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Top 20 Developer Tools SDKs Used in iOS Apps on the Apple App Store
Last update: 19 Jan 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 99.98% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
1.53m
App Store
App Share
99.95%
App Store
Apps
1.35m
Games
182.03k
Total Downloads
463.45b
App Store
Download Share
99.98%
App Store
App Downloads
348.40b
Game Downloads
115.05b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 77.75% have integrated Apple AVFoundation. This accounts for 95.57% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
1.19m
App Store
App Share
77.75%
App Store
Apps
1.02m
Games
173.51k
Total Downloads
443.01b
App Store
Download Share
95.57%
App Store
App Downloads
328.45b
Game Downloads
114.56b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 70.39% have integrated Apple WebKit. This accounts for 94.46% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
1.08m
App Store
App Share
70.39%
App Store
Apps
960.80k
Games
119.46k
Total Downloads
437.87b
App Store
Download Share
94.46%
App Store
App Downloads
327.18b
Game Downloads
110.69b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 49.51% have integrated Google Firebase. This accounts for 65.97% 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
759.92k
App Store
App Share
49.51%
App Store
Apps
674.43k
Games
85.49k
Total Downloads
305.82b
App Store
Download Share
65.97%
App Store
App Downloads
214.55b
Game Downloads
91.27b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 37.89% have integrated Apple Swift Framework. This accounts for 25.70% 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
581.58k
App Store
App Share
37.89%
App Store
Apps
520.51k
Games
61.07k
Total Downloads
119.16b
App Store
Download Share
25.70%
App Store
App Downloads
70.75b
Game Downloads
48.40b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 35.80% have integrated Firebase Installations. This accounts for 55.22% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
549.43k
App Store
App Share
35.80%
App Store
Apps
505.80k
Games
43.63k
Total Downloads
255.96b
App Store
Download Share
55.22%
App Store
App Downloads
174.40b
Game Downloads
81.57b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 33.58% have integrated Apple Core Data. This accounts for 53.77% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
515.40k
App Store
App Share
33.58%
App Store
Apps
484.55k
Games
30.85k
Total Downloads
249.26b
App Store
Download Share
53.77%
App Store
App Downloads
210.10b
Game Downloads
39.17b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 27.44% have integrated Promises by Google. This accounts for 26.41% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
421.07k
App Store
App Share
27.44%
App Store
Apps
391.15k
Games
29.92k
Total Downloads
122.41b
App Store
Download Share
26.41%
App Store
App Downloads
85.41b
Game Downloads
37.00b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 11.87% have integrated Protobuf. This accounts for 10.35% 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
182.13k
App Store
App Share
11.87%
App Store
Apps
174.50k
Games
7.62k
Total Downloads
47.98b
App Store
Download Share
10.35%
App Store
App Downloads
41.28b
Game Downloads
6.70b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 10.07% have integrated Apple Core Bluetooth. This accounts for 17.43% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
154.59k
App Store
App Share
10.07%
App Store
Apps
145.22k
Games
9.38k
Total Downloads
80.79b
App Store
Download Share
17.43%
App Store
App Downloads
74.72b
Game Downloads
6.07b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 9.54% have integrated Firebase Remote Config. This accounts for 34.47% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
146.47k
App Store
App Share
9.54%
App Store
Apps
126.44k
Games
20.02k
Total Downloads
159.80b
App Store
Download Share
34.47%
App Store
App Downloads
116.22b
Game Downloads
43.58b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 6.08% have integrated react-native-device-info. This accounts for 1.58% 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
93.28k
App Store
App Share
6.08%
App Store
Apps
92.81k
Games
473
Total Downloads
7.30b
App Store
Download Share
1.58%
App Store
App Downloads
7.23b
Game Downloads
71.09m

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 5.98% have integrated Firebase App Check. This accounts for 10.12% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
91.75k
App Store
App Share
5.98%
App Store
Apps
85.00k
Games
6.75k
Total Downloads
46.93b
App Store
Download Share
10.12%
App Store
App Downloads
36.76b
Game Downloads
10.17b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 4.77% have integrated Expo. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
73.19k
App Store
App Share
4.77%
App Store
Apps
72.01k
Games
1.18k
Total Downloads
4.02b
App Store
Download Share
<1%
App Store
App Downloads
3.90b
Game Downloads
119.38m

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 2.85% have integrated RxSwift. This accounts for 6.35% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

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

Total Apps
43.69k
App Store
App Share
2.85%
App Store
Apps
43.34k
Games
341
Total Downloads
29.41b
App Store
Download Share
6.35%
App Store
App Downloads
29.01b
Game Downloads
399.91m

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 2.22% have integrated Apple Core ML. This accounts for 28.16% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
34.11k
App Store
App Share
2.22%
App Store
Apps
18.98k
Games
15.13k
Total Downloads
130.54b
App Store
Download Share
28.16%
App Store
App Downloads
76.56b
Game Downloads
53.99b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 2.01% have integrated Mantle. This accounts for 3.20% 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
30.84k
App Store
App Share
2.01%
App Store
Apps
30.17k
Games
672
Total Downloads
14.83b
App Store
Download Share
3.20%
App Store
App Downloads
14.32b
Game Downloads
508.11m

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 1.90% have integrated FSCalendar. This accounts for 2.11% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

FSCalendar is a fully customizable iOS calendar library SDK, compatible with Objective-C and Swift.

Total Apps
29.15k
App Store
App Share
1.90%
App Store
Apps
29.12k
Games
35
Total Downloads
9.77b
App Store
Download Share
2.11%
App Store
App Downloads
9.73b
Game Downloads
39.38m

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 1.86% have integrated CocoaLumberjack. This accounts for 4.91% 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
28.49k
App Store
App Share
1.86%
App Store
Apps
28.22k
Games
274
Total Downloads
22.75b
App Store
Download Share
4.91%
App Store
App Downloads
21.80b
Game Downloads
952.20m

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

Browse iOS and Android SDKs With the SDK Explorer

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  • 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.