Issue 499

Comment

You may remember back in January when I mentioned that some community members had kindly stepped up to run this year's iOS Developer Community Survey. Well, I'm delighted to say that they were successful, and they recently unveiled the results of this year's survey. Thanks to Chris Hefferman and Dragos Dobrean for running the questionnaire and publishing the results, and to Benjamin Hendricks for writing the first analysis article.

They have plans for more analysis articles in the future, including a comparison between this year and last year's results, which I think will be fascinating, and is one reason I started the survey. Like last year, they're also looking for more people to write analysis articles, so if that sounds interesting, get in touch with them. Until then, take a look at the results. 🎉

News

The Google Play "Small Business Program"

This is a predictable move from Google in response to Apple's Small Business Program. Google's version starts in July and is better in one significant way. Instead of needing to be eligible to join a programme, this is a simple 15% reduction in fees for the first $1M of revenue for all developers.

Your move, Apple! 😂

XcodeSpy targets Xcode developers

Unlike XcodeGhost back in 2015, this new Xcode focused malware is not a compromised version of Xcode itself. Instead, it's a compromised version of a legitimate open-source project that uses a Run Script phase to infect your machine. You're unlikely to be infected, but there are instructions in this report from Phil Stokes if you'd like to double-check.

Tools

Digging deeper into xcbuild: Rules and Tasks

I enjoyed this post from Asif, who talks about using the tips on this gist from Daniel Dunbar to track down a build problem that was causing incremental builds to... well, not to be incremental! 😂

Getting to Know the Simulator Better

How well do you know the simctl tool? There's a vast amount of functionality that this utility makes possible, but since much of it is "hidden" behind command-line options, you might not be aware of it all. In this article, Andy Ibanez takes a thorough look at the ways that it can help with your app development.

Code

The Daily iOS

I love this idea from Jordan Morgan. Despite its reputation, the Apple documentation site has a wealth of great information on it, and Jordan is going to tweet one link a day, showing you the best of it. He also wrote up how he got this up and running through a Siri shortcut.

There have been occasions where I regretted calling this newsletter iOS Dev Weekly, but I will forever be glad that I did not choose to call it iOS Dev Daily! 😂 Good luck Jordan!

Open Sourcing isowords

I've linked to the composable architecture from Stephen Celis and Brandon Williams before, but isn't it always better to see an architecture demonstrated in a real-world environment? Isowords is not only a fun game (seriously, try it!) but a great example of the composable architecture in practice by the people who created it. 👍

SimulatorStatusMagic for iOS 14

If you remember SimulatorStatusMagic that Greg Spiers and I originally developed, then this might be of interest. I deprecated the project when simctl added support for setting status bar appearances, but it turns out that there are still good reasons to use the library, and it has limped along with insufficient maintenance from me for the last couple of years.

Not any more, though! I'm thrilled to say that Chris Vasselli and Nick Brook recently took over the project's maintenance and made a new release this week that supports iOS 14. 🎉

Setting up a multi-platform SwiftUI project

Xcode 12 comes with a "Multiplatform project" template, but the platforms they're talking about is iOS and macOS. What if you wanted one project to cover watchOS and tvOS as well?. I tried doing this when Xcode 12 first debuted, and it wasn't quite as simple as I expected it to be. Luckily, Ryan Grey has put together this guide.

macOS Development

Mac App Store Analytics

Well, Analytics coming to the Mac App Store certainly is a surprise! There's not much more to say other than it's interesting to see how analytics differ per platform.

Will we see TestFlight for macOS next week? 🤞

Jobs

iOS Developer @ Atomic Robot – Atomic Robot works with some of the most exciting companies and brands to help them bring their innovative projects to life! We have a highly collaborative team that is focused on high quality engineering and continuous learning. – Remote

Humbly Confident Senior iOS Developer @ You Need A Budget (YNAB) – We strive to make working at YNAB a unique and fantastic experience (we’ve even been named Fortune’s #1 Best Small Company to Work For). We have a team full of truly exceptional people—the kind you’ll be excited to work with. We’re a software ecosystem that includes apps for web, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Android phones. We have some big plans for our iOS app, and that’s where you come in! – Remote

iOS Developer @ Doximity – Doximity, the medical network used by over 70% of US clinicians, is hiring passionate iOS engineers (full-time remote!). You'll get to be part of an amazing product team and work on an app that is constantly evolving. Use your skills (Swift, MVVM, FRP) to be an integral part of our newly launched telemedicine feature. Apply today! – Remote within the US

Are you hiring? Get your open iOS development positions listed right here by posting a Featured Listing over at iOS Dev Jobs.

And finally...

That’s how I ended up with the PIKACHU architecture. 😂

Issue 499 March 19th 2021