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.