Swift 4 – A Step Ahead to The Most Advanced Programming Language

Hey, welcome back!!! Let’s move one step ahead with the open source development language from Swift 3 to Swift 4. We, at 9series, have filtered out points of our next strides in developing mobile apps using Swift 4.

Swift 4 is the latest major release for iOS App Developer that is intended to be completed in the fall of 2017. Its main focus is to provide source compatibility with Swift 3 code while implementing essential feature work that needs to achieve binary stability in the language. It will contain valuable enhancements to the core language and Standard Library, particularly in the generics system and an overhaul of the String type.

Source Compatibility Modes

The Swift 4 compiler will provide two language modes: Swift version 3 and Swift version 4. Swift 3 established the language for source-level stability...

What’s New in Xcode 9

Eagerly waiting for the features of Xcode 9? Here it is. Apple has released Xcode 9, the newest version of its free integrated development environment (IDE) for building iOS application, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS apps. With everything you need to create amazing apps for Apple platforms, Xcode 9 is unbelievably quick and consistently smooth while editing even the largest files. It also understands your code better than ever. Powerful new refactoring tasks happen in place, renaming symbols across Swift, Objective-C, and even user interface files without skipping a beat. And with source compatibility in Swift 4, Xcode 9 uses the same compiler to build existing Swift 3 code and updated Swift 4 code, so you can migrate at your own pace. Brief About Xcode 9

• Xcode 9 requires a Mac running macOS 10.12.4 or later.
• Xcode 9 includes SDKs for iOS 11, watchOS 4,...
  View More

Apple’s Announcements at WWDC 2017 – Keynotes

The 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference keynote was Apple's biggest event in years, with the company introducing both new software platforms and a range of new hardware products. As usual, the event began with the message for developers “Keep making apps, the world is depending on you”. And as always, the event started with a keynote during which Apple announced dates (June 5–9, 2017 in San Jose) of updates for their iOS, OS X, watchOS, and tvOS platforms.

iOS 11

A Giant step for iPhone, A Monumental leap for iPad

Apple officially announced iOS 11 at WWDC 2017. The next major update to the operating system running on millions of iPhones and iPads will improve.

Messages App Syncs Across Multiple Devices

The first new iOS 11 feature: synchronized conversations across iCloud, iOS, and macOS. Messages are moving to iCloud. If you...

Amazing 9 App Extensions for iOS App Development

As we have already referred iOS App Extensions in the previous article, let’s check out the rest of the App Extensions below.

1. Intents Extension

Cooperation with Sirikit occurs through your Intents extension, which is an app extension that you convey inside your iOS app bundle. You should already have an iOS app before you build an Intents extension. The Intents extension handles most communications with Sirikit, yet your iOS app needs to know about those communications and in some cases may have an active role in making them happen. When adding an Intents extension to your iOS app, you must do the following:

• Enable the Siri capability in your iOS app; check Configuration of Your Xcode Project.
• Add an Intents extension target to your Xcode project and configure its Info.plist file; see Configuration of Your Xcode Project.
• Request authorization to use Siri at runtime; see Requesting Siri...
  View More

What is Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)?

Bluetooth Low Energy is a wireless personal area network technology designed by the bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). Bluetooth low energy (formerly known as Bluetooth Smart) is a universal low-power wireless standard that makes it easy to connect any product to a smartphone or tablet. The most common use case of bluetooth low energy is transferring small amount of data between nearby device. Support for bluetooth low energy is available on most major platforms as of the versions listed below

• iOS5+ (iOS7+ preferred)
• Android 4.3+ (numerous bug fixes in 4.4+)
• Apple OS X 10.6+
• Windows 8 (XP, Vista and 7 only support Bluetooth 2.1)
• GNU/Linux Vanilla BlueZ 4.93+

BLE is used for making application type of connected watches, tracking tags, sports and fitness sensors, healthcare sensors and remote controls. It is also seen in Smart Home applications such as connected door locks and lightings.

Advantages of BLE are :

• Low cost
• Ease of development...
  View More

Data Sharing And More Insights of WatchOS 3.0

Welcome to the next level of insights about WatchOS. If you are new to this WatchOS series then please read our blog Fundamental Concept of WatchOS. In this article, we will look about data sharing methods across Apple Watch and iOS app. Also we will check for background tasks, Apple Pay Enhancement, WatchOS Connectivity framework, What’s new in WatchOS 3.0, etc. So, let’s start with further more features and updates for WatchOS: Different Methods of Sharing Data Between WatchKit and iOS App

• MMWormhole Library
• NSUserDefault
• WatchKit connectivity Framework

What’s New in WatchOS 3.0 With the upcoming WatchOS 3 update to all Apple Watch devices, the performance of many watch applications is definitely going to improve. This is mainly due to the new forms of background execution where watchOS apps can take advantage in order to refresh their content periodically and always have the latest information that is ready to be viewed by...

The “Phablet” Evolution

Remember the time when smaller mobile phones were fancy and had small screens? Well that time has gone! A smartphone having a screen which is standard in size between that of a smartphone and a tablet computer. The word itself speaks: phone + tablet = phablet. So these are mobile phones that are way bigger. More specifically, the screen size of these devices typically extends between 5 inches to 6.9 inches. In the last ten years, smartphones have changed their shape, size and design. Since Apple changed the “evolution” of the mobile phone with the iPhone release, smartphones have grown rapidly and are followed behind large screen phones “Phablets” that have expanded its market presence rapidly. We can say that screen sizes have been an issue for quite a while before the iPhone with phone manufacturers producing phones with bigger screen sizes are compressed into small Containers since 2001. Apple...

Fundamental Concept of WatchOS

As we all know, the latest WatchOS has been released which brings you faster performance, easy navigation, advanced fitness features, the Breathe app and more powerful Messages. Being an iOS application developer we first need to check with its basic concepts, how the structure is defined, what kind of execution is there, etc. Hence, we, 9series, are releasing our first article with basic concepts, frameworks, design patterns, architecture of Watch OS. So, let’s start with this theoretical chapter: What is WatchOS ? WatchOS is the mobile operating system of the Apple Watch, developed by Apple Inc. It is based on the iOS operating system and has many similar features. Developing for apple watch means providing your user important, impactful, helpful information in a most convenient way. What is WatchKit? WatchKit is Apple’s framework for building apps from Apple Watch,and it is bundled with Xcode. WatchKit watch app is not a standalone...

Monitor Activities of iOS Apps Using Xcode Instruments

When we are taking a shot at iOS application, we are thinking of new features for making our app great. Apart from improving / enhancing our app, we ought to instrument its code also. The Instrument allows you to check your code for performance issues, memory issues, reference cycles, and other problems. With the help of these instruments, we can bug-free potential applications as best as possible. Xcode incorporates a performance tuning application named Instruments that monitor your app’s network and file I/O activity. Let’s investigate it one-by-one and its usage: 1. Activity Monitor Activity Monitor is an awesome utility to monitor what type of applications and services are chewing up CPU cycles, energy hogs, and other things that might slow your Mac down. Using activity monitor one can figure out why iPhone was chewing the battery when comes in sleeping mode. When Instruments comes in a sleeping...

Want to Create your Own App? Get started with Xcode 8 Development

We, 9series has started looking forward for the latest version of IDE for iOS App Development i.e. Xcode 8. At WWDC 2016, Apple announced Xcode 8, the latest version of its IDE for iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS. With every major release, the company enhances its developer tools and adds a number of compelling new features. Xcode 8 is released with major improvements like Swift 3, address and thread sanitizer, a new editor extension architecture, and more. 9series strongly believe that by using these latest features, development can be done faster and can be pushed ahead with the next strides. Before downloading the latest version of Xcode i.e. Xcode 8, let’s check with its compatibility. Compatibility: Xcode 8 requires a Mac running macOS El Capitan version 10.11.4 or later. It includes SDKs for iOS 10.0, watchOS 3.0, macOS Sierra version 10.12, and tvOS 10.0. Swift Migration Tool: Projects...