Issue 684

Comment

It’s extremely likely that come June next year, Apple will hold another WWDC conference. It’s also likely that we’ll see new and updated SDKs and a new beta of Xcode at that event.

Which means that right now, teams of people inside Apple are hard at work figuring out and implementing features and fixes to unveil in about seven months. Yes, it’s really only seven months until WWDC! 😱

It’s almost certainly too late for feedback to influence Apple’s priorities for next year’s releases, but I’d love to know what you’d all prioritise. I’d love it if you let me know what you hope Apple is working on for WWDC 2025.

Next week, I’ll take your replies and mix them with some of my own thoughts to create a special issue that tries to sum up what the community is hoping for in 2025.

So, what developer-focused features do you hope that Apple is hard at work on for next year’s WWDC?

News

TestFlight enhancements to help you reach testers

Better invitations, including the ability to set criteria based on operating system version and device type. Analytics on how people are interacting with your invitation link. Sounds like a solid update to TestFlight.

Code

App development on iPad

James Froggatt:

In the last year, I’ve gone all-in on building apps using an iPad. I’ve never met another Playgrounds developer, and a lot of the community are surprised this is even possible!

It’s great to see someone really pushing the limits of what’s possible with Swift Playgrounds, and even better to see them write it up!

Test Linux compatibility for Swift packages

One way to check the compatibility of your package with Linux is to add it to you know what. But while we will check your compatibility, if it fails then the best way to fix the issues is to work locally and the easiest way to do that is with Docker. Cihat Gündüz explains how.

Making accessible charts with Swift Charts

You might think that charts would be difficult to make accessible to those with vision problems, but you’d be wrong. Swift Charts makes it quite easy to listen to an “audio chart”, which plays a tone for every data point. Here’s Pasquale Vittoriosi and Matteo Altobello with a detailed look at how to make your data more accessible.

Jobs

Staff Software Engineer - iOS @ NewStore – Join NewStore and be part of a forward-thinking team dedicated to crafting exceptional mobile experiences. We embrace TDD, pairing, and best engineering principles, fostering an environment where you can lead, inspire, and help shape the future of our iOS engineering culture. – Remote (within European timezones) with some on-site work (Germany, Netherlands, or United Kingdom)

Senior iOS Developer @ komoot – You’ll team up with six world-class iOS engineers, take over full responsibility for our iOS app, and develop diverse features for navigation, routing, social interaction, and content visualization that will make your work challenging and fun. – Remote (within European timezones)

And finally...

It feels hard to believe this happened thirty years ago. 😱

Internet access was pretty hard to find in 1994 in the UK. Even though I was a university student at the time, my university did not give internet access to students. Well, they didn’t officially give us access to the internet. Did that stop us? It did not. 😂 I fondly remember using early versions of Mosaic, HotJava, and this first public release of Netscape Navigator.

Issue 684 October 25th 2024