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Top 20 Developer Tools SDKs Used in iOS Apps on the Apple App Store
Last update: 7 Oct 2025 CET
App Store

Top 20 Developer Tools SDKs Used in iOS Apps on the Apple App Store

We at 42matters have identified the 20 most popular Developer Tools SDKs leveraged by iOS apps available on the iOS app market.

Developer Tool SDKs help developers build sophisticated mobile apps. Technology vendors and platform providers develop these SDKs — which include programming libraries, APIs, sample code, documentation, and other tools — for third-party app developers that want to build mobile apps that leverage the features and functionalities of their technologies or platforms.

This list is based on our analysis of the millions of mobile applications – and the 2,300+ SDKs they use – that constitute the vast inventory of the Apple App Store. The accompanying data provides readers with a glimpse into the rich mobile application insights generated by the 42matters technology. This data is also available via our APIs, file dumps, Explorer, and SDK Explorer.

The intended purpose of this article is to assist app builders in their search for the perfect Developer Tools SDK to leverage in their app, as well as to give SDK developers insight into their biggest competitors and potential customers. This data collected by our technology may also serve as a useful tool for folks researching the wider mobile app market.

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 99.95% have integrated Apple Core Foundation. This accounts for 99.99% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
1.67m
App Store
App Share
99.95%
App Store
Apps
1.49m
Games
179.34k
Total Downloads
507.53b
App Store
Download Share
99.99%
App Store
App Downloads
381.43b
Game Downloads
126.10b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Apple Core Foundation.

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 76.90% have integrated Apple AVFoundation. This accounts for 93.62% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
1.29m
App Store
App Share
76.90%
App Store
Apps
1.13m
Games
161.70k
Total Downloads
475.16b
App Store
Download Share
93.62%
App Store
App Downloads
357.56b
Game Downloads
117.60b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Apple AVFoundation.

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 71.02% have integrated Apple WebKit. This accounts for 92.95% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
1.19m
App Store
App Share
71.02%
App Store
Apps
1.07m
Games
117.92k
Total Downloads
471.78b
App Store
Download Share
92.95%
App Store
App Downloads
357.54b
Game Downloads
114.24b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Apple WebKit.

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 51.58% have integrated Google Firebase. This accounts for 65.62% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Firebase is Google's mobile platform SDK that helps you quickly develop high-quality apps and grow your business.

Total Apps
863.81k
App Store
App Share
51.58%
App Store
Apps
780.43k
Games
83.38k
Total Downloads
333.08b
App Store
Download Share
65.62%
App Store
App Downloads
235.18b
Game Downloads
97.90b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Google Firebase.

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 40.96% have integrated Firebase Installations. This accounts for 61.35% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
685.97k
App Store
App Share
40.96%
App Store
Apps
636.17k
Games
49.80k
Total Downloads
311.39b
App Store
Download Share
61.35%
App Store
App Downloads
221.91b
Game Downloads
89.48b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Firebase Installations.

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 32.79% have integrated Apple Core Data. This accounts for 52.07% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
549.08k
App Store
App Share
32.79%
App Store
Apps
521.20k
Games
27.88k
Total Downloads
264.29b
App Store
Download Share
52.07%
App Store
App Downloads
224.37b
Game Downloads
39.92b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Apple Core Data.

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 29.24% have integrated Apple Swift Framework. This accounts for 16.09% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Apple Swift Framework is a powerful and intuitive programming language for macOS, iOS, watchOS, tvOS and beyond.

Total Apps
489.59k
App Store
App Share
29.24%
App Store
Apps
437.35k
Games
52.24k
Total Downloads
81.64b
App Store
Download Share
16.09%
App Store
App Downloads
51.75b
Game Downloads
29.89b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Apple Swift Framework.

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 28.74% have integrated Promises by Google. This accounts for 23.10% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
481.22k
App Store
App Share
28.74%
App Store
Apps
453.78k
Games
27.44k
Total Downloads
117.27b
App Store
Download Share
23.10%
App Store
App Downloads
83.17b
Game Downloads
34.10b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Promises by Google.

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 12.77% have integrated Firebase Remote Config. This accounts for 38.16% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
213.84k
App Store
App Share
12.77%
App Store
Apps
189.58k
Games
24.25k
Total Downloads
193.68b
App Store
Download Share
38.16%
App Store
App Downloads
144.04b
Game Downloads
49.64b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Firebase Remote Config.

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 10.26% have integrated Firebase App Check. This accounts for 11.60% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
171.77k
App Store
App Share
10.26%
App Store
Apps
161.99k
Games
9.78k
Total Downloads
58.85b
App Store
Download Share
11.60%
App Store
App Downloads
45.92b
Game Downloads
12.94b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Firebase App Check.

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 9.61% have integrated Apple Core Bluetooth. This accounts for 16.84% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
160.90k
App Store
App Share
9.61%
App Store
Apps
152.98k
Games
7.92k
Total Downloads
85.48b
App Store
Download Share
16.84%
App Store
App Downloads
80.83b
Game Downloads
4.65b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Apple Core Bluetooth.

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 8.48% have integrated Protobuf. This accounts for 16.27% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Protocol Buffers (a.k.a., protobuf) are Google's language-neutral, platform-neutral, extensible mechanism for serializing structured data.

Total Apps
141.95k
App Store
App Share
8.48%
App Store
Apps
135.10k
Games
6.85k
Total Downloads
82.58b
App Store
Download Share
16.27%
App Store
App Downloads
75.53b
Game Downloads
7.05b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Protobuf.

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 7.20% have integrated Expo. This accounts for 1.18% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
120.63k
App Store
App Share
7.20%
App Store
Apps
118.60k
Games
2.04k
Total Downloads
5.99b
App Store
Download Share
1.18%
App Store
App Downloads
5.87b
Game Downloads
115.23m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Expo.

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 7.15% have integrated react-native-device-info. This accounts for 3.36% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

The react-native-device-info SDK offers device information for React Native for iOS and Android.

Total Apps
119.71k
App Store
App Share
7.15%
App Store
Apps
119.07k
Games
645
Total Downloads
17.03b
App Store
Download Share
3.36%
App Store
App Downloads
16.78b
Game Downloads
250.60m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use react-native-device-info.

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 2.56% have integrated Mantle. This accounts for 3.42% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Mantle is a Software Development Kit (SDK) that makes it easy to write simple model layers for your Cocoa or Cocoa Touch mobile applications or games.

Total Apps
42.80k
App Store
App Share
2.56%
App Store
Apps
42.15k
Games
654
Total Downloads
17.35b
App Store
Download Share
3.42%
App Store
App Downloads
16.88b
Game Downloads
461.14m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Mantle.

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 2.54% have integrated Apple Core ML. This accounts for 31.75% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
42.47k
App Store
App Share
2.54%
App Store
Apps
25.20k
Games
17.26k
Total Downloads
161.13b
App Store
Download Share
31.75%
App Store
App Downloads
103.68b
Game Downloads
57.46b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Apple Core ML.

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 2.48% have integrated RxSwift. This accounts for 5.42% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

The RxSwift SDK offers a framework for interacting with the Swift programming language.

Total Apps
41.60k
App Store
App Share
2.48%
App Store
Apps
41.29k
Games
309
Total Downloads
27.50b
App Store
Download Share
5.42%
App Store
App Downloads
27.19b
Game Downloads
306.41m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use RxSwift.

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 2.05% have integrated ML Kit by Google. This accounts for 2.23% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
34.29k
App Store
App Share
2.05%
App Store
Apps
34.16k
Games
132
Total Downloads
11.30b
App Store
Download Share
2.23%
App Store
App Downloads
11.29b
Game Downloads
14.05m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use ML Kit by Google.

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 1.90% have integrated CocoaLumberjack. This accounts for 4.61% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

CocoaLumberjack is a fast and simple, yet powerful and flexible, logging framework SDK for Mac and iOS.

Total Apps
31.84k
App Store
App Share
1.90%
App Store
Apps
31.51k
Games
332
Total Downloads
23.38b
App Store
Download Share
4.61%
App Store
App Downloads
21.80b
Game Downloads
1.58b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use CocoaLumberjack.

Browse iOS and Android SDKs With the SDK Explorer

Browse background top image
  • SDK IntelligenceSDK Intelligence

    See how many apps integrate specific SDKs, how many times these SDKs have been downloaded, developer details, similar SDKs, and more.

  • New Installations and Removals HistoryNew Installations and Removals History

    Analyze installation and removal trends for SDKs. Discover which apps have removed or integrated specific SDKs in a given timeframe.

  • Market Share per Google Play and Apple App Store CategoryMarket Share per Google Play and Apple App Store Category

    See which app categories or genres are most likely to use specific SDKs. Detect SDK market share per category.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How does 42matters collect this data?'

We’ve developed a number of machine learning algorithms that scan millions of mobile and connected TV (CTV) applications on a regular basis. In addition, we collect ground truth app performance intelligence and use this data to build statistical models that estimate the performance of apps for which we do not have ground truth data.

What SDK data does 42matters collect?'

We track over 2,300 of the most popular SDKs integrated in iOS and Android apps. We collect a variety of SDK insights (title, platform, ID, category, and developer website); performance metrics (the number of apps that have installed each SDK, installation and removal trends, and app downloads); market share statistics (including market share per app category); and more!

How can I access 42matters’ SDK data?'

The most direct way is to use our SDK Explorer, which is a visual, web-based research platform that enables you to peruse all 2,300+ SDKs that we track. It’s great for market research, lead generation, competitor analysis, etc. However, more technically-inclined folks might prefer our APIs and File Dumps, which enable you to query info for specific apps or SDKs. You can also use our other research platform (the Explorer) to view integrated SDKs by app.

Can I use 42matters’ solutions to generate app publisher leads?'

Absolutely! We actually wrote about this on our blog. We focused on ad network SDKs, but the examples are applicable to most SDK types. To summarize, you can use the Explorer’s advanced filtering capabilities to home in on best-fit app publishers, leverage the SDK Explorer to see which apps use your competitors’ SDKs, and use our APIs and file dumps to build custom lead generation processes.

What data does 42matters provide on mobile apps?'

A ton! We track 17+ million apps across Google Play, the Apple App Store, Amazon Appstore, Tencent Appstore, and Huawei AppGallery. Our solutions provide access to app details (developer insights, metadata, ASO keywords, contact information, etc.); performance metrics (downloads, MAUs, ratings, reviews, top chart rankings, etc.); technical insights (integrated SDKs, permissions, required capabilities, etc.); content details (categories, genres, IAB categories, content ratings, etc.); compliance information (app-ads.txt, privacy policies, store status, etc.) and much, much more!

Can I use 42matters’ solutions to find SDKs for my app?'

Definitely. The SDK Explorer enables you to sort SDKs by category, identify similar SDKs, analyze SDK reliability, and more. In addition, you can use the Explorer to monitor your competitors, including which SDKs they add and remove, their current tech stacks, and SDK changelogs. This means you use our solutions not only to find the right SDK for a particular purpose, but also which SDKs you might need to keep up with your rivals.