Swift
Apple's own language — the fastest, deepest way to build for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch and Vision.
What it is, and why we use it.
Swift is Apple's first-party language for every Apple platform. Paired with SwiftUI it gives you every new OS capability on day one, pixel-perfect platform components, and the best performance an iPhone can deliver — nothing translating in between. It's the reference standard the cross-platform frameworks are measured against on iOS.
Swift runs inside almost everything we ship to iOS — even our cross-platform apps drop down to Swift for camera pipelines, widgets, App Clips, HealthKit and anything that has to feel unmistakably native. When a product is iOS-first and experience is the point, we build it fully in Swift.
Swift vs Kotlin vs Flutter.
Swift against Android's native language and the cross-platform option teams weigh it against.
| Dimension | Swift | Kotlin | Flutter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Made by | Apple | JetBrains & Google | |
| Platform | iOS / macOS / watchOS / visionOS | Android (and multiplatform) | iOS + Android from one codebase |
| UI toolkit | SwiftUI / UIKit | Jetpack Compose / Views | Flutter widgets |
| New OS features | Day one | Day one (Android) | Wait for plugin support |
| Best for | iOS-first, experience-led products | Android-first products | Both platforms on one budget |
Swift wins when
- The product is iOS-first and polish is the point
- You need Apple-only features — widgets, Watch, Vision, HealthKit
- Maximum performance on iPhone is a requirement
Kotlin wins when
- Android is the lead platform
- You want Google's modern native stack
- Deep Android integrations matter most
Flutter wins when
- Both platforms must ship on one team and budget
- Brand-consistent UI across iOS and Android
- Speed to two stores beats per-platform perfection
Swift is our pick when a client is iOS-first and the experience has to be flawless. For everything else we usually share a cross-platform core and drop into Swift exactly where iOS demands it.
Thinking about Swift?
Tell us what you're building. We'll tell you honestly whether Swift is the right tool for it.