Sponsored Link
The Essential Guide to Mobile App Quality
Learn about the factors that affect the quality of your iOS app and the costs of releasing low-quality apps. Discover the industry benchmarks you should target and how you can improve your mobile app quality to meet and exceed them. Read it now.
News
DocC is Now Open-Source
When DocC debuted at WWDC, Apple mentioned that the plan was to open-source the project, and here it is! I'd say the tool has had quite a mixed reception so far, although I remain optimistic about it. Contributions are open, and while there's no formal process for proposing a change, the contributions guide suggests opening an issue for discussion before implementing anything significant.
Tools
Kaleidoscope 3
When I first worked with source control, it was in the days when you needed to "lock" files so they couldn't be edited by anyone else until someone broke the lock or checked them back in. 👴 That's a pretty terrible way to work in a team and impossible with a larger group. As soon as asynchronous source control systems appeared, the task of diffing and merging files became essential and having tools to help was hugely beneficial.
Kaleidoscope hasn’t quite been around for that long, but it’s undoubtedly a Mac app with plenty of history. Launched in 2010 and acquired three times in eleven years (the history is well worth a read, too), here we are at version 3.0.
It may seem expensive at first glance, but consider this before being too harsh. It has been an excellent tool for eleven years, and I’m happy it has a secure and hopefully stable new home. 🎉
For full disclosure, I helped beta test this release and was also sent a complimentary copy by the team.
Inspecting HTTP Traffic With Instruments
I didn't know about the new tool for inspecting network traffic that Apple added to Xcode 13's version of Instruments until I read this post from Keith Harrison, which means there's a chance you won't have heard about it either! It works quite differently from other similar tools you may have used, so give this a read to see how it works.
Code
Download Progress With Awaited Network Tasks
So, if you no longer need to deal with URLSessionDataTask
objects when downloading files, how do you track the progress of the request? Soroush Khanlou has this great write up of his experience working through the new way of doing this if you're using async
networking.
swift-markdown
The DocC open-source announcement wasn't just one piece of open-source code, it was multiple packages that go to make the tool. This one stood out to me as potentially useful in many situations. Yes, it's a markdown parser, and there are many of those around, but I love how this one gives you access to the parsed document before it's translated to HTML. Just note that it's for macOS (and Linux) only, not iOS. 👍
Simplifying Backwards Compatibility in Swift
This is an interesting technique from Dave DeLong for using new APIs in SwiftUI while still supporting older platforms. New APIs have always been something we've needed to deal with, but they feel much more awkward to deal with in SwiftUI than they were with UIKit/AppKit.
It's not all bad news, though, as John Sundell just happened to write about this week too!
Business and Marketing
Places you can promote your app for free
This list of places you can promote your apps from Filip Němeček is excellent, but I'd put an asterisk after the title. This is an excellent list of places you can promote your apps for free to other developers.
That's not to say this isn't a helpful list. It is. However, unless your app has developers as the primary customer, don't forget to do a lot more than what's here! It can feel comfortable or even easy to promote an app within your own community. After all, these are your people! It's critical to think more broadly than that for most apps, though. It's also much harder to make a generic list like this because every app is different, and your users inhabit all sorts of places you've never even considered.
Jobs
iOS Developer @ Konrad Group – Konrad is looking for iOS developers of all experience levels to join our mobile team building native (UIKit and SwiftUI!) apps for the world’s most exciting companies. Our team of 200+ developers is always looking to solve challenging problems, learn, and have fun! – Remote (Anywhere) with some on-site work (Canada)
Senior iOS Developer m/f/n @ intive GmbH – At intive, you will be supported in developing a long-term career plan that will expose you to the latest technologies at your individual pace. Want to learn more about Flutter? We'll give you the opportunity! – Remote (within European timezones) with some on-site work (Germany)
Software Engineer iOS (f/m/x) @ Elli - a brand of Volkswagen Group – We follow agile ways of working and code reviews. Our workspace is modern and you’ll be whiteboarding ideas with colleagues in our private breakout space. You’ll be joining a progressive organisation that cares about empowering individuals and meeting you with challenges to grow your career. – On-site (Germany) with some remote work (within European timezones)
iOS Engineer (Junior) (f/m/x) @ Elli - a brand of Volkswagen Group – We follow agile ways of working, use automated tools and code reviews. Our workspace is modern and you’ll be whiteboarding ideas with colleagues in our private breakout space. You’ll be joining a progressive organisation that cares about empowering individuals to grow your career. – On-site (Germany) with some remote work (within European timezones)
Senior iOS Engineer @ onX – Are you an iOS developer who loves the outdoors? Join onX! If you’re passionate about writing great software, love playing outside, and believe in protecting access to public lands – then join our team, where we empower millions of outdoor enthusiasts to explore the unknown! – Remote (within US timezones)
iOS Software Engineer @ Modo Labs – Come join a small development team that is both fast-paced and laid-back. We are developing a unified digital experience that empowers the hybrid workforce and digital-native students to success. – Remote (within US timezones)
iOS Developer @ Doximity – Doximity, medical network used by over 80% of US clinicians, is hiring passionate iOS engineers (remote). You'll 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. – Remote (within US timezones)
Senior macOS Engineer @ Paw – At Paw, our goal is to build the best possible productivity tools for developers, and in particular, for building and designing APIs (REST & GraphQL). We're proud to have Airbnb, Apple, Mailchimp, MessageBird, and many other leading tech companies among our most active customers. – Remote (within European timezones)
SwiftUI Developer (Multiplatform) @ Judo – Judo is a server-driven UI platform for iOS and Android. Our Mac app is used by designers and developers to build user interfaces visually and deploy them without submitting to the App Store. We're growing and looking for a seasoned Apple developer with a passion to sharpen their SwiftUI skills. – Remote (within US or European timezones)
Senior iOS Engineer @ Nurx – Nurx is a startup focusing on women's and sensitive health — birth control, STI & HPV testing, PrEP, and more! You'll wear many different hats (dev, design, product) on a small US-remote team to help change a broken healthcare system & positively impact the lives of thousands of patients every day! – Remote (within US timezones)
Is your company hiring? You can post your open positions for free over at iOS Dev Jobs.
Or, if you're looking for a new challenge, download the apps so you never miss an opportunity that might change your career!
And finally...
Is this the ultimate bug report? 😂I think it might be!
Comment
With new iPads, iPhones, and watches all in our hands and on our wrists, Monday’s event can only be about one thing. Apple is joining SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic in their quest for space tourism, using their new iWarp Drive. 😂
Of course, it can only really be about Macs. Even better, It’s very likely to be about higher-end Macs, and developers love high-end Macs, so it’s likely to be an event of great interest for us all. It was even important enough for developers to get a mention in developer news.
I’m still curious what the “Pro” desktop Macs will look like, but if the rumours are true, Monday is all about laptops. They still have more than a year left in their transition plan to get the iMac Pro and Mac Pro done.
I may even buy a new laptop with these announcements! I managed to resist all of the M1 machines, but every time the fan on my Intel machine spins up while running … well, basically anything, I doubt my decision.
🤑💸😬💸🤑
Dave Verwer