8 Master Apple Developers – And They’re All Women
The IT field is often considered a male-dominated world, but now there are more and more female programmers making significant contributions. In the mobile internet sector, you can find the presence of female developers in the teams behind some well-known applications, such as Smule and Camera+. We will introduce to you 8 of the most renowned female developers in the Apple developer community.
Lisa Bettany
Lisa Bettany stands out among both male and female developers. Her name is always associated with the iOS photo app Camera+, developed by Tap Tap Tap studio. Camera+ was one of the earliest and most famous third-party iPhone camera apps. Additionally, some unauthorized yet interesting features made this app widely known. Later, Apple adopted the volume control button as the default for its iPhone camera, mimicking Camera+’s feature. As the developer of a renowned application, Lisa Bettany has her own unique perspective on how to create an excellent app.
Camera+ includes all scene modes and photo effects, matching its main components. Besides developing iOS apps, Lisa Bettany is also a professional photographer. She is currently writing a new book about her travels around the world and capturing unique photos with her iPhone.
Amanda Wixted
Most of Amanda Wixted's iOS games have made it into the top ten list of App Store rankings, so you may have already played one of her games. Amanda Wixted was once the technical lead of Zynga's iPhone game team and the first mobile development engineer at Zynga. She participated in the development of FarmVille, Live Poker, and Mafia Wars. Mobile users who are not particularly interested in Zynga's series of games might be attracted by other applications developed by Amanda Wixted, such as Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man.
Amanda Wixted left Zynga and founded her own company, Hyperspace. In 2011, Hyperspace developed a mobile location-based game called Turf Geography Club. Unfortunately, the application was later discontinued. In 2012, Amanda Wixted established an independent iOS software development and consulting company in Brooklyn, New York, named Meteor Grove Software.
Carla White
Carla White’s journey resembles a movie plot full of ups and downs. When she discovered that the app she was looking for did not exist, she decided to abandon her previous career and develop the app herself.
Her first app was Gratitude Journal, used to record user thoughts, especially positive ones. Carla White had experienced the pain of losing a loved one, after which she began recording things worth being grateful for, which became the inspiration for the app. Gratitude Journal was recommended by the famous American TV host Oprah and topped the App Store lifestyle app rankings.
Carla White subsequently developed Happy Tapper, Little Buddha, and Vision Board. In addition, she wrote a book called "Idea To iPhone." Carla White wrote in the book: even someone without technical knowledge can develop an app and help others give it a unique concept.
Claire Boonstra
Claire Boonstra is the developer of the AR app Layar and one of the co-founders of the company. Layar is an augmented reality (AR) mobile app that brings emerging AR technology into the user's view. Since its launch in 2009, the software has been downloaded over 26 million times across 209 countries.
Layar could be considered one of Claire Boonstra's most important achievements, giving her an unshakable position. However, what impresses people most is her speech on education at the TED event in Amsterdam (speech video). Claire Boonstra then set aside Layar and tirelessly pursued her passion for education. As she said during her speech: "My passion ignited instantly and uncontrollably."
Jean MacDonald
Jean MacDonald works for Smile Software and participated in the development of TextExpander, an app designed to increase typing efficiency, making her quite well-known in the Apple computer user community. Although she develops Mac apps rather than iOS apps, we still introduced her because she uses Objective-C. Jean MacDonald handles marketing, public relations, and product documentation at Smile and became a partner in the company in 2009.
MacDonald's latest contribution to app development isn't directly related to code or new applications. She founded a camp (App Camp For Girls) to train young girls in app development. "App Camp For Girls" received widespread media praise and raised $100,000 through crowdfunding, double the target amount.
Cathy Edwards
If you develop the best app search engine, what happens next? Apple will highlight you (and your company), and include the app in their services. Cathy Edwards was responsible for the development of Chomp (including the search algorithm), product management, and design. Later, Apple acquired Chomp, and eventually, the Chomp service was shut down.
Cathy Edwards has consistently advocated for women entering the tech industry while emphasizing that developers should achieve something within three months. This makes sense because Chomp launched its product just over three months after its founding and was acquired by Apple after more than two years.
Prerna Gupta
Prerna Gupta co-founded Khush, which developed many outstanding music apps. In 2011, Smule acquired Khush, and subsequently, Gupta joined Smule as Chief Product Officer. One of Smule's most popular apps is Ocarina, where users can "play" by blowing into the iPhone's microphone, mimicking the experience of playing a real wind instrument. The cumulative download count of Smule apps has exceeded 90 million.
Prerna Gupta's development of LaDiDa (an entertainment app that automatically adjusts recordings and adds beats) earned her recognition as one of the most influential women in tech in 2011 by Fast Company magazine. Additionally, she is an angel investor and a resident mentor at 500 Startups.
Sophia Teutschler
Tap Tap Tap has released many successful apps and shown great foresight in new mobile developments. Sophia Teutschler and John Casasanta were originally both founders of Tap Tap Tap, but due to differing opinions on business decisions, they couldn't reach an agreement. Eventually, Sophia Teutschler chose to leave and founded her own company, Sophiestication. Similar to many startups, if product development opinions cannot be unified, commercial cooperation becomes impossible. They ultimately resolved the issue by dividing the company assets, including the apps. Sophia Teutschler took ownership of Tipulator and the latest Groceries app. Compared to Tap Tap Tap, Sophia Teutschler and her Sophiestication develop simpler and more low-key Mac and iPhone apps.