

Ask HN: How long to learn and build a standard social iPhone app? - argonaut

I'm trying to get a bit of a handle on the complexity involved in learning iOS app development and then building a fairly standard "social" iPhone app. Meaning there will be pretty standard stuff like FB login, feed, profiles, friends, search, etc... , all accessing a backend service that already exists. I'm already fairly fluent in Objective-C.<p>Any ideas?
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neeharc
To build a client is relatively straight-forward. It should take you between 4
- 8 weeks of development work depending on the number of screens you will be
need. You need to add some time for Graphics but you could do this in
parallel.

Or you could buy a template and work on top of it which should save you some
time [http://www.binpress.com/app/social-iphone-app-design-
templat...](http://www.binpress.com/app/social-iphone-app-design-
template/1034) [http://www.binpress.com/app/social-share-iphone-app-
template...](http://www.binpress.com/app/social-share-iphone-app-
template/1350)

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tagabek
Since you already have Objective-C down, you're pretty much there. You know
what you want to build, and you already know the language. I'm assuming you're
new to Xcode, which is the cleanest and easiest environment I have ever
developed in.

I recommend just finding an "Introduction to Xcode" video, and then just dive
in to your project.

Take it one step at a time; find a Facebook login tutorial and learn how to do
that, etc.

It's definitely not as hard as it may seem, but it takes some getting used to.

~~~
argonaut
Thanks. I'm actually really familiar with Xcode already. My background is in
mobile game development (Unity and cocos2d).

~~~
tagabek
Then you are DEFINITELY ready to jump in as soon as you want to. What type of
games have you worked on?

~~~
argonaut
Casual arcade-type 2d games.

