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Top 20 Developer Tools SDKs Used in iOS Apps on the Apple App Store
Last update: 25 Apr 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 99.97% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
1.60m
App Store
App Share
99.95%
App Store
Apps
1.42m
Games
181.37k
Total Downloads
480.52b
App Store
Download Share
99.97%
App Store
App Downloads
361.13b
Game Downloads
119.39b

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 95.58% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
1.25m
App Store
App Share
77.60%
App Store
Apps
1.07m
Games
172.37k
Total Downloads
459.40b
App Store
Download Share
95.58%
App Store
App Downloads
340.52b
Game Downloads
118.88b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 70.81% have integrated Apple WebKit. This accounts for 94.54% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
1.14m
App Store
App Share
70.81%
App Store
Apps
1.01m
Games
121.89k
Total Downloads
454.41b
App Store
Download Share
94.54%
App Store
App Downloads
339.38b
Game Downloads
115.03b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 50.01% have integrated Google Firebase. This accounts for 65.17% 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
802.83k
App Store
App Share
50.01%
App Store
Apps
718.72k
Games
84.11k
Total Downloads
313.23b
App Store
Download Share
65.17%
App Store
App Downloads
221.40b
Game Downloads
91.83b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 37.97% have integrated Firebase Installations. This accounts for 56.10% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
609.53k
App Store
App Share
37.97%
App Store
Apps
563.30k
Games
46.23k
Total Downloads
269.65b
App Store
Download Share
56.10%
App Store
App Downloads
184.41b
Game Downloads
85.24b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 35.07% have integrated Apple Swift Framework. This accounts for 21.95% 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
563.06k
App Store
App Share
35.07%
App Store
Apps
503.46k
Games
59.60k
Total Downloads
105.52b
App Store
Download Share
21.95%
App Store
App Downloads
60.81b
Game Downloads
44.71b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 33.30% have integrated Apple Core Data. This accounts for 53.44% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
534.55k
App Store
App Share
33.30%
App Store
Apps
504.79k
Games
29.77k
Total Downloads
256.85b
App Store
Download Share
53.44%
App Store
App Downloads
216.40b
Game Downloads
40.45b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 27.99% have integrated Promises by Google. This accounts for 25.08% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
449.30k
App Store
App Share
27.99%
App Store
Apps
420.17k
Games
29.14k
Total Downloads
120.53b
App Store
Download Share
25.08%
App Store
App Downloads
84.29b
Game Downloads
36.24b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 10.60% have integrated Protobuf. This accounts for 9.64% 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
170.23k
App Store
App Share
10.60%
App Store
Apps
162.81k
Games
7.42k
Total Downloads
46.31b
App Store
Download Share
9.64%
App Store
App Downloads
39.59b
Game Downloads
6.73b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 10.30% have integrated Firebase Remote Config. This accounts for 34.98% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
165.31k
App Store
App Share
10.30%
App Store
Apps
143.70k
Games
21.61k
Total Downloads
168.14b
App Store
Download Share
34.98%
App Store
App Downloads
121.50b
Game Downloads
46.64b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 9.85% have integrated Apple Core Bluetooth. This accounts for 16.80% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
158.06k
App Store
App Share
9.85%
App Store
Apps
149.28k
Games
8.78k
Total Downloads
80.74b
App Store
Download Share
16.80%
App Store
App Downloads
76.16b
Game Downloads
4.58b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 7.51% have integrated Firebase App Check. This accounts for 10.38% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
120.56k
App Store
App Share
7.51%
App Store
Apps
112.78k
Games
7.78k
Total Downloads
49.88b
App Store
Download Share
10.38%
App Store
App Downloads
39.30b
Game Downloads
10.58b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 5.79% have integrated react-native-device-info. This accounts for 1.27% 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
92.90k
App Store
App Share
5.79%
App Store
Apps
92.47k
Games
432
Total Downloads
6.10b
App Store
Download Share
1.27%
App Store
App Downloads
6.03b
Game Downloads
64.97m

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 5.53% have integrated Expo. This accounts for 1.06% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
88.70k
App Store
App Share
5.53%
App Store
Apps
87.23k
Games
1.47k
Total Downloads
5.09b
App Store
Download Share
1.06%
App Store
App Downloads
4.96b
Game Downloads
132.95m

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 2.69% have integrated RxSwift. This accounts for 5.90% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

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

Total Apps
43.26k
App Store
App Share
2.69%
App Store
Apps
42.92k
Games
339
Total Downloads
28.37b
App Store
Download Share
5.90%
App Store
App Downloads
28.01b
Game Downloads
355.12m

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 2.37% have integrated Apple Core ML. This accounts for 30.13% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
37.98k
App Store
App Share
2.37%
App Store
Apps
21.20k
Games
16.78k
Total Downloads
144.83b
App Store
Download Share
30.13%
App Store
App Downloads
86.16b
Game Downloads
58.68b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 2.21% have integrated Mantle. This accounts for 3.19% 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
35.51k
App Store
App Share
2.21%
App Store
Apps
34.83k
Games
679
Total Downloads
15.33b
App Store
Download Share
3.19%
App Store
App Downloads
14.78b
Game Downloads
550.54m

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 1.86% have integrated CocoaLumberjack. This accounts for 4.84% 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
29.83k
App Store
App Share
1.86%
App Store
Apps
29.50k
Games
323
Total Downloads
23.28b
App Store
Download Share
4.84%
App Store
App Downloads
22.27b
Game Downloads
1.01b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 1.83% have integrated FSCalendar. This accounts for 2.08% 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
29.35k
App Store
App Share
1.83%
App Store
Apps
29.31k
Games
38
Total Downloads
9.98b
App Store
Download Share
2.08%
App Store
App Downloads
9.94b
Game Downloads
41.93m

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.