Sponsored Link
AppDesignKit
App Design Kit is a collection of beautifully designed, ready-to-use, iOS app templates written in Swift. It's up to you if you take the projects forward into full apps, or just extract components from them. Either way, you'll save time over starting from scratch. Check it out.
appdesignkit.com
Tools
DocTest
Adding code samples into your documentation comments is a great way to show other developers how to use your API, but what happens when you change your API and forget to update the code in your comment? The compiler isn't going to warn you that your documentation doesn't compile any more... until now. Here's an exciting new project from Mattt that aims to make that dream come true.
github.com
RocketSim
Next up is Antoine van der Lee with a new utility for working with the simulator. My favourite feature is how it lets you quickly (and repeatedly) launch an app with from a URL, which is great when you're testing deep links (or any links!) into your app. 👍
For full disclosure, Antoine sent me a copy of the app for me as it launched.
avanderlee.com
XCOrganizer
Do you ever wish the Xcode welcome screen could hold more recently opened items on the right-hand side? Would you like to filter it by app type, add tags, or filter between projects, packages, or playgrounds? This free app from Sergii Kryvoblotskyi might act as a replacement for that Xcode screen if you have a lot of projects on your disk.
apple.com
Code
Open-Source Audiographs
I hadn't even heard the term Audiograph before reading this article from Andy Neusuess, but now I know about them I'm in love with the concept. They are accessible audio representations of line graphs using low to high pitches to represent values. Along with the article, there's also an open-source implementation!
anerma.de
How to Enable Custom Debugging in Release Builds
I thought this approach to enabling debug functionality from Andrew King was really interesting. I'm sure we've all done an #ifdef DEBUG, but is that the only way? His suggestion to basically "bless" devices as debug devices is something I've not seen before.
MVP and Coordinators in SwiftUI
Luis Ascorbe with a whopping three-part (1, 2, and 3) article on SwiftUI application architecture. I know I say every time I include a post on architecture posts, that I don't do it very often, but here I am including one again! 😂 My only defence is that with Apple leaving the door so open around SwiftUI architecture, it's only natural that the community focuses in on the topic.
lascorbe.com
The Complete Guide to NavigationView
I've said it before, but I really like Paul Hudson's approach to blog posts recently. Text for those who prefer to read, and a full-length video version for those who prefer that. Here's his take on comprehensively explaining how to tame NavigationView in SwiftUI.
hackingwithswift.com
macOS Development
Is your Mac app missing high resolution icons?
If you work on a Mac app that uses an asset catalog, you'll want to read this thread from Max Seelemann. This suggestion from Maxim Ananov seems like the best workaround.
twitter.com
Jobs
Senior iOS Engineer @ onX – Are you an iOS developer who loves the outdoors? Bring your iOS skills to onX, where we bring our devotion to the outdoors to work daily with a singular, powerful goal; to inspire others to find their own adventures off the pavement. – Remote, or Montana, USA
It's also worth saying that if you're actively looking for a job, you should sign up for the jobs specific mailing list over at iOS Dev Jobs. It's one email a week, every Monday, and includes lots of jobs that don't get featured here. I'm also planning something a bit special for the jobs site soon, so you'll want to be signed up for when that ships!
And finally...
Remember ArgumentParser? Well, what if someone used it to build a tool to create entire SwiftUI apps from the command-line... and no, it doesn’t generate source code, it generates entire. working. apps... from a command-line tool. 😬
You should probably see it to believe it... I honestly don't know how I feel about this. 😂
I didn’t comment on the iOS 14 leaks of the last few weeks. If you’ve been reading for a while, you’ll know rumours aren’t my thing.
However, as I was reading Bryce Pauken’s piece on the private API that allows non-numeric notification badges this week, one of those rumours did strike me. Specifically, the possibility of widgets making it onto the iOS home screen.
At one side of the scale, you’ve got the iOS 14 rumour of widget filled home screens, and on the other, you have iOS 13 where the only dynamic customisation of an app’s representation on the home screen is a number in a red circle.
It struck me that there might be a middle ground between the two, dynamic app icons. Back when the iPhone was new, it made sense that apps couldn’t draw their app icon. Apps terminated when they were not frontmost, and there were no background APIs. Memory and battery were too constrained. But now? With low power cores, massive batteries, and comprehensive backgrounding options? It feels like it should be feasible. If we can have an always-on, 1Hz refresh rate screen on our wrist, I’m sure we can have a sometimes-on 1Hz dynamic icon refresh.
If the widget rumour turns out to be real, they’ll likely be first-party only. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could get a little crumb thrown our way with dynamic app icons? I’d finally be able to remove the default calendar app off my home screen and replace it with the calendar app that I use. 🤞
Note: I don't include custom app icons in my list of customisation options for iOS 13 apps, as changing them takes direct user interaction.
Dave Verwer