Issue 421

13^th September 2019

Written by Dave Verwer

Comment

After so much effort has been ploughed into ARKit over the last few years, it has felt like the worst kept secret ever that Apple are working on some kind of AR specific hardware. Probably some kind of glasses or headset.

I genuinely never expected this though… I don’t usually comment much on rumours, but is it still a rumour if there’s code related to it in a GM release of the operating system? 😬 Of course, we still don’t know what it truly is or how it’ll work, but this sure looks like a massive arrow pointing directly at the future. 🚀

Dave Verwer

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News

I started trying to write a summary of what versions of what operating systems were releasing when, and with what features but stopped when I found that John Vorhees had already done a better job than I ever could. Unfortunately, the staggered releases do have some reasonably serious downsides… What a mess. 😬

This is the same issue Google have with search terms like “mail”, or “maps”. It’s a super fine line to walk when you have a search engine that includes your own products in the results. I’m inclined to believe Apple if they say the ranking for their own apps is not being manipulated, because they tend not to lie directly. Regardless, this is an awkward situation and the optics of it are terrible, especially when it makes it to the New York Times.

Tools

Have you tried adding a SPM package to your project in Xcode 11 yet? How about using it to open a library that includes a Package.swift file? What actually happens on disk when you do these things? James Dempsey explains.

Talking of the Swift Package Manager, Basti Humann has written a simple, but useful script which will take any project with a Podfile and check whether each pod has support for SPM. 👍

Code

Craig Hockenberry with a cautionary tale of memory leaks and crashes. Some of this may even be drastic enough to trigger Apple to release a second GM build. Good luck everyone! I wish you all smooth releases.

How does SwiftUI handle accessibility? You won’t be surprised to hear that it supports it very well, but you might be surprised that it’s better than it is in UIKit for some things, like images. Here’s Majid Jabrayilov with an overview.

Javier Nigro with another great SwiftUI article…

I’ll say it loud and clear. What you are about to read, is a hack

It’s at the edges of what’s (currently) possible with SwiftUI that things get… sticky. Of course, this’ll get drastically better over time, but if you jump in with both feet early then you have to expect some bumps.

Remember when defining every property included thinking about whether or not it should be atomic? Maksym Shcheglov takes us through an implementation of atomic properties in Swift using property wrappers.

Design

How are you designing for dark mode? Are you just jumping straight to code and winging it? Are you maintaining two different versions of your design files? Or, are you using this plugin for Sketch that makes switching between two colour schemes for your design as easy as clicking a single button. There’s also some great information on designing for dark mode in this accompanying article from Søren Clausen.

Business and Marketing

This setting isn’t enabled by default, but if you are using subscription payments for your app then you’ll want to switch it on as soon as possible. If there’s one thing that’s guaranteed to annoy a user, it’s losing access to your app just because of a temporary billing issue.

Jobs

Senior iOS Developer @ Albus – Join us to work on modern apps (Swift and iOS 12 minimum) used by thousands of medical professionals everyday. Our management is composed of mobile experts whose product’s vision takes the technical aspects in consideration. Your voice will be heard at every step (technical, UX, design…). Get the best of both worlds by working in a small modern team inside a stable and growing company. – Nantes, France

Lead Application Engineer @ LiveSurface – Build the next generation of LiveSurface products with a focus on SwiftUI, Combine and the newest Apple frameworks. LiveSurface is an industry leader in visualization and image creation tools for creatives. We blend clean UX, proprietary rendering technology and hand-curated content to provide realtime photorealistic visualization to our users. – Remote

Senior iOS Engineer @ Fi – Fi is reinventing the relationship between dogs and their humans by providing dogs more freedom and their owners peace of mind through the Fi Smart Dog Collar. We’re working hard to push pet tech forward by building amazing hardware and software, all in a dog friendly office. Come join our veteran team that hails from Nest, Square, Google, MakerBot, FourSquare, and Canary. – New York, NY

Senior iOS Engineer @ Resy – At Resy, we are tackling hard problems with elegant solutions and scaling very quickly. As an iOS Engineer, you’ll be a crucial player in taking our product to the next level. We’re seeking ambitious coders who are eager to build out exciting features for our restaurant partners and diners. You thrive in a dynamic and evolving environment and you’re excited about tech and hospitality. – New York, NY

Senior Software Engineer iOS @ Dataminr – This is an opportunity for you to own our mobile product, help us upgrade to Swift, and influence our technical strategy. You’ll also mentor junior engineers and help our team scale as we build products with global impact. See how the UN uses our real-time alerts to react faster in crises and keep their people safe around the world. – New York, NY

Mobile Software Engineer @ Diamond Kinetics – Do you love baseball? Join Diamond Kinetics to build iOS apps that are revolutionizing the sport of baseball. Work on cutting-edge baseball technology with our Bluetooth-enabled baseballs and swing sensors that put deep baseball analytics in every coach’s pocket. – Pittsburgh, PA

iOS Engineer @ Muse – Muse is a thinking canvas on your iPad. It brings together your notes, PDFs, and photos into a single, fluid space. We’re seeking one engineer to join our all-remote team of four. Come show the world how powerful the iPad can be for creative work. – Remote

iOS Engineer @ Lickability – Lickability is a small software studio in NYC building iOS apps with clients. At Lickability, you’ll have the opportunity to work side-by-side with teammates, participate in architecture and project-planning discussions, and contribute to our company style guide so we can keep getting better at what we do. Join a team focused on building delightful apps! – New York, NY

Senior iOS Developer @ 1 Second Everyday – Join a diverse team that’s working on the next, privacy first, social network. 100% remote. Award winning product, profitable since day 1, and backed by impact-focused investors. – Remote

Are you looking for a job? Check out the full list of 59 open positions on iOS Dev Jobs.

And finally...

It’s always amazing to see words like colour or organisation (or localisation for that matter!) spelled correctly here in the UK. Seeing details like this reminds me why I love Apple. Whoever did this deserves a raise… 👍