Issue 242
Oct 22, 2024

Huge apps like PhotoRoom, Mojo & Citizen use Superwall to build paywalls without shipping app updates. Learn how.

Keith Harrison shares a neat little iOS 18 Accessibility API improvement in SwiftUI.

Becoming a better engineer isn’t only about learning about new Swift features. Work habits, embracing automation, and a healthier work-life balance can indirectly result in you becoming a better engineer.

Is SwiftData ready? Or should we modernize Core Data ourselves for the time being? Find out in this article by Fatbobman.

Michael Eisel explains shared dictionary compression for iOS apps, a method that reduces app sizes by merging repeated strings into a shared dictionary. This technique helps optimize storage and improves performance by handling string data more efficiently across languages. It’s a practical solution for minimizing binary size without sacrificing functionality.

Sometimes, you can learn the most from GitHub issues and related pull request code changes. This one is especially interesting if you’re using xcodebuild directly.

The giveaway ended, and I'm happy to announce Argyro Gounari as this month's giveaway winner.

Stay tuned; next month will introduce a new conference that will give away a ticket!

This week's submitted question is from Mikel Cobián:

I’ll be honest right away: I’m the type of indie developer who likes to focus on as few apps as possible. Focus is vital, in my opinion, so I prevent myself from spreading myself thin.

However, if there’s one developer that’s great at finding new ideas, it must be Jordi Bruin. He shared on YouTube how he finds new app ideas.

Yet, I have personal experience and built several non-released tools for personal development. I’ve created a SwiftLee Weekly curation app using SwiftUI, for example. The ‘spotted problem’ for me was having to spend quite some time every week curating articles.

In general, I always recommend finding a problem that aligns with your passion. If you decide to build an app, you want to ensure you have intrinsic motivation and desire to continue building the app when things don’t go as expected.

Pushing through (coding) challenges is doable but becomes tricky when you’re not motivated anymore. I’ve been able to continuously improve RocketSim since it’s a developer tool that I use daily.

Therefore, find problems you run into yourself. Find challenges or time-consuming tasks and see if there’s a solution available. If not? It’s time to build your solution with an app.

Good luck!

Ask any question via this form (anonymously)