where 3D genuinely adds something: immersive product configurators in retail, surgical planning visualisation in healthcare, 3D learning environments in education, and volumetric data analysis in enterprise.
visionOS apps are written in Swift with SwiftUI, RealityKit and ARKit, so an iPad or iPhone app built the right way can be extended to Vision Pro without starting again. We scope Vision Pro work as a separate phase so you can judge it on its own return.
To build a mobile app in 2026, start by defining your app idea, target audience, and core features. Conduct market research using AI-powered analytics to validate demand, then create wireframes and interactive prototypes using tools like Figma with AI assistance. Choose a development approach: native (Swift for iOS, Kotlin for Android), cross-platform (Flutter or React Native), or a no-code tool for an early prototype.
Create the frontend using modern frameworks, integrating APIs and cloud services. Implement AI features using on-device models for privacy. Test rigorously with automated testing suites, performance monitoring, and security scanning before launching on app stores. Finally, gather user feedback through in-app analytics, update regularly with CI/CD pipelines, and market your app effectively. Contact us today to start your app creation journey together.
We recommend native iOS (Swift 6) when you need: maximum performance with complex animations and 120Hz refresh rates; deep hardware access including ARKit, LiDAR, NFC, and Neural Engine; day-one access to new iOS features like visionOS APIs; and granular privacy control over on-device AI processing.
Native iOS development gives direct access to Core ML for on-device machine learning, HealthKit for health integration, and SiriKit for voice capabilities. Flutter and React Native can reach these through plugins or native modules, but each one adds code to maintain, so the more of them an app needs, the stronger the case for native.
For rapid prototyping or simpler CRUD applications, we also offer high-quality cross-platform solutions using Flutter. The right choice depends on where you want the app to be in a few years, and we work that out with you during the App Gameplan.
Swift. Apple introduced it in 2014, and it's now the standard language for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Vision Pro apps, with SwiftUI for the interface. Objective-C still compiles and many older apps contain it, so we maintain mixed codebases too.
Swift 6's language mode reports data races (two threads touching the same memory at once) as compile errors, which removes a class of intermittent crashes. Our migration service moves Objective-C and older Swift code across in stages.
Apple charges 99 US dollars a year for an Apple Developer Program membership (in local currency where available), and that covers publishing all your apps. Apple also takes a commission on digital sales made through an app, but nothing on a free app with no in-app purchases.
We look for anything likely to be rejected at the start of the engagement. Using our experience, current legislation and the App Store and Google Play review guidelines, we tell you early about features that are contentious or at risk of rejection, while there's still time to change the plan.
We also provide App Store Optimisation (ASO): keyword research, competitive analysis, screenshots and the description.
Post-launch support includes ongoing App Store Connect management, review monitoring and response, performance analytics, and conversion rate optimisation to maintain strong commercial performance.
Yes. Most apps need a backend, and hosting for it is billed by usage. Firebase is a common choice. Its free Spark plan includes 1 GiB of Firestore storage but not Cloud Functions or Cloud Storage; the Blaze plan adds both, includes a monthly no-cost allowance (up to 2 million Cloud Functions calls, for example) and charges for usage above it. AWS Amplify, Google Cloud and Azure also charge by usage.
What you pay depends on how many people use your app and what it does. We estimate hosting for your expected usage during the App Gameplan and design the backend to keep running costs down.
You'll always know where your project stands.
Building a mobile app that people actually use takes more than good code. It takes a clear scope, decisions made with the right data, and a team that tells you what's going wrong before it's a problem. That's how we've delivered 50+ apps across Flutter, Swift, Kotlin, and React Native, from lean MVPs to enterprise-grade platforms.
Ready to talk through your idea?
We map your user journeys, define the core feature set, and agree on a technical architecture before a line of code is written. You get a written scope document, a prioritised backlog, and a fixed-price proposal. We use Miro for journey mapping and Figma for early wireframes, so you can review everything before committing to a sprint.
Our designers work in Figma, producing high-fidelity screens tested against real platform guidelines: Apple's Human Interface Guidelines for iOS and Material Design 3 for Android. You test the prototype on your own device, gather feedback from real users if you choose, and sign off each screen. Changes at this stage cost hours, not sprints.
Development runs in two-week sprints with a working build available on TestFlight (iOS) or Firebase App Distribution (Android) at the end of each one. Every release goes through automated unit and integration tests, manual QA on physical devices across the current and previous major versions of iOS and Android, and accessibility checks against WCAG 2.2. You see progress every fortnight.
We handle App Store Connect and Google Play submission, including metadata, screenshots, and privacy questionnaires. We look for anything likely to be rejected at the start of the engagement. Using our experience, current legislation and the App Store and Google Play review guidelines, we tell you early about features that are contentious or at risk of rejection, while there's still time to change the plan. After launch, your app moves to our App Care programme: OS update monitoring, crash triage via Crashlytics, and a dedicated Slack channel for critical issues.
Your app, your way. Here's how we make it happen
Fixed price agreed upfront, scoped against your iOS app's actual screen and integration count, not a hand-wavy estimate. You'll see TestFlight builds on your own iPhone or iPad every two weeks. No scope creep, no shock invoices.
From first build through to maintenance, we offer iOS App Care retainers from £675/month. Each major iOS release brings App Tracking Transparency adjustments, Privacy Manifest requirements, and App Store Review Guidelines updates. We test against the iOS beta channel before each release ships to end users, so your app doesn't break on launch day.
Real users test your iOS app via TestFlight external groups (up to 10,000 testers) throughout development, not just at the end. App Store Connect's sandbox covers In-App Purchase flows, subscription renewal scenarios, and Family Sharing edge cases that break apps on launch day if they're untested.
You know your business. We know how to build iOS apps that get through App Store review and keep users coming back, and we flag anything likely to be rejected at the start of the engagement.
Our founder has been through every major iOS release since 2009, and every framework move from Objective-C to Swift to SwiftUI. In our experience, SwiftUI and Swift Concurrency make screens quicker to build and cheaper to change than older Objective-C patterns. The current iOS release and Xcode are our baseline.
Gareth Reese, our founder, has worked in mobile for over 20 years and built iOS apps since 2009. From 2009 to 2017 Gareth was Head of Engineering at Chillingo, later part of Electronic Arts. Our team has named credits on iOS apps for Bodybuilding.com, Levi's, Pitchero, and others. We're based in Manchester with offices in London and Birmingham.
Before Foresight came on board, we had crash reporting installed but it wasn't telling us anything useful. We knew the app had issues but couldn't see where they were coming from. Within weeks of the engagement starting, we had a proper picture of what was happening in production and could start working through the backlog. The difference was immediate.
“They’re more thoughtful than any other development team I’ve worked with..... I’m not sure what they could improve."
"The team has delivered exactly what we asked for but is able to use their own skill and judgment to make improvements"
"Foresight Mobile effectively and promptly met our needs. They were a candid, reliable, and collaborative partner."
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