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News
Apple Entrepreneur Camp 2020
In 2019, the Apple Entrepreneur Camp focused on female founders, and I'm delighted to see that this valuable programme is continuing this year. This time, it's all focused on Black founders and developers, so check out the apps created by the previous alumni, and get your application in.
apple.com
Evolution of Programming Languages – iPhone OS 1.0 to iOS 14
Hot on the heels of last week's post, Alexandre Colucci is back at it again this week with more stats about iOS releases. This time, he's looking at every release from iPhone OS 1 through to iOS 14 and comparing the balance of languages used. Not just Swift, but Objective-C, C, and C++ too! ⚡️
timac.org
Tools
Managing Version Numbers with Fastlane
Choosing how to increment your app's version number is one thing, but remembering all the steps to get a release out of the door is another! How many times have you forgotten to increment the version number before an App Store Connect upload? Or maybe you forgot to tag a release in git? Ben Scheirman uses fastlane to save mistakes.
benscheirman.com
GoSwifty
Are you working on an app that's transitioning from Objective-C to Swift? Do you know what percentage of your code is in each language? Here's a nice little tool from Ruslan Serebriakov that will satisfy your curiosity by telling you the balance between the two languages in your codebase. 👍
github.com
Code
Introducing Swift Service Discovery
Have you noticed that Apple releasing a new Swift open-source library is an almost weekly occurrence these days? 🎉 This week, we have Yim Lee telling us all about Swift Service Discovery. This isn't something you're going to be using in your apps, but it's great to see Apple pushing things forward with server-side Swift too.
swift.org
Implementing multi-user support in tvOS 14
I have a long-running debate with a friend of mine. He's always convinced that every year is the year that Apple will add multi-user functionality to iOS, and I think it'll never happen. tvOS got support for it at the operating system level a few years ago though, and with tvOS 14, it's available to apps too. Here's Filip Němeček to tell us about it.
nemecek.be
Extending the Scribble User Experience
There's not much you need to do to support Scribble in your iPad apps - It's supported by every text field automatically. What if you want to go a bit further though? Here's Akshat Patel showing how to make the best of the Scribble APIs in iOS 14.
pspdfkit.com
Videos
Building GitHub Mobile
This new YouTube channel from Sash Zats is great. It's interviews with app builders, telling their stories. I enjoyed this episode with Ryan Nystrom talking about GitHub Mobile, and of course, GitHawk!
youtube.com
Implementing fastlane from nothing to App Store
Who better to take you through fastlane from start to finish than the current maintainer, Josh Holtz. There's no one better, so here he is. I missed this video back in April when it was released, but it's never too late, right? 😬
youtube.com
Jobs
iOS Engineer @ Karbon – Join our dedicated, all-remote agency and help us build amazing iOS apps for amazing clients. We've spent the past 10 years helping companies ship apps to millions of users—join us as we focus on the next 10 years. – Remote, or Portland OR
Senior iOS Engineer, Engagement @ VSCO – The Engagement team is looking for a Senior iOS Engineer to work on a product that impacts millions of people around the world. You'll be innovating and creating ideas through experimentation and learnings that will lead to significant changes in user acquisition, engagement and revenue, collaborating with other developers who have a similar passion for both our users and creativity. – California, New York, or Oregon
And finally...
If anyone in the marketing department for Apple Silicon Macs is listening, please make this happen. It'd be glorious. 😍
Let’s talk a little more about the App Store, shall we? Fear not though, I’m not going to talk about problems this week, but opportunities.
Specifically, an opportunity offered by iOS 14 that you might not have considered. Grab an iPhone and check out the marketing page for Phoenix2, an iOS game.
See that banner at the top of the screen? No, it’s not a Smart App Banner. It’s got a dotted line around the icon, and a button that says “PLAY”. It’s an App Clip!
I completely missed that web-based App Clips were a thing when Apple announced them back in June. Click the button, and a few seconds later, you’re in a full-screen iOS game launched directly from the site.
We may not have demo versions in a traditional sense, but this is an exciting potential use case for a technology that felt like it was all about physical, real-world interactions when Apple unveiled it. If Firi Games can get a full level of their game into a 10Mb clip, I can’t wait to see what else is possible.
Dave Verwer