Platform
Category
Top 20 Developer Tools SDKs Used in iOS Apps on the Apple App Store
Last update: 3 Jul 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
1.64m
App Store
App Share
99.95%
App Store
Apps
1.45m
Games
181.44k
Total Downloads
494.04b
App Store
Download Share
99.98%
App Store
App Downloads
372.03b
Game Downloads
122.02b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 77.17% have integrated Apple AVFoundation. This accounts for 91.40% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
1.26m
App Store
App Share
77.17%
App Store
Apps
1.10m
Games
166.20k
Total Downloads
451.64b
App Store
Download Share
91.40%
App Store
App Downloads
347.08b
Game Downloads
104.56b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 70.76% have integrated Apple WebKit. This accounts for 90.86% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
1.16m
App Store
App Share
70.76%
App Store
Apps
1.04m
Games
118.66k
Total Downloads
448.95b
App Store
Download Share
90.86%
App Store
App Downloads
346.66b
Game Downloads
102.29b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 50.87% have integrated Google Firebase. This accounts for 65.41% 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
832.34k
App Store
App Share
50.87%
App Store
Apps
747.93k
Games
84.40k
Total Downloads
323.23b
App Store
Download Share
65.41%
App Store
App Downloads
228.57b
Game Downloads
94.66b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 39.59% have integrated Firebase Installations. This accounts for 61.50% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
647.78k
App Store
App Share
39.59%
App Store
Apps
599.60k
Games
48.17k
Total Downloads
303.89b
App Store
Download Share
61.50%
App Store
App Downloads
217.46b
Game Downloads
86.43b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 33.12% have integrated Apple Core Data. This accounts for 52.06% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
541.86k
App Store
App Share
33.12%
App Store
Apps
513.00k
Games
28.86k
Total Downloads
257.23b
App Store
Download Share
52.06%
App Store
App Downloads
221.58b
Game Downloads
35.65b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 32.43% have integrated Apple Swift Framework. This accounts for 19.12% 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
530.68k
App Store
App Share
32.43%
App Store
Apps
474.40k
Games
56.28k
Total Downloads
94.49b
App Store
Download Share
19.12%
App Store
App Downloads
59.00b
Game Downloads
35.49b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 28.41% have integrated Promises by Google. This accounts for 22.60% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
464.85k
App Store
App Share
28.41%
App Store
Apps
437.07k
Games
27.78k
Total Downloads
111.67b
App Store
Download Share
22.60%
App Store
App Downloads
82.92b
Game Downloads
28.75b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 11.29% have integrated Firebase Remote Config. This accounts for 36.38% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
184.72k
App Store
App Share
11.29%
App Store
Apps
162.12k
Games
22.61k
Total Downloads
179.75b
App Store
Download Share
36.38%
App Store
App Downloads
134.85b
Game Downloads
44.90b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 9.75% have integrated Apple Core Bluetooth. This accounts for 16.77% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
159.59k
App Store
App Share
9.75%
App Store
Apps
151.02k
Games
8.57k
Total Downloads
82.87b
App Store
Download Share
16.77%
App Store
App Downloads
78.58b
Game Downloads
4.29b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 9.52% have integrated Protobuf. This accounts for 15.97% 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
155.82k
App Store
App Share
9.52%
App Store
Apps
148.71k
Games
7.11k
Total Downloads
78.93b
App Store
Download Share
15.97%
App Store
App Downloads
73.30b
Game Downloads
5.63b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 8.83% have integrated Firebase App Check. This accounts for 11.06% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
144.42k
App Store
App Share
8.83%
App Store
Apps
135.69k
Games
8.73k
Total Downloads
54.64b
App Store
Download Share
11.06%
App Store
App Downloads
43.06b
Game Downloads
11.58b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 6.15% have integrated Expo. This accounts for 1.08% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
100.68k
App Store
App Share
6.15%
App Store
Apps
99.05k
Games
1.63k
Total Downloads
5.36b
App Store
Download Share
1.08%
App Store
App Downloads
5.24b
Game Downloads
114.79m

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 6.05% have integrated react-native-device-info. This accounts for 2.84% 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
99.07k
App Store
App Share
6.05%
App Store
Apps
98.57k
Games
501
Total Downloads
14.02b
App Store
Download Share
2.84%
App Store
App Downloads
13.85b
Game Downloads
165.56m

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 2.61% have integrated RxSwift. This accounts for 5.66% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

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

Total Apps
42.69k
App Store
App Share
2.61%
App Store
Apps
42.36k
Games
333
Total Downloads
27.99b
App Store
Download Share
5.66%
App Store
App Downloads
27.67b
Game Downloads
325.90m

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 2.38% have integrated Mantle. This accounts for 3.34% 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
39.02k
App Store
App Share
2.38%
App Store
Apps
38.34k
Games
672
Total Downloads
16.48b
App Store
Download Share
3.34%
App Store
App Downloads
15.92b
Game Downloads
562.49m

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 2.36% have integrated Apple Core ML. This accounts for 28.60% of app downloads within the developer tools SDK category.

Total Apps
38.68k
App Store
App Share
2.36%
App Store
Apps
22.86k
Games
15.82k
Total Downloads
141.32b
App Store
Download Share
28.60%
App Store
App Downloads
95.00b
Game Downloads
46.32b

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 1.89% have integrated CocoaLumberjack. This accounts for 4.73% 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
30.99k
App Store
App Share
1.89%
App Store
Apps
30.66k
Games
327
Total Downloads
23.36b
App Store
Download Share
4.73%
App Store
App Downloads
22.38b
Game Downloads
978.26m

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

Among all apps utilizing developer tools SDKs, 1.76% have integrated FSCalendar. This accounts for 1.97% 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
28.80k
App Store
App Share
1.76%
App Store
Apps
28.77k
Games
40
Total Downloads
9.73b
App Store
Download Share
1.97%
App Store
App Downloads
9.67b
Game Downloads
55.70m

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

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.

Browse background bottom imageBrowse right section image

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.