A few weeks ago there was an extended discussion on the future of Objective-C and I linked to a couple of different stories on it. This week Jason Brennan posted a follow up to his original article. He argues that we're not thinking big enough by just considering a replacement for Objective-C and that we need to think of a bigger picture on how we build software in a more modern way. It's a lengthy article but certainly one worth reading, and looking back on in 5 years.
Push Notification service server certificate update
This isn't urgent yet, but if you send push notifications from your app then you’ll need to update this before next January. That’s only three months away, if you needed a scare! 👻
Happy New Device Day to those who are celebrating!
I hope you’ll forgive me a shorter-than-usual comment section today. I’m not feeling very well at the moment and haven’t been able to put my usual level of effort into today’s newsletter. 😬
Hopefully I’ll feel better soon and normal service will resume next week. Please do enjoy the articles below, and I’ll be back before you know it!
Trader status in the European Union
If you’ve been dutifully ignoring Apple’s reminder emails about setting your “trader status” in App Store Connect, you can no longer submit app updates as of today. If you continue to delay doing it, your apps will be removed from the App Store in EU countries in February next year.
Apple has some information on what it all means if you’re struggling. It’s still not simple, though, so be prepared to read that page several times.
In a change from previous years, Apple is announcing the Swift Student Challenge early this year. Really early! Applications for the challenge don’t open until February next year, so why talk about it now? From reading this news post, the intention is to give people a chance to learn Swift now to be ready to go in the February submission window. The “Get Ready” page is also updated with a new “Swift Coding Clubs” section. Do you know anyone who might want to learn the language? There are some great resources here.
It’s go time for iOS 18, macOS 15, and all their friends! Your app updates that you slaved over throughout the summer are probably already pending release and it all kicks off on Monday!
I've been running the betas recently, and the iPhone Mirroring feature confuses me. It works well when my phone is close by, but I accidentally left it downstairs in the kitchen a few days ago and attempted to use mirroring for a real task for the first time. Unfortunately, it failed to connect because my phone was too far away. 🫤
Now, before you start thinking I live in a mansion and I was trying to connect between my office the east wing to my kitchen in the west wing, I wish I did! my kitchen is at the bottom of the stairs and my office is at the top. Maybe 6 metres away. I’ve not found anyone else complaining about range, but every demo I’ve seen, even Apple’s has the phone sitting right next to the Mac.
So, I’ve been thinking about why this feature exists.
It’s part of the Continuity set of features, which have (at least for me) been a tremendous success. It’s possible some of them were a little flaky at first, but they are rock solid now and I couldn’t live without seamless copy and paste between my phone and my Mac. ❤️
The second half of the iPhone Mirroring demo was all about using it for drag and drop between devices. A feature that feels much more a part of the Continuity set of features. I wonder if that’s the true purpose of what Apple built, and all the other parts of it are just what it took to make that work? Certainly if my phone is sitting directly next to me, I’d rather pick it up than use it with my mouse in a window on my Mac.
I do wish it would work from my kitchen for those occasional times I accidentally leave my phone downstairs. That said, a few more flights of stairs every day will do me more good than harm!
So, what comes next?
I do have something new to announce today! The newsletter will continue as usual, but you can also become an iOS Dev Weekly Insider.
Over the years, people have occasionally emailed asking if there was any way to pay for the newsletter. My reply has always been to say that just subscribing and reading is enough! That remains true, but if you asked me the same question today, I’d reply that becoming a Supporter would be for you.
But I wanted to offer more, so I’m trying something new. Become an Insider if you want a closer connection to the newsletter. I’ll be hosting weekly live audio discussions that take a more candid look at what’s happening in iOS development. We’ll typically start on the topic from my latest comment, but there will also be a chance to talk about the articles I linked to and the industry in general. I want these sessions to be live as I’m hoping they will be genuine discussions rather than a monologue, and I’d love to get to know the Insiders personally. The first chat will be early next week (scheduled via Patreon), and we’ll start by talking about the first story in this week’s news section around the App Store review process.
Finally, if you’d like my advice and guidance more directly, I now have a way to provide that on a One to One basis. I’ll get to know you and your app(s) and guide you on your trickiest product, design, and marketing challenges. The only thing to note here is that this is not coding support as there are far more qualified people for that side of things! These sessions are the first time I’ve offered consultancy outside big companies, and I’m excited to work with individuals or smaller companies.
All that said, I want to reiterate that I don’t want anyone to feel pressure to subscribe to any of these Patreon tiers. The newsletter remains free, and I have no plans to change that. However, if you would like to get an inside look or just say thank you for 500 issues, sign up to become an iOS Dev Weekly Insider today.