Top 20 Networking SDKs Used in iOS Apps on the Apple App Store
We at 42matters have identified the 20 most popular Networking SDKs leveraged by iOS apps available on the iOS app market.
Networking SDKs are developer tools that provide networking functionalities for mobile apps. They enable developers to build apps capable of communicating with servers or other devices over a network, without having to build these capabilities from scratch. Network SDKs typically facilitate network requests, response handling, authentication, and more.
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 Networking 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.
The 20 most widely-integrated networking SDKs:
Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 63.51% have integrated Nanopb. This accounts for 42.39% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.
Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Nanopb.
Alamofire
Check “Alamofire” SDK InsightsAmong all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 21.56% have integrated Alamofire. This accounts for 19.32% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.
Alamofire is an HTTP networking library SDK written in Swift.
Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Alamofire.
AFNetworking
Check “AFNetworking” SDK InsightsAmong all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 17.42% have integrated AFNetworking. This accounts for 23.30% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.
AFNetworking is a delightful networking library SDK for iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. It's built on top of the Foundation URL Loading System, extending the powerful high-level networking abstractions built into Cocoa. It has a modular architecture with well-designed, feature-rich APIs that are a joy to use.
Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use AFNetworking.
Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 12.15% have integrated gRPC. This accounts for 22.56% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.
gRPC is a modern open source, high-performance RPC framework SDK that can run in any environment. It can efficiently connect services in and across data centers with pluggable support for load balancing, tracing, health checking, and authentication.
Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use gRPC.
SocketRocket
Check “SocketRocket” SDK InsightsAmong all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 10.86% have integrated SocketRocket. This accounts for 10.92% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.
SocketRocket is an SDK that offers a conforming Objective-C WebSocket client library.
Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use SocketRocket.
Kingfisher
Check “Kingfisher” SDK InsightsAmong all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 8.79% have integrated Kingfisher. This accounts for 9.75% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.
Kingfisher is a powerful, pure-Swift library SDK for downloading and caching images from the web. It provides you a chance to use a pure-Swift way to work with remote images in your next app.
Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Kingfisher.
Starscream
Check “Starscream” SDK InsightsAmong all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 4.81% have integrated Starscream. This accounts for 6.96% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.
The Starscream SDK is a conforming WebSocket (RFC 6455) library in Swift.
Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Starscream.
AlamofireImage
Check “AlamofireImage” SDK InsightsAmong all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 3.29% have integrated AlamofireImage. This accounts for 2.08% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.
AlamofireImage is an image component library SDK for Alamofire.
Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use AlamofireImage.
Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 2.48% have integrated WebRTC. This accounts for 9.33% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.
With WebRTC, you can add real-time communication capabilities to your mobile apps. It supports sending videos, voice, and generic data between peers, allowing developers to build powerful voice- and video-communication solutions.
Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use WebRTC.
Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 2.38% have integrated Moya. This accounts for 4.51% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.
The Moya SDK is a network abstraction layer written in Swift.
Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Moya.
CocoaAsyncSocket
Check “CocoaAsyncSocket” SDK InsightsAmong all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 2.11% have integrated CocoaAsyncSocket. This accounts for 3.05% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.
The CocoaAsyncSocket SDK provides easy-to-use and powerful asynchronous socket libraries for macOS, iOS, and tvOS.
Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use CocoaAsyncSocket.
ASIHTTPRequest
Check “ASIHTTPRequest” SDK InsightsAmong all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 1.88% have integrated ASIHTTPRequest. This accounts for 2.66% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.
ASIHTTPRequest is an easy to use wrapper SDK around the CFNetwork API that makes some of the more tedious aspects of communicating with web servers easier. It is written in Objective-C and works in both Mac OS X and iPhone applications.
Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use ASIHTTPRequest.
Socket.io
Check “Socket.io” SDK InsightsAmong all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 1.76% have integrated Socket.io. This accounts for 1.37% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.
Socket.IO is an SDK that enables real-time, bidirectional and event-based communication. It works on every platform, browser or device, focusing equally on reliability and speed.
Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Socket.io.
AlamofireObjectMapper
Check “AlamofireObjectMapper” SDK InsightsAmong all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 1.14% have integrated AlamofireObjectMapper. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.
The AlamofireObjectMapper SDK is an extension to Alamofire which automatically converts JSON response data into swift objects using ObjectMapper.
Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use AlamofireObjectMapper.
PINRemoteImage
Check “PINRemoteImage” SDK InsightsAmong all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 1.09% have integrated PINRemoteImage. This accounts for 1.60% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.
PINRemoteImage is an SDK that offers a fast, non-deadlocking parallel image downloader and cache for iOS.
Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use PINRemoteImage.
Google APIs for Objective-C for REST
Check “Google APIs for Objective-C for REST” SDK InsightsAmong all apps utilizing networking SDKs, <1% have integrated Google APIs for Objective-C for REST. This accounts for 6.32% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.
Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Google APIs for Objective-C for REST.
AlamofireNetworkActivityIndicator
Check “AlamofireNetworkActivityIndicator” SDK InsightsAmong all apps utilizing networking SDKs, <1% have integrated AlamofireNetworkActivityIndicator. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.
The AlamofireNetworkActivityIndicator SDK controls the visibility of the network activity indicator on iOS apps.
Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use AlamofireNetworkActivityIndicator.
Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, <1% have integrated CXML. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.
CXML is a streamlined protocol SDK intended for consistent communication of business documents between procurement applications, e-commerce hubs, and suppliers.
Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use CXML.
MQTT-Client-Framework
Check “MQTT-Client-Framework” SDK InsightsAmong all apps utilizing networking SDKs, <1% have integrated MQTT-Client-Framework. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.
The MQTT-Client-Framework SDK is a native Objective-C iOS library. It uses CFNetwork for networking and CoreData for persistence. It is a complete implementation of MQTT 3.1.1 and supports TLS.
Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use MQTT-Client-Framework.
RestKit
Check “RestKit” SDK InsightsAmong all apps utilizing networking SDKs, <1% have integrated RestKit. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.
RestKit is a framework SDK for consuming and modeling RESTful web resources on iOS and OS X.
Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use RestKit.
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