THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8

BY DAN ROWINSKI 01 INTRODUCTION

BIG SPLASH pple kicked off the Mobile Revolution in 2007. At the time, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has styled the Mobile A the iPhone was a curiosity, lampooned by some, praised by Revolution as, “ubiquitous computing and ambient others. In seven years, it has proven to be the most important intelligence,” as a means of describing the spread of driver of technological industry growth since the inception of the smartphones everywhere connected to the Internet and World Wide Web. the cloud. The notion of ubiquitous computing doesn’t just stop with the smartphone, even if that is where it started. In the process, Apple has made a household name out of the The Mobile Revolution has pushed the bounds of hardware for the iPhone: iOS. and software as developers, manufacturers and engineers have built systems that are smaller and more powerful to It is hard to imagine now that now that iOS is part of the popular increase the capabilities of these pocket-based computers. lexicon, but it originally did not have a dedicated name. When the first iPhone was released in July 2007, Apple just said that it ran a The PC shrunk to fit into a phone. With that accomplished, version of Apple’s desktop operating system, Mac OS X. In 2008, all those small and powerful components in the phone are Apple started calling it “iPhone OS” (which subsequently led to the ready to explode like a supernova, invading every gadget debut of the Apple App Store). It wasn’t until the fourth iteration in that we touch: our cars, our homes, our watches, our 2010 that Apple renamed the operating system to the iconic iOS. televisions … everything.

Here we are, the autumn of 2014, ready to dive into iOS 8. We worked so hard to get the technology to fit in one device. Might as well use it in all devices. Wrap your mind around the notion of the Mobile Revolution, because it informs everything about iOS 8. Apple fundamentally BIG SPLASH This is the essence of iOS 8, leading us into the Second changed the computing paradigm with the iPhone, imagining a Phase of the Mobile Revolution. world where a powerful computer was in everybody’s pocket, connected to the Internet and easy to use.

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 02 WHAT’S NEW

WHAT’S NEW IN IOS 8?

Apple has said that iOS 8 is the biggest release of iOS ever. It has more than 4,000 application programming interfaces for developers to play with and a variety of new standards and frameworks in which to develop iOS apps.

Since it was announced at Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference in June, iOS 8 has flown a bit under the radar. iOS 8 does not have the hype of its predecessor iOS 7, where the beta release that was meant solely for developers but saw broad downloads by millions of people because it fundamentally changed the design and functionality of the operating system from previous versions.

This time around, no major design or user interface changes are coming to iOS 8. The iOS 8 beta period was truly a developer release, giving iOS app builders the summer to adapt to the new operating system before it goes public after the launch of the iPhone 6.

Apple added a variety of new tools to iOS 8. It wants to invade home automation with HomeKit. Your health and fitness now have a new repository for data in HealthKit and the iOS Health app (not to mention the Apple Watch, coming in early 2015). Photo storage is improving with PhotoKit and Apple has done some big things on the backend of the entire system with iCloud and CloudKit.

The biggest and most immediate concerns for developers come in the form of App Extensions that provide interoperability between apps, Handoff (Continuity) that shares content between Apple devices and Adaptive Layout, which will help iOS developers build apps for the new variety of Apple screen sizes.

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 03 WHAT’S NEW

XCODE 6: GETTING STARTED WITH IOS 8 •• If you are reading this ebook, we presume that you know a thing or two about iOS. To develop iOS 8 apps you will need Xcode 6, which was released as a Gold Master version ahead of the official public release of iOS 8 on September 17th. Xcode 6 includes all the libraries and frameworks needed for both iOS and Mac OS X development and includes the iOS Simulator and the Xcode integrated developer environment.

Here are some highlights of Xcode 6 that developers will need to become familiar with:

• NEW SWIFT PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE: • TESTING: Xcode 6 lets developers use performance Apple released a new programming measurement and asynchronous code testing language that it hopes will eventually through an enhanced XCTest framework. replace both C and Objective-C • INTERFACE BUILDER: The iOS family now has a large languages for future iOS development. variety of screen sizes. The new Interface Builder in Xcode 6 provides a playground for Xcode 6 helps developers build apps that will work developers to learn the language and across a range of screens and includes live rendering, make it as easy as possible to learn, support for size classes and custom iOS fonts. More build and debug. Xcode documentation on this in the Adaptive Layout section below. shows helpful hints and libraries for when to employ Swift or Objective-C among other helpful features to get started with Swift.

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 04 WHAT’S NEW

• DEBUGGING: Several new debugging tools are in Xcode • GAME DEVELOPMENT: Both of Apple’s primary 6, including a “view debugging” function for debugging game development frameworks have been visual and design problems. The queue debugging has been upgraded in iOS 8 including SceneKit and enhanced with a new bug navigator. Debug gauges provide SpriteKit and have new support in Xcode 6. “at-a-glance” information about resources while debugging • HOMEKIT ACCESSORY SIMULATOR: If you and includes three new gauges for network activity, file are developing for the smart home with activity and iCloud. iOS 8, Xcode 6 has a simulator to test on

• IOS SIMULATOR: The new iOS Simulator has configurations accessories like lights or appliances. to keep data and configuration settings together.

The Xcode Server, instruments, app compiler and localization features also have new features and enhancements. Make sure to take an in-depth look at what is new in Xcode 6 as you get started with iOS 8 development.

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 05 DEVELOPMENT

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO DEVELOP FOR IOS 8

Let’s break down just about everything and functionality of each of those apps, you would have to that you are going to need to know manually switch from one to the other, like jumping from one to get started with iOS 8. square to another in hopscotch. The individual app—and its limited functions—has long been the king of iOS. Note: Gaming is a huge part of the app economy and iOS 8 development. Apple has improved Android has never had this particular problem. Since its its gaming frameworks and engines with SceneKit, inception, Android has always allowed developers to share SpriteKit and Metal for both casual and hardcore game functionality and data between apps. The system is called development. This book will not cover the gaming Android Intents and nearly 90% of apps in the Google Play aspects of iOS 8 as they are a separate topic that we will store employ it to one degree or another. Intents allows apps to tackle in the near future. employ third-party (not system-level) keyboards, embed social sharing or play from a wholly different app. Because This book also not cover Swift, Apple’s new programming of Intents, Android has long been the more egalitarian app language, as it is not specifically pertinent to what is developer environment, making it easier to share properties new in iOS 8 and a large topic that we will cover in between apps. depth soon. Apple has finally awoken up to this subtle but important APP EXTENSIONS •• In iOS, apps have long been treated difference of iOS to Android and is set to remedy it in iOS 8. as individual silos. You have one app for email, one app Dubbed “App Extensions,” iOS 8 apps are about to get a lot for sports scores, one app for music. To access the data more integrated with each other and the operating system.

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 06 DEVELOPMENT

EXTENSION POINTS •• Both iOS and Mac OS X have Seven different types of app extensions exist within iOS and a variety of different kinds of App Extensions. Mac OS X: Each of these extensions is connected to an aspect •TODAY: An update or task in the Today section of the drop of the operating system. According to Apple’s down Notification Center. documentation, each “system area that supports • SHARE: Share content with other apps or to a website. extensions is called an extension point. Each extension point defines usage policies and provides • ACTION: View or employ content within another app. that you use when you create an extension for •PHOTO EDITING: Edit a photo or a video in the native iOS that area.” Photos application (iOS only).

•FINDER: Show information about file synchronization in the When building applications for iOS 8, it will be Finder (Mac OS X only). important to note that extensions can expand an app’s functionality outside of its own walls, to •DOCUMENT PROVIDER: Access and manage a set of files various points of the operating system. This can (iOS only). help reinforce users behavior and usage of the •CUSTOM KEYBOARD: Replace the native iOS keyboard with app, providing interesting and useful information a third-party keyboard (iOS only).

outside of the app’s central silo. An app can employ one or more extension points, depending on what type of functionality it seeks.

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 07 DEVELOPMENT

A CONTAINER FOR EXTENSIONS •• An extension is not an app, though it does have its own binary that gets written and rendered to the operating system. Apps that contain multiple extensions are referred to as “container apps” and developers will need to build and design some custom user interface elements for each extension point that an app will provide.

This is where it can get slightly confusing. Developers will need to submit these containing apps to Apple separately from their primary apps (defined as “host apps”) even though the container apps will ultimately be served to the user in a single app downloaded from the App Store.

The benefit of the container app is that once a user downloads an app that has extensions in it, that functionality will live across the operating system.

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 08 DEVELOPMENT

WIDGETS (IN A MANNER OF SPEAKING) •• Since Apple detailed the broad strokes of iOS 8 at its World Wide Developer Conference in June, people have spoken in gushing tones that iOS is finally getting “widgets.”

The idea of widgets has Apple fans tittering about finally getting Android-styled apps that automatically update and function from the home screen. If iOS users are expecting these kinds of widgets, they are going to be disappointed.

The widgets in iOS 8 are actually called “Today” extensions because they live in the Notification Center of iOS 8. The Today extension points will act like a widget, but only in the Today menu item. That means that users won’t be able to download a live-style “widget” like lives on the home screen, like they would on Android with the likes of the Facebook, Google Now, Evernote or Spotify widgets.

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 09 DEVELOPMENT

INTENTS & PURPOSES •• If the Today extension is Apple’s A STEP INTO ANDROID’S REALM•• Extensions are version of Android or Windows Phone-style mobile widgets, going to be a massive boon to iOS developers, if a the Action and Share extensions are essentially the equivalent little bit of a headache. The additional container of Android Intents. app that defines what extensions are used and where they point is going to be painful for Action extensions help users manipulate a piece of content developers. At the same time, if you app needs with an app. For instance, Action extensions can help a user additional capabilities but the development team edit a piece of text in a text-editor app. Action extensions are does not have the time or expertise to build it, dependent on the type of content that is being manipulated iOS 8 extensions can be immensely helpful. and will not work with different types of content they are not specified for (a text extension won’t work on a video iOS Extensions allow iPhone and iPads to have etc.). In iOS 8, Action extensions can assists users in viewing one of the most-requested features that has long a document in a type way and will always appear as an action been Android specific: third party keyboards. sheet or a full-screen modal view. With the coming of iOS 8, the likes of SwiftKey and Swype from Nuance will be available to all The Share extension is exactly what it sounds like: it allows apps on iPhones and iPads. users to share content between apps and websites. The Share extension is Apple’s way of opening iOS 8 and Mac OS X to all types of sharing apps and behaviors. Previously, only apps like Facebook and Twitter could do this on iOS as they were natively baked into the platform. Now all social apps can have the same native functions across the operating system that Facebook already does.

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 10 DEVELOPMENT

ADAPTIVE LAYOUT, CLASS SIZES AND THE IPHONE 6 •• The iPhone now take their Storyboard and .xib 6 and iPhone 6 Plus comes in two sizes—4.7-inches and files can be used for all of Apple’s 5.5-inches, respectively. Design layout for iOS 8 is still simpler different sizes and orientations, than the thousands of different varieties and sizes of Android including the new wide-view devices, but iOS design is not as easy as it used to be. orientation in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The Interface Builder Even before new screen sizes for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 in Xcode will allow developers Plus, iOS screen sizes currently in consumers’ hands range in to build the iOS app with core form from 3.5-inches, 4-inches, 7.9-inches and 9.7-inches. Add components that will be in place in two more display sizes and iOS design becomes just a little for every screen size and then do more complicated. custom design work to fit certain

Adaptive Layout was introduced in iOS 7 and is being expanded screen size differences within the upon with new size classes in iOS 8 that allow for designers iOS device lineup. to create a single layout that translates to both the iPad and Each dimension of an iOS 8 app can either be compact— iPhone. Instead of creating an entirely new storyboard for the such as the horizontal of an iPhone landscape—or compact iPad, designers can now choose between regular class size such as the height or width of an iPad. Interface Builder in (iPad) or compact (iPhone). Apple says that every size device Xcode will be able to handle size classes and dimensions with have a designated size class. without much additional work for the developer, in theory.

Going back to what’s new in Xcode 6, iOS 8 now allows The auto layout has proven to still be a headache for development for different screen size classes. Apple refers to some developers and will choose to perform the layouts this as unified storyboards for universal apps. Developers can programmatically.

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 11 DEVELOPMENT

ASPECT RATIO, RESOLUTION AND THE NEW USER EXPERIENCE More good news for developers, Apple has stayed consistent Apple has finally broken out of its mold and listened to what with the aspect ratio of the iPhone with the new models, people want. Consumers want bigger screens on smartphones. continuing its use of 16:9 it introduced in the iPhone 5. Thus, mobile app developers want bigger screens on because Previous versions of the iPhone had 4:3 or 3:2 aspect ratios. that is what consumers want. New form factors mean more opportunities for developers. Well, Apple has delivered. When Apple released the iPad, many developers created whole new apps for the larger screen, with entirely new The iPhone 6 has a 4.7-inch screen with a 4.7-inch, 1334-by- user experiences. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus offer 750 screen that translates to 326 pixels-per-inch (ppi). Good developers a means of taking advantage of new screen real news for developers, this is the exact same pixel count as the estate and new an interesting ways while the universal iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5C, iPhone 5S and iPad Mini with storyboards allow them to keep the core elements of an Retina Display. app the same across size classes.

The iPhone 6 Plus has a 5.5-inch screen with a 1920-by-1080 The iPhone 6 Plus especially presents new challenges resolution with 401-ppi. The new pixels-per-inch count will be to app designers. Apple seemingly has coined the term what developers are going to focus on because it is this metric “reachability” for the ability to handle the 5.5-inch screen that will directly affect what their existing apps will look like with one hand. That means that apps designers will want to on larger screens. To this end, Apple has created a desktop- place button and action objects at the corners of their apps, class scaler in the Xcode integrated developer environment to as opposed to the center where it will be difficult to reach deal with all the new screen sizes and (limited) pixel variation with a thumb. The iPhone 6 Plus will also have the ability among iOS devices. Apple also employs the Adaptive Layout for apps to have a custom-designed landscape orientation feature introduced in iOS 7 (and advanced in iOS 8) to help for each app. developers make apps that fit any of its device sizes.

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 12 DEVELOPMENT

TOUCH ID•• Apple has opened the Touch ID biometric authentication fingerprint sensor to third-party developers in iOS 8. Consumers do not have to worry that third-party developers (who may not always be the most upstanding of digital citizens) are accessing their fingerprints as all of the biometric data will be stored and sandboxed on the iPhone and not in iCloud or on third-party developer servers.

Apple has a new item in the iOS to work with TouchID. iOS 8 also has a new “LocalAuthentication” framework to work with Touch ID which can also be provisioned for iOS devices that do not have Touch ID.

Apple has taken data security very seriously with Touch ID, which is one of the reasons that it did not open up the development standard when it was introduced with the iPhone 5S in 2013. After a year of watching how users employ Touch ID, Apple is ready to take the training wheels off, to a certain extent, to the third- party developer community.

Developers that deal with sensitive data might be keen on employing the new Touch ID framework for access to apps. Banks and financial processors could be keen on Touch ID for both internal and external purposes as well as health insurers and healthcare professionals. Touch ID with a PIN number has the potential to be a real-world version of two-factor authentication for data- sensitive apps.

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 13 DEVELOPMENT

HANDOFF (CONTINUITY) •• After the various new user Handoff is for those people that love their Apple interface features that people will experience with App devices. They own an iMac and a MacBook, an iPad and Extensions in iOS 8, the next most visible and viable feature an iPhone. Probably and Apple TV as well. Their cars will be Continuity, also known as Handoff. will eventually be CarPlay enabled and they absolutely can’t wait for the inevitable iWatch. That’s a lot of Handoff enables users to seamlessly transition the use of iStuff. Handoff is Apple’s plan to connect all of it with one app to another device. For instance, if you are reading seamless transitions from one to the other. this article on your Mac, you can shift it to your iOS device that is signed into the same iCloud account. Other Apple Engagement and user retention is always of tantamount apps like Maps, Mail, , Note, etc. can take importance to developers and app publishers. How to advantage of Continuity. get people to open your app more and spend more time in it? Handoff could be one of the answers to that Third-party developers will be able to implement Continuity questions, giving users the ability to never truly leave in iOS 8 as well with the object in the NSUserActivity class and app, but rather just hand it off from one Apple in the iOS Foundation. APIs found in the UIKit and AppKit in device to the next as they go through their days. iOS will support some functions of Handoff as well.

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 14 DEVELOPMENT

SIRI •• Apple’s digital voice assistant Siri does not have any significant upgrades in iOS 8. From a consumer perspective, Siri has a couple new features including touchless activation dubbed, “Hey Siri” which wakes Siri up for queries such as weather, Web search or sports scores.

Siri has better voice recognition and can help set , make calendar dates or keep . Siri now has native integration with Facebook and Twitter and can open apps with voice commands. Siri can also take dictation for emails or texts and has been integrated for “eyes free” driving with voice commands in Apple’s CarPlay.

Siri has also been integrated into new databases in iOS 8 including Fandango, restaurants information and local search. Siri also has Shazam-like functionality where it can listen to a song and tell you the album and artist.

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 15 DEVELOPMENT

APPLE PAY •• Apple thinks it can do what no company in the United security is that the iPhone obfuscates the actual card States has yet been able to do: gain mass consumer and retail adoption number of the credit card being stored in Apple Pay of mobile payments. Combined with its Passbook apps, Apple’s ambition and replaces it with an iPhone-only account number is to be the de facto mobile wallet that will replace consumers credit so that the actual credit card number is never stored cards once and for all. directly on the iPhone.

We’ve heard this before. The third element ties up the first two in that Apple does not share the actual card information (name, Google tried to go down this road before with Near Field Communications credit card number etc.) with the merchant but creates and the Google Wallet. Google reportedly spent upwards of half-a- a one-time payment number for each purchase which billion dollars to break into the payments industry and in the end was is verified through Apple Pay’s partnerships on the left with little traction and low consumer and retail adoption. PayPal, backend of the transactions, such as the issuing bank Square, LevelUp and other companies have long tried to break down and payment processor like Visa or MasterCard. the mobile payments door and have had varying degrees of success but nothing approaching a revolution in payments. Enterprises, retail stores and any player in the commerce and sales industry is going to want to From a practical standpoint, Apple’s new mobile payments system is keep track of how well Apple penetrates the mobile not specifically related to iOS 8, but rather the NFC-enabled iPhone 6 payments business. If Apple is able to make mobile and iPhone 6 Plus. Apple Pay will be available to the iPhone 5S, iPhone payments a commonplace practice through Apple Pay, 5C and iPhone 5 through the Apple Watch when it becomes available then the entire industry in the U.S. will have to adjust in 2015. to the new paradigm. It will not happen overnight,

Apple Pay will come with three layers of security, starting with the but monitoring the progression and adoption of Apple Secure Element chip that sandboxes all payments data on the iPhone 6 Pay will be essential for all companies and developers and iPhone 6 Plus. A secure element chip is fairly standard in all forms going forward. of NFC payments and is no different in the iPhone. The second layer of

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 16 THE KITS

THE KITS

The frameworks and software developer kits in iOS are where we will see where iOS 8 breaks out of the iPhone and iPad and into everyday aspects of our lives.

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 17 THE KITS

HealthKit is essentially a secure data repository for health and fitness data from third-party apps and accessories in iOS 8. Dig into HealthKit documentation and you will essentially find a tutorial in how to store and retrieve this health data sandboxed on the iPhone. From the fitness side of the equation, developers like RunKeeper or Runtastic can choose to push user health information to the Health app through HealthKit. HealthKit also allows for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity for health accessories and APIs for HEALTHKIT •• Apple wants all of your fitness and health related data. collecting and storing health information, like blood glucose levels and blood pressure. Health and fitness are going to be the primary selling points for the Apple Watch when it is released in early 2015. The Apple Watch will come HealthKit offers an array of opportunities to build with a variety of healthy apps that help track calories and activity and healthcare apps, but its implementation is not without dedicated workout apps. Apple will accompany this with the upgraded obstacles. The Health Insurance Portability and M8 motion coprocessor in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus which will Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) has long been a also be open to developers through iOS 8. limiting factor in health software development. HIPAA controls the flow of personally identifiable information HealthKit is a developer framework that lives in the Core Services Layer to a “covered entity” such as health care provider or of iOS 8 and provides developers the ability to read and write health insurance company. Apple has reportedly met with data to a central app (iOS Health) on iPhones and iPads. Data is stored the FDA and Office of the National Coordinator for and secured in the Health app and users have the ability to decide which Health Information Technology (ONC) to determine data is shared with the app. the HIPAA compliance of HealthKit.

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 18 THE KITS

HOMEKIT •• Have you ever envisioned your iPhone as the • The ability to discover accessories remote control for you life? You can use it to come home and add them to a persistent, cross- and turn up the heat your apartment, turn on the lights, set device database.

the home security system, turn on some music and set the • Display, edit and act upon oven to preheat? This is where HomeKit (mixed with certain connected home data and content. other iOS 8 functions like Handoff) will come in handy. • Communicate with accessories and

HomeKit is located in the Core Services Layer of iOS 8 allow them to perform actions (like and provides the hierarchy for how developers can create turning on the lights). capabilities through the iPhone and iPad that control various aspects of your home.

Three major functions can be controlled via HomeKit:

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 19 THE KITS

The data containment of HomeKit-enabled configuration is centered on locations within a house or an apartment. It works on a hierarchy of areas in the house where an accessory is located and has an app that can control it.

Here’s the hierarchy of data classes for HomeKit:

•HOMES: The top-level container that represents what could be considered a single home. Homes contain data for either single dwellings or a set of single dwellings (like a vacation cottage and a suburban house).

•ROOMS: An optional part of homes that a user designates by name. Apple uses the example of rooms for when a user might like to say, “Siri, turn on the kitchen lights.”

•ACCESSORIES: These are the actual gadgets that are equipped in homes and placed in rooms and tend to be home automation devices like lights or a garage door opener.

•SERVICES: What an accessory actually does and can be controlled by the user. This is where app developers will tap into the appropriate APIs to make accessories perform a function.

•ZONES: The ability to group rooms into categories and perform actions on that group. For instance, the ability to turn off all the lights upstairs.

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 20 THE KITS

PHOTOS FRAMEWORK•• Apple did much of its photo and image improvement work in iOS 7, so the new Photos framework in iOS 8 is a little light on heavy-hitting features. Native photo and video editing in the iOS camera app is handled by the Photos App Extension.

The new Photos framework in iOS 8 provides an alternative to the Assets Library framework. The Photos framework provides APIs for handling how images are handled in iCloud and provides a “thread-safe architecture” for acquiring and caching photos.

Apple has also given the camera app more granular control by the user, such as the ability to manually control settings, like white balance and focus. Improved camera functionality in iOS 8 and the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus also include the ability to determine if a photos is captured in HDR (High Dynamic Range, a software function for increasing photo quality), improved image stabilization in the iPhone 6 Plus, the ability to capture photos in higher resolution and a new auto-focus feature.

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 21 THE KITS

CLOUDKIT•• Apple’s relationship with cloud technology has been tenuous at best over the last couple of years. CloudKit is Apple’s attempt to give iOS developers a full backend suite of cloud capabilities. At its most basic level, CloudKit is the pipes that iOS data travels upon in this new framework, allowing developers to securely store and retrieve iCloud data within their apps.

CloudKit is almost a “backend-as-a-service” type of integration, like Kinvey or Parse have become for mobile middleware, but without the full service stack of many third-party services. CloudKit will be helpful to developers that do not employ backend technicians as it will help develop apps without having to learn server-side logic.

At its most basic level, CloudKit provides a service for managing transfer of data from an app to Apple’s iCloud servers. All data is saved as “Records” in CloudKit that places value on individual objects of data for transfer, organization and management. Cloudkit basically means that many developers don’t have to have a server to save state across devices anymore.

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 22 TESTING YOUR APPS

TESTING YOUR APPS FOR IOS 8

While fragmentation is a concept often associated with the Android Operating System, elements are starting to slip into iOS. The new testing matrix for iOS is growing ever more complicated to account for variations in processors, screen sizes, resolutions and sensors. What looks great on the screen of an iPhone 4S may appear jagged and empty on an iPhone 6 Plus. A game that takes advantage of new frameworks such as Metal may run flawlessly on an iPhone 6, but crawl to a halt on an iPad 2.

In addition to the new emulators and automation bots available in Xcode 6 it is important to test on real devices in real locations. Testing in the wild, with professional testers, will help you discover edge cases and unexpected behaviors that your end users are likely to encounter when your apps leave your test lab. And with the new screen real estate available in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, you’ll want to perform a usability study to understand how your users expect to interact with your app in these new form factors.

THE APP DEVELOPERS GUIDE TO WINNING IOS 8 23 ABOUT APPLAUSE

ABOUT APPLAUSE

Applause is leading the app quality revolution by Applause app quality tools help companies stay connected enabling companies to deliver digital experiences to their users and the health of their apps with the that win – from web to mobile to wearables and Applause SDK, Applause Analytics and the 360° App beyond. By combining in-the-wild testing services, Quality Dashboard. software tools and analytics, Applause helps The company is headquartered near Boston, with offices companies achieve the 360° app quality™ they need in Cambridge, San Mateo, Seattle, Germany, Israel and to thrive in the modern apps economy. Thousands Poland – with resellers serving dozens of international of companies – including Google, Fox, Amazon, Box, markets. Since launching as uTest in 2008, Applause Concur and Runkeeper – choose Applause to launch has raised more than $80 million in funding, generated apps that delight their users. triple-digit revenue growth annually, made consecutive Applause in-the-wild testing services span the app Inc. 500 appearances and was named the 7th Most lifecycle, including functional, usability, localization, Promising Company in America by Forbes in 2014. load and security.

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