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Top 20 Developer Tools SDKs Used in iOS Apps on the Apple App Store
Last update: 28 May 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
1.62m
App Store
App Share
99.95%
App Store
Apps
1.44m
Games
182.33k
Total Downloads
486.35b
App Store
Download Share
99.98%
App Store
App Downloads
365.83b
Game Downloads
120.52b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 77.60% have integrated Apple AVFoundation. This accounts for 95.57% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
1.26m
App Store
App Share
77.60%
App Store
Apps
1.09m
Games
173.17k
Total Downloads
464.91b
App Store
Download Share
95.57%
App Store
App Downloads
344.92b
Game Downloads
119.99b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 70.94% have integrated Apple WebKit. This accounts for 94.63% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
1.15m
App Store
App Share
70.94%
App Store
Apps
1.03m
Games
123.29k
Total Downloads
460.34b
App Store
Download Share
94.63%
App Store
App Downloads
344.20b
Game Downloads
116.13b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 50.46% have integrated Google Firebase. This accounts for 65.37% 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
818.62k
App Store
App Share
50.46%
App Store
Apps
733.90k
Games
84.72k
Total Downloads
317.99b
App Store
Download Share
65.37%
App Store
App Downloads
224.69b
Game Downloads
93.30b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 38.84% have integrated Firebase Installations. This accounts for 56.44% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
630.23k
App Store
App Share
38.84%
App Store
Apps
582.83k
Games
47.40k
Total Downloads
274.53b
App Store
Download Share
56.44%
App Store
App Downloads
188.28b
Game Downloads
86.25b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 33.80% have integrated Apple Swift Framework. This accounts for 20.87% 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
548.36k
App Store
App Share
33.80%
App Store
Apps
489.12k
Games
59.24k
Total Downloads
101.53b
App Store
Download Share
20.87%
App Store
App Downloads
58.80b
Game Downloads
42.74b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 33.23% have integrated Apple Core Data. This accounts for 53.53% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
539.14k
App Store
App Share
33.23%
App Store
Apps
509.11k
Games
30.04k
Total Downloads
260.39b
App Store
Download Share
53.53%
App Store
App Downloads
219.43b
Game Downloads
40.96b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 28.20% have integrated Promises by Google. This accounts for 24.60% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
457.55k
App Store
App Share
28.20%
App Store
Apps
428.52k
Games
29.03k
Total Downloads
119.69b
App Store
Download Share
24.60%
App Store
App Downloads
83.52b
Game Downloads
36.17b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 10.64% have integrated Firebase Remote Config. This accounts for 34.95% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
172.68k
App Store
App Share
10.64%
App Store
Apps
150.23k
Games
22.45k
Total Downloads
170.02b
App Store
Download Share
34.95%
App Store
App Downloads
122.88b
Game Downloads
47.14b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 10.01% have integrated Protobuf. This accounts for 9.39% 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
162.38k
App Store
App Share
10.01%
App Store
Apps
154.98k
Games
7.39k
Total Downloads
45.67b
App Store
Download Share
9.39%
App Store
App Downloads
38.90b
Game Downloads
6.77b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 9.80% have integrated Apple Core Bluetooth. This accounts for 16.86% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
158.99k
App Store
App Share
9.80%
App Store
Apps
150.26k
Games
8.73k
Total Downloads
82.00b
App Store
Download Share
16.86%
App Store
App Downloads
77.36b
Game Downloads
4.63b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 8.17% have integrated Firebase App Check. This accounts for 10.70% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
132.59k
App Store
App Share
8.17%
App Store
Apps
124.28k
Games
8.31k
Total Downloads
52.03b
App Store
Download Share
10.70%
App Store
App Downloads
41.16b
Game Downloads
10.87b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 5.81% have integrated Expo. This accounts for 1.10% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
94.32k
App Store
App Share
5.81%
App Store
Apps
92.78k
Games
1.53k
Total Downloads
5.35b
App Store
Download Share
1.10%
App Store
App Downloads
5.22b
Game Downloads
132.67m

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 5.60% have integrated react-native-device-info. This accounts for 1.13% 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
90.79k
App Store
App Share
5.60%
App Store
Apps
90.37k
Games
420
Total Downloads
5.48b
App Store
Download Share
1.13%
App Store
App Downloads
5.41b
Game Downloads
61.93m

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 2.65% have integrated RxSwift. This accounts for 5.78% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

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

Total Apps
42.99k
App Store
App Share
2.65%
App Store
Apps
42.66k
Games
336
Total Downloads
28.13b
App Store
Download Share
5.78%
App Store
App Downloads
27.78b
Game Downloads
351.65m

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 2.44% have integrated Apple Core ML. This accounts for 30.47% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
39.66k
App Store
App Share
2.44%
App Store
Apps
22.10k
Games
17.55k
Total Downloads
148.22b
App Store
Download Share
30.47%
App Store
App Downloads
88.07b
Game Downloads
60.15b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 2.29% have integrated Mantle. This accounts for 3.16% 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
37.09k
App Store
App Share
2.29%
App Store
Apps
36.42k
Games
675
Total Downloads
15.36b
App Store
Download Share
3.16%
App Store
App Downloads
14.80b
Game Downloads
554.85m

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 1.88% have integrated CocoaLumberjack. This accounts for 4.79% 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
30.52k
App Store
App Share
1.88%
App Store
Apps
30.18k
Games
338
Total Downloads
23.29b
App Store
Download Share
4.79%
App Store
App Downloads
22.26b
Game Downloads
1.03b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 1.80% have integrated FSCalendar. This accounts for 2.07% 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
1.80%
App Store
Apps
29.11k
Games
39
Total Downloads
10.08b
App Store
Download Share
2.07%
App Store
App Downloads
10.02b
Game Downloads
53.32m

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

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.