Don't make the mistake of thinking "Storyboard == Auto Layout". I really like Auto Layout and I think it is much easier to understand and read when declared in code. I strongly dislike Storyboards, though, for the 15 reasons outlined here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9404471/when-to-use-story... However, some pains can be removed with this tool I wrote: https://github.com/jfahrenkrug/StoryboardLint It helps you to keep your IDs in code and in your Storyboards in sync.