Tech News - iOS Programming

Apple Entrepreneur Camp supports underrepresented founders and developers as they build the next generation of cutting-edge apps and helps form a global network that encourages the pipeline and longevity of these entrepreneurs in technology. Applications are now open for the first cohort for Black founders and developers, which runs online from February 16 to 25, 2021. Attendees receive code-level guidance, mentorship, and inspiration with unprecedented access to Apple engineers and leaders. Applications close on November 20, 2020. Learn more about Apple Entrepreneur Camp Learn about some of our inspiring alumni

Now you can let customers pre-order your app up to 180 days before it’s released for download on the App Store. Take advantage of this longer lead time to build more excitement for your app’s features, services, and content, and to encourage more pre-orders. Once your app is released, customers will be notified and it will automatically download to their device within 24 hours. Learn more about pre-orders

Discover how you can create unparalleled augmented reality experiences within your apps and games on iOS and iPadOS. We’ll show you how to work with powerful frameworks like ARKit and RealityKit, bring your AR scenes to life with creative tools like Reality Composer and Reality Converter, and take advantage of LiDAR Scanner depth data. Explore the LiDAR Scanner for iPhone and iPad Discover how you can take advantage of the LiDAR Scanner on iPhone and iPad to create AR experiences that interact with real-world objects. When you pair the LiDAR Scanner with the ARKit and RealityKit frameworks in your app, you can instantly place AR objects in the real world without scanning and take advantage of depth information to create experiences with real-world physics, object occlusion, and lighting effects. Tech Talks Advanced Scene Understanding in AR ARKit 3.5 and RealityKit provide new capabilities that take full advantage of the LiDAR Scanner on the new iPad Pro. Check out ARKit 3.5 and learn about Scene Geometry, enhanced raycasting, instantaneous virtual object placement, and more. See how RealityKit takes advantage of these features to... Visualizing and Interacting with a Reconstructed Scene Creating a Fog Effect Using Scene Depth Visualizing a Point Cloud Using Scene Depth Creating a Game with SceneUnderstanding Discover ARKit and RealityKit ARKit 4 enables you to build the next generation of augmented reality apps to transform how people connect with the world around them, while RealityKit is Apple's rendering, animation, physics, and audio engine built from the ground up for augmented reality. Both frameworks help developers prototype and produce high-quality AR experiences. Explore an overview of each framework to learn more about building a great augmented reality experience for your app or game, including harnessing the LiDAR Scanner on iPhone and iPad, tracking faces for AR, and more. WWDC20 Explore ARKit 4 ARKit 4 enables you to build the next generation of augmented reality apps to transform how people connect with the world around them. We’ll walk you through the latest improvements to Apple’s augmented reality platform, including how to use Location Anchors to connect virtual objects with a... WWDC20 What's new in RealityKit RealityKit is Apple’s rendering, animation, physics, and audio engine built from the ground up for augmented reality: It reimagines the traditional 3D renderer to make it easy for developers to prototype and produce high-quality AR experiences. Learn how to effectively implement each of the... ARKit RealityKit Explore the ARKit Developer Forums Explore the RealityKit Developer Forums Learn more about ARKit and RealityKit LiDAR is only one aspect of developing for augmented reality. Dive deeper into ARKit and RealityKit to discover how you can add new dimensions to retail experiences, or pair these frameworks with Machine Learning and Computer Vision to create even smarter apps or games. Augment reality What's new in Machine Learning and Computer Vision

The HTTP/2-based Apple Push Notification service (APNs) provider API lets you take advantage of great features, such as authentication with a JSON Web Token, improved error messaging, and per-notification feedback. If you send push notifications with the legacy binary protocol, we strongly recommend upgrading to the APNs provider API. To give you additional time to prepare, the deadline to upgrade to the APNs provider API has been extended to March 31, 2021. APNs will no longer support the legacy binary protocol after this date. Learn about the APNs provider API

Apple designed WKWebView in 2014 to ensure that you can integrate web content into your app quickly, securely, and consistently across iOS and macOS. Since then, we’ve recommended that you adopt WKWebView instead of UIWebView and WebView — both of which were formally deprecated. New apps containing these frameworks are no longer accepted by the App Store. And last year, we announced that the App Store will no longer accept app updates containing UIWebView as of December 2020. However, to provide additional time for you to adopt WKWebView and to ensure that it supports the features most often requested by developers, this deadline for app updates has been extended beyond the end of 2020. We’ll let you know when a new deadline is confirmed. Learn about the latest in WKWebView

Now it’s simpler than ever for developers based in the United Kingdom and Ireland to enroll in the Apple Developer Program. The Apple Developer app now supports enrollment in these regions, allowing developers to start and finish their membership purchase with local payment methods on iPhone or iPad. And since membership is provided as an auto-renewable subscription, keeping it active is easy. View on the App Store

App Store server notifications provide real-time updates on a subscriber’s status, so you can create customized user experiences. The following new notifications are now available in the App Store sandbox environment and you can use them in production later this year: DID_RENEW lets you know when a subscriber successfully auto-renews. PRICE_INCREASE_CONSENT lets you know when the App Store starts asking users to agree to your subscription’s new price, so you can remind them of your service’s value as encouragement to stay subscribed. In addition, the following will be deprecated in the App Store sandbox environment in November 2020: RENEWAL notifications and these top-level objects: latest_receipt, latest_receipt_info, latest_expired_receipt, and latest_expired_receipt_info. Update your code to continue providing a seamless user experience. Learn more about App Store server notifications

Whether your app needs to provide a full web browsing experience, display richly-styled content, or incorporate external websites without taking people out of your app, you can make the experience smooth and seamless by choosing the right API. You can display web content inside of your app with both the WKWebView and SFSafariViewController APIs. But which is the best for your app’s needs? WKWebView is part of the WebKit framework: It allows you to embed web content into your app as a seamless part of your app’s UI. You can present a full or partial view of web content directly in your app by loading a view that leverages existing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript content or create your own if your layout and styling requirements are better satisfied by using web technologies. Note: If your app uses the deprecated UIWebView API to display web content, you should update your code for improved security, performance, and reliability. Learn more: Deadline extended for app updates using UIWebView SFSafariViewController is part of the SafariServices framework, and lets your users browse a web page, or a website right inside your app. With it, people can enjoy the same web browsing experience they get in Safari — including features like Password Autofill, Reader, and Secure Browsing — without ever having to leave your app. These two APIs can provide a lot of the heavy lifting for web technologies in your app, though there are a few instances where we recommend alternative frameworks. For example, when presenting a web-based login screen for your app, use ASWebAuthenticationSession to provide people with the most secure experience. When should I use WKWebView? If you need to customize or control the display of web content — or interact with the content itself — WKWebView will be most flexible in helping you build the implementation that suits your needs. (If your app is designed to be used offline, make sure any WKWebView content has appropriate fallbacks and alerts.) Additionally, consider WKWebView if you need to display HTML or CSS content inline or as part of rest of your app’s user interface. The Washington Post’s development team implemented WKWebView to display content from the Washington Post website within their app. In short, WKWebView is an incredibly powerful technology that works in tandem with iOS and macOS frameworks. That said, WKWebView is not designed to outright replace system technologies and frameworks. For example, you should avoid using it in place of device-optimized UIKit classes like UITableView, UIImage, and UIButton, as you lose out on core system behaviors and provide a subpar experience for people who use your app. When should I use SFSafariViewController? When you want display websites inside your app without sending people to Safari, the best tool is SFSafariViewController. By using this API, you can effectively embed the Safari interface — and many of its key features and privacy protections — into your app. The Apple Developer app displays web links through SFSafariViewController. SFSafariViewController is best used when you need to display interactive web experiences on websites you don’t own, or showcase parts of your web content that are generally outside the scope of your app. Resources WKWebView SFSafariViewController WWDC17 What's New in Safari View Controller Safari View Controller brings Safari’s features into your app for browsing the web and logging in with 3rd party services. Learn how to use new APIs to customize Safari View Controller’s UI to fit your app’s style. WWDC17 Customized Loading in WKWebView WKWebView allows you to seamlessly integrate web content into your app. Learn how new features in WKWebView allow you to manage cookies, filter unwanted content, and give you more control over loading web content.

Take advantage of new marketing resources to promote your apps around the world. You can now generate short links or embeddable code that lead to your App Store product page and display your app icon, a QR code, or an App Store badge. Download localized App Store badges, your app icon, and more. Learn more

The latest version of Schoolwork, the powerful iPad app for teachers and students that helps them keep track of assignments and student progress, is now available. Make sure your app takes advantage of the latest ClassKit features to provide a great user experience. With the new ClassKit Catalog API, you can declare contexts ahead of time instead of at runtime, include keywords, and support a large number of assignable activities. Teachers can browse your app’s activities in Schoolwork before running your app for the first time on their device. Available in beta, this REST API can be tested with Schoolwork 2.1. And on iPadOS 14, ClassKit supports rich new metadata properties to make your content more discoverable by teachers in Schoolwork. Learn more about the ClassKit Catalog API Download Schoolwork 2.1 beta

A zero-day vulnerability in Apple's iMessage, which bricks an iPhone and survives hard resets was recently brought to light. A specific type of malformed message is sent out to a victim device, forcing users to factory-reset it again. The issue was first posted by Google Project Zero researcher, Natalie Silvanovich on the project’s issue page on April 19, 2019. Due to the usual 90-day disclosure deadline, the bug is held from public view until either 90 days had elapsed or a patch had been made broadly available to the public. On 4th July, Silvanovich revealed that the issue was fixed in the Apple iOS 12.3 update, thus making it public. Labelled as CVE-2019-8573 and CVE-2019-8664, this vulnerability causes a Mac to crash and respawn. Silvanovich says on an iPhone, this code is in Springboard and “receiving this message will cause Springboard to crash and respawn repeatedly, causing the UI not to be displayed and the phone to stop responding to input. The only way I could find to fix the phone is to reboot into recovery mode and do a restore. This causes the data on the device to be lost”. According to Forbes, “The message contains a property with a key value that is not a string, despite one being expected. Calling a method titled IMBalloonPluginDataSource _summaryText, the method assumes the key in question is a string but does not verify it is the case”.  The subsequent call for IMBalloonPluginDataSource replaceHandlewithContactNameInString calls for im_handleIdentifiers for the supposed string, which in turn results in a thrown exception.  For testing purposes, Silvanovich, in her patch update has shared three ways that she found to unbrick the device: wipe the device with 'Find my iPhone' put the device in recovery mode and update via iTunes (note that this will force an update to the latest version) remove the SIM card and go out of Wifi range and wipe the device in the menu Google Project Zero has also released instructions to reproduce the issue: install frida (pip3 install frida) open sendMessage.py, and replace the sample receiver with the phone number or email of the target device in the local directory, run: python3 sendMessage.py Users should make sure their iPhone is up to date with the latest iOS 12.3 update. Read more about the vulnerability on Google Project Zero’s issue page. Approx. 250 public network users affected during Stack Overflow's security attack Google researcher reveals an unpatched bug in Windows’ cryptographic library that can quickly “take down a windows fleet” All about Browser Fingerprinting, the privacy nightmare that keeps web developers awake at night

Google has officially announced that its Project Fi will be rebranded to ‘Google Fi’. They have also expanded Fi’s support to multiple phones like Samsung, Moto, LG, iPhone and OnePlus. The service for iPhone will be in beta for the time being. Even though Google admits that the process for iPhone will require “a few extra steps to get set up”, there will be a new Google Fi iOS app to help customers get comfortable with the process. What is Google Fi? Google Fi is a “mobile virtual network operator” and is recognized for its unique approach compared to most other network carriers. It does not operate on its own network, but piggybacks on those of T-Mobile, Sprint, and US Cellular, handing a customer's phone to whichever offers the strongest connection at any given time. Fi also offers simplified data plans, easy international use, and a slew of other perks. It has no long-term contracts- a customer has to pay on a month to month basis. The data costs the same internationally as it does at home, in most countries. There's just a single payment "plan," which starts at $20 for access to a line, plus an additional $10 for every gigabyte consumed. If a user has only one line and uses more than 6GB, they only pay a maximum of $80 for that month. The Catch with Fi for iPhones Fi operates as a virtual network operator, and only a few phones including Google Pixels and those that are explicitly “designed for Fi” will be able to dynamically switch between those carriers’ networks. Android phones and iPhones that are that aren't built specifically for Google Fi will miss out on this functionality. In addition, since the iPhone will receive support in beta, there can be a less-than-smooth experience for customers who choose to use Fi on their iPhones. Important secondary features like visual voicemail, calls and texts over Wi-Fi, automated spam detection, and international tethering will be left out because of the beta support. The Fi website cautions that iPhone users will have to do a bit of tweaking to get their texting feature to work properly. The iMessage service  will function "out of the box," APN settings will need to be modified to enable MMS. That being said, the real catch with Google Fi has always been its simplicity and affordability, both of which will remain irrespective of the device a customer chooses to use. Google Fi still has some catching up to do with other carriers when it comes to features like including support for the RCS Universal Profile for texting and number sharing for things like LTE smartwatches. This announcement of extending Fi’s support for multiple devices does signal Google’s efforts to broaden its user base and boost device support. Head over to Google’s official Blog for more information on this announcement. A year later, Google Project Zero still finds Safari vulnerable to DOM fuzzing using publicly available tools to write exploits BuzzFeed Report: Google’s sexual misconduct policy “does not apply retroactively to claims already compelled to arbitration” #GoogleWalkout demanded a ‘truly equitable culture for everyone’; Pichai shares a “comprehensive” plan for employees to safely report sexual harassment

What’s every mobile developer’s worst nightmare? The mere idea that their app has fallen into obscurity and it doesn’t have a single user engagement or installs! If you are a mobile developer and you are reading this, you might be well aware of this thought, in imagination as well as in reality sometime or the other. We all know that traditional analytics methods adopted and made popular by Google don’t really have a great impact on mobile apps. They are not helpful in finding out the exact reasons why your app might have failed to register a high number of installs or user engagements. So the real question to alleviate your fear is: what are the data pointers necessary to figure out a way to filter out the noise and make your app stand out among the clutter? The answer is not merely a name change, but a change in approach and it’s called mobile analytics. For starters, some reasons users typcially don’t interact with your app are: The UX is not tempting enough The app is slow The app doesn’t live up to what it promised The target audience segment is wrong Your app is really bad Barring the last pointer, the other four can have real life solutions that can salvage your app, if applied in time.  Here we are putting more focus on the phrase “In Time”. That’s where real time mobile analytics come in. Because in case of mobile apps, every minute counts, literally. Mobile analytics works on the ways and types of data collected. In order to understand why your app is not an instant hit, you will have to keep a track of: Geographical data of app installs: This will help you to identify your geographical strongholds i.e.,  from where you have got the most response. You can then analyze other geographies or similar locations that you can target in order to make your ad campaigns effective. Demographics of the users who engage with your app: This data will be particularly helpful in identifying the age group and the type of users who are engaging in in-app purchases. Thus, helping you to reach your overall goal. Which Sources provide loyal users and generate more revenue: Knowing the right media outlet to promote your ad is imperative to its success. This will enable you to target the correct media sources for maximum revenue and in creating more loyal fanbase. What are the reasons for the users to quit: This will identify the reason behind the app not getting popular. Analyzing this data will enable you to learn about potential flaws in the UX or in the app performance or any security issues which might be prompting the users to quit your app suddenly. So how do you enable real time mobile analytics? There are a few platforms which provide ready-to-deploy real time mobile analytics. Fair warning, you might end up feeling like you used a black box where you feed data and the result comes out without knowing why you came up with those results. However there are other solutions being provided by IBM cloud, AWS Pinpoint, among others which will enable the developers to be a part of the overall analytics process and also play with the parameters to see predictions of app usage and conversion. The real challenge however lies in bringing all these analytics into your mobile device. For example, if you have seeing sudden uninstalls of your app and what you have right now is your mobile device, then you should be able to access the cloud and upload that data and analyze that on your mobile to get insights on what should be done. Like whether there is an urgent UX issue that needs fixing or there is a sudden bug in the application, or there might be a sudden security threat that potentially can compromise user data. To perform these mobile analytics natively and real time, we would most definitely need better computation capabilities and battery power. Whether the tech giants like Google, AMD, Microsoft will come up with a possible solution to this mobile computation problem with a much longer battery life, is something that time can only tell. Packt teams up with Humble Bundle to bring developers a selection of mobile development bundles Five reasons why Xamarin will change mobile development Hybrid Mobile apps: What you need to know