Sponsored
New Book: Advanced Apple Debugging & Reverse Engineering
Learn the powerful secrets of Apple's software debugger, LLDB, that can get more information out of any program than you ever thought possible.
In Advanced Apple Debugging & Reverse Engineering, you'll come to realize debugging is an enjoyable process to help you better understand software. Not only will you learn to find bugs faster, but you’ll also learn how other developers have solved problems similar to yours. You'll also learn how to create custom, powerful debugging scripts that will help you quickly find the secrets behind any bit of code that piques your interest.
New Video Course: Reactive Programming in iOS with RxSwift
Writing asynchronous and concurrent code is tough. Reactive extensions for Swift and Cocoa Touch (RxSwift and RxCocoa) make it much easier—fun even! Get up to speed on RxSwift, RxCocoa, and additional Rx libraries with the new video course, Reactive Programming in iOS with RxSwift. You'll learn how to effectively use reactive extensions in your iOS app projects. You’ll also get lifetime access to the course and free updates.
Save $15 with the coupon code INDIEIOSFOCUS.
Swift
Get Up To Date Quickly On Swift 4.0
Wanna find out the latest and greatest in Swift 4.0? Ole has put together a playground just for you.
Marketing
How To Find & Target Your Super Users
If your app has had some success, you will have super users. Finding out who they are is the first step in using them to grow your app. Once you find your super users, you can target them with special actions only they will see. This opens up a lot of possibilities and this post from GoLocalApps shows how important they are and how to find them with the free AppToolkit SDK.
Find Your App’s Super Users and Hack Your Growth by GoLocalApps
Fixing Your Mobile App Web Site
If we even bother to put up a web site for our app, we often approach it as an afterthought. Spend a couple hours setting it up and forget about it. Check out these three mistakes that many of us make with our sites and how to fix them.
Think an online presence besides the App Store isn't that important?
Of the one hundred most successful iOS apps, 98% of them have a site.
3 Mistakes Your Mobile App Marketing Site Is Making by Sean McGowan
Tutorials
Securing Your App With Touch ID
Besides converting one of my apps to Swift, I am looking to add a login screen with Touch ID. Tim Mitra to the rescue with this updated tutorial on how to do just that in Swift. No third-party frameworks are needed when adding this functionality.
How To Secure iOS User Data: The Keychain and Touch ID by Tim Mitra
Resources
The Many Ways You Could Be Making Money
Tons of great resources in this post. If you are an indie dev or aspire to be, start going through this list and find what you can do to begin creating income. It can't always be about just coding. :)
Resources for independent developers to make money by Joan Boixadós
Monetization
Can You Make Subscriptions Work With Your App?
You may have read that subscriptions are the way to generate revenue nowadays. On the surface, it sounds great. Loyal users pay a little each month or year and you can get some recurring revenue, making your app profitable and funding further development. When you run the numbers, however, it isn't likely to work out that way. Very interesting read from Dan Counsell on the uphill battle most apps face and just how successful your app would have to be to make subscriptions work. Dan also talks about what he wishes would change on the App Store.
The idea that developers will be able to charge their users a few bucks a year and make a living from it is bonkers.
Subscription Based Pricing is not the Answer by Dan Counsell
Code
A Deep Dive Into UIKit's More Obscure Functions
When you start out developing on iOS, whether you realize it or not, you are learning UIKit extensively. With something as big as UIKit, there are bound to be some tricks even seasoned developers don't know, or have forgotten. Check out some of the more obscure UIKit functions in this post.
Career
Burnout Doesn't Always Come From Being Overworked
Every so often I highlight a post on burnout, taking care of yourself, or work/life balance. We all know it's important but it's easy to feel overwhelmed with deadlines or the other stresses of life and forget to take care of ourselves. For instance, did you know that burnout can come from a job where you aren't overworked or stressed out? Before I started working independently, I definitely had burnout, though I didn't think about it that way at the time. I was tired of my job and industry, ready for a change. If you are thinking you might need a change, take a look at this post from Kieran about his struggles to recover from burnout over the last year.
The best definition of burnout I’ve come across is a chronic state of being out of sync with one or more aspects of your life.
Beginners
Learning Protocols In Swift
When I first started coding for iOS I had a tough time wrapping my head around protocols. Bookmark this post to help you both understand protocols and for reference when you need to implement them in your app.
A protocol defines a blueprint of methods, properties, and other requirements that suit a particular task or piece of functionality.
A Beginner’s Guide to Protocols and Protocol Extensions in Swift by Pranjal Satija
Welcome! Lots of good links this week for you to check out. Enjoy!
@cdbeshore