Issue 185

13^th February 2015

Written by Dave Verwer

Comment

My comments have been getting out of hand the last couple of weeks so I’m going to keep it short this week. Obviously the big news this week is Swift 1.2 but Apple also rolled out a couple of other bits of news this week including TestFlight Groups and doubling the maximum size of an app. Anyway, on with the links!

News

Swift 1.2

Is it possible that for once, one of my predictions is going to come true? Last week I speculated that we might be getting 8.2 before the release of the Watch and while it’s not been released just yet, the fact that we now have another beta of 8.3/Xcode 6.3 makes it look likely! More importantly, this release includes Swift 1.2 with significant changes (including shorter syntax for if let!). Read all about it with this post on the official apple blog, or on NSHipster or Airspeed Velocity.

Beyond UXKit

Talking of Xcode 6.3, UXKit popped its head up again in Xcode itself. Interesting? Well it certainly seems like this might be something more than a framework which the Photos team created for their own convenience. Robert Böhnke argues that even if UXKit is going to be a thing, it’s not enough (is anything ever enough though?) and we need a step change in the approach to UI frameworks.

Tools

Silver

This is kinda interesting, a cross platform (Mac/Windows) Swift implementation that can target Android and .net as well as the iOS APIs. While it might not be directly useful for many of you reading this, I thought it was worth a mention.

Code

Interprocess communication on iOS with Berkeley sockets

A very thorough overview of the state of interprocess communication (IPC) on iOS from Damien DeVille. This article is a must read for anyone using extensions. Damien has released LLBSDMessaging which allows true IPC on iOS. This is a different approach than MMWormhole which I linked to in Issue 176.

First Impressions using React Native

James Long explains why React Native could be a huge shift in how we write native iOS apps. Interestingly, James starts with an OpenGL app and pops the react code over the top. It’s definitely worth reading this if you’re interested in having a go with it when the full open source release appears.

SwiftBox

SwiftBox from Josh Abernathy is a wrapper around Facebook’s css-layout library which provides a box model for laying out views. The syntax looks pretty clean and there’s a sample project too. Speaking of layout abstraction it’s also worth reading Soroush Khanlou’s thoughts on the subject too.

Business and Marketing

An App Store Experiment - The Finale

Stuart Hall with the final post in his detailed look at the business of his 7 Minute Workout app. This has been a fascinating series of posts (here are parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 if you missed them) and this post covers the results of his latest experiments with IAPs, issues around the HealthKit launch, App Preview videos and the future of the app. Thanks for sharing the journey Stuart!

The Undead App Store

Interesting report by Adjust on Zombie Apps. What is a Zombie app? Well, it’s an app which isn’t listed in any of the charts or recommended lists and can only be found by search (and we all know how good that is, right?). The most shocking stat is that over 80% of apps on the store are “zombies” but you should read the whole report.

Does Sponsoring Daring Fireball Actually Work?

Great post by John Saddington about his sponsorship of Daring Fireball for his app, Desk. I won’t spoil the answer to the question here, but once you’re done with it his Year in Review post is also worth a look.

Videos

Tips and Tricks for Getting Started in the App World

Great talk by Joe Cieplinski which he gave at a meet up held at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw last week. He talks about on starting and running a small app company.

And finally...

Steam Reviews

Yes, reviews on the App Store tend towards the ridiculous but at least we’re not alone…