News
Hooray! I've now been designated as the founder of Indie iOS Focus Weekly on Product Hunt. Stepping up in the world, I guess. Thanks to all that have supported the newsletter and I'm excited every week to see it grow. Check it out on Product Hunt and show some love if you haven't already (19 upvotes so far).
Swift Up, Objective-C Down
"This month Objective-C dropped out of the TIOBE index top 10."
I think the writing is on the wall. I haven't become immersed in Swift yet. I have been working on updates for a couple of Objective-C apps and I also wanted Swift to stabilize a bit. Guess it's about time.
App Success
Building Instagram
Great post from the co-founder of Instagram. When you see someone write about how they built a successful app, you should always read it. Always good stuff to learn.
War Stories: Five Years of Building Instagram by Mike Krieger
Marketing
Can the "Pay What You Want" Model Work
Going free is one thing. Going free and not charging for any of your premium features is another. Can this work for the average iOS developer? I don't know. I don't think anyone does, but it will be interesting to see how this works for Marco over the next year or two.
Tutorials
Building Your Own Custom Camera With Swift
Ever try to use Apple's built in framework UIImagePickerController to capture an photo? It works great, but there always seems to be something I need that it doesn't provide. This Swift tutorial will give you a good foundation on building your own camera.
Thin Your App
If you are looking to take advantage of app thinning introduced in iOS 9, AppCoda has a nice tutorial explaining how it works while walking you through the process.
watchOS
Recommended Book: WatchOS 2
Looking for a comprehensive book on WatchOS? Just yesterday, raywenderlich.com released their WatchOS 2 book and by looking at the chapter summaries, it will be a great way to learn everything you need to know about WatchOS.
The Apple Watch Experience
To develop for the Apple Watch, you need to really understand how it is used and how it becomes a part of your life. It's important to focus on the experience the user will have. Cate gives a great summary of Natasha's talk at GHC on WatchOS.
#GHC15: Natasha Murashev – The Zen Guide To WatchOS by Cate Huston
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Resources
Bite-sized iOS Video Learning
I can't believe I haven't mentioned this resource before! Here's a great site for those that like to learn visually. Plenty of free stuff here in 15 minute chunks. Check it out.
NSScreencast from @nscreencast
Career
I'll Show You Mine if You Show Me Yours
I agree with Emma that it's good to discuss rates with other freelancers. You should also discuss how you price projects and if you aren't charging enough.
Why Freelancers Should Discuss Rates With Each Other by Emma Siemasko
Taking Advantage of Every Minute
Here's a great example of working hard and making sacrifices to stay productive and move your app career forward. You have to keep the work/life balance in check, but wasting time watching TV or playing video games isn't going to get you ahead. (Side note: I watch too much TV)
How I Managed To Create 10 Apps While You Ate Your Lunch! by Mohammad Azam
Tweet of the Week
6.7 MB
Official Twitter app, millions of dollars and team of hundreds of developers: 61.7MB
@tweetbot, team of two, 6.7MB.
from Stuart Gibson