Sponsored Link
Orka Desktop
Orka Desktop helps iOS and macOS developers to unblock workflows by running builds or test work in a VM on any macOS including Sequoia Beta. Additionally, you can safely run breaking tests on your own machine and improve collaboration with easily shareable images. And best of all it's FREE to use and easy to learn!
Tools
How to use EditorConfig files in Xcode
Hereās Pol Piella talking about Xcodeās new support for editor configuration files. What a great step forward for anyone who works on multiple projects with different teams. š
Maybe we can hope for auto-formatting in Xcode 17? Itās time to make my dream come true.
Quickly move between changes in a file
When I first read this tip from Neil Macy, I had to do a double-take as I use ā+\ (Create Breakpoint at Current Line) all the time. Turns out heās talking about ā+\, which was a new one to me, but an extremely useful shortcut!
Code
SwiftTranslate
If you want to take a more DIY approach to letting an LLM translate your string catalogues than the website I mentioned last week, I came across Andrew Theisā package this week. Itās not as slick of a UI, but the results will be very similar, if not the same.
Typed throws in Swift
I hadnāt taken a look at the implementation of typed throws in Swift until I read this post from Majid Jabrayilov. I seem to remember there was some back and forth on whether this was a good idea when it went through evolution, but I think the implementation turned out great from reading this example code.
SwiftUI for Mac 2024
In and amongst Sarah Reicheltās round-up of this yearās SwiftUI changes on macOS thereās also a quick review of Xcode 16ās predictive code completion. So, if you donāt read it for the Mac SwiftUI tips, read it for that!
Design
Giving watchOS the love it deserves
If Iām honest, I donāt often think about watchOS development š«£ so it was a nice change to read about it in Thomas Durandās latest post. He uses his PadLok app as a base for a walkthrough of how to design a modern watchOS app. I have to say the end result looks great!
Jobs
Mobile Developer (iOS) @ Planning Center ā Our Mobile Team works on both iOS and Android. While focuses are leveraged, there is a healthy bit of collaboration in the execution of how things are released. ā Remote (within US timezones) with some on-site work (United States in CA)
Senior iOS Developer @ komoot ā Youāll take over full responsibility for our iOS app. Your work will touch all parts of the app and make outdoor adventures easily accessible to our users. Youāll develop diverse navigation, routing, social interaction, and content visualization features that will make your work challenging and fun. ā Remote (within European timezones)
iOS Engineer @ Pika Earth ā We're a high-growth, Sequoia backed climate tech company. iOS is our main user surface area, so you'll be responsible for many high-impact features that touch our core users. There are a ton of interesting technical problems, from offline mode to AR/VR modeling, and we have a world-class team. ā On-site (United States in CA or NY) with some remote work (within US timezones)
I donāt know how you wouldnāt know this as I say it every week, but donāt forget that you can post any open Swift or Apple platform jobs for free over at iOS Dev Jobs.
And finally...
Because, of course one survived!
Comment
If youāve been reading for a while, youāll know I rarely talk about rumours, but Iāll talk about one today. What makes it different? Unlike product leaks or rumours of developer changes, I likely wonāt ever get to talk about this one if I wait. Itās about an internal change that will almost certainly never be announced publicly.
If you havenāt seen the rumour already, itās that Apple will create two App Store teams. One team will be responsible for the current App Store and the other will deal with the āalternative app distributionā.
If this is true, Iāll be sad to see it happen. Once the DMA was revealed, I hoped that Apple might find a way to navigate the regulations and make some compromises on the core issues instead of continuing down this path to more and more complexity. That, over time, they might find common ground with regulators and their business interests to continue to make a global store work.
Currently, the boundary of the āalternative app distributionā store will be broadly along EU and non-EU lines. But as more regions pass regulations, how will that balance shift? The DMA regulation in the EU is not the end of this story.
As software developers, we have been lucky, or some people might even say spoiled, to get access to international sales platforms that have barely any administrative overhead for us. All we need to do is fill out a few tax forms, and weāre able to sell our apps in hundreds of countries.
If this rumour is true, it feels like Apple is giving up on finding that compromise. If there are two teams, how hard will it be for them to ever join back up?
Maybe my hope for common ground is unrealistic. Perhaps separate stores with separate rules are inevitable. But Iād like to think thereās a way to make it work with some compromises on both sides, and if this happens, it feels that will slip a little further away.
Dave Verwer