Swift Feels Like Apple Actually Tried

July 24, 2026

I have used Swift for mobile development, and honestly, I like it more than I expected.

I know this is dangerous to say because anything related to Apple usually comes with a hidden invoice somewhere. The ecosystem is expensive, closed in many ways, and sometimes it feels like Apple is politely holding your project hostage behind Xcode, certificates, provisioning profiles, App Store rules, and a MacBook that costs more than my emotional stability.

But still.

Swift itself is good.

There is something about Swift that feels very clean for building iOS apps. The language is readable, the syntax is modern, and it does not feel like I am fighting the language all the time. Optionals are annoying at first, but after a while they make sense. The compiler is strict, sometimes painfully strict, but it catches many stupid mistakes before they become runtime suffering.

Compared to Kotlin, I personally enjoy Swift more.

Kotlin is not bad. Actually, Kotlin is a very good language. It is practical, expressive, and much better than old Java Android development. But for me, Swift feels more natural when building UI and thinking in the Apple ecosystem. SwiftUI also has problems, obviously. Sometimes it behaves like it knows better than you, and debugging layout issues can become a spiritual experience. But when it works, it feels extremely nice.

That is the annoying part.

Apple’s ecosystem can be restrictive and expensive, but the development experience, when everything is set up correctly, is probably one of the best in mobile development. The tooling is integrated. The design system is consistent. The APIs feel like they were built for the platform, not forced onto it. Apps feel native because they are native.

And Swift fits that world very well.

It gives me the feeling that I am writing code for the platform directly, not translating my intention through three layers of abstraction and hoping the UI does not explode on a random device.

Of course, the Apple ecosystem has problems. A lot of them. Xcode can be slow. Signing is painful. App Store distribution is its own boss fight. The hardware requirement is not friendly. The platform is not exactly open and welcoming to everyone.

But if I only talk about the experience of writing iOS apps, Swift is hard to hate.

It feels polished. It feels intentional. It feels like a language designed for the kind of apps it is used to build.

So yes, Apple may still find creative ways to take money from developers.

But Swift is good.

Very annoying conclusion, but here we are.