![]() ![]() Very few apps can afford to wall themselves off, and user expectations for interoperability are going to keep growing. Remember to play nice with other apps in your ecosystem. Create UI that can be embedded in other aware applications, like 3rd party photo manipulation tools that all camera apps can use.With Exensibility, your application can publish and consumer functionality that includes It’s worked surprisingly well, but is severely limited. To date, most apps have been hacking around inter-app communications using custom URL-handlers, so other apps could trigger your app to launch with parameters. For the first time, the core operating system will support inter-app communication and services. This is probably the biggest tectonic shift for iOS app developers since the launch of the AppStore itself. The major downside is for cross-platform devs who would prefer a service that works with both iOS and Android, and who will probably turn to the fortunately-timed new beta distribution offering from Crashlytics/Twitter. App developers can now run beta tests with 1000 users (and each may have multiple devices!) That’s a game changer for any large-scale beta testing effort. TestFlightĪpple’s acquisition last February of the TestFlight service is starting to bear fruit. All file management in your app should be done using the new floating panel Apple provides. Users will begin to expect an experience more like they have on desktop, where your app can import, export, and support more filetypes stored in their iCloud Drive 2. For the first time on iOS, we have something closer to a true filesystem. In my opinion, this announcement is a lot bigger than the press it’s been getting. If your application deals with documents, or can open other document types, you’ll touch iCloud Drive somewhere. It’s still unclear how much control developers will have over the suggestions in their application (Apple says it’ll “learn each user and app”), but it’ll have an impact on your user experience for sure, and takes up even more space above an already bulky keyboard 1. If you have a text-entry-heavy application, spend some time with the new predictive typing as well. Time will tell how well-behaved custom keyboards are, but no doubt some subtle bugs and usability issues will be lurking here. Especially if you’ve been extending the top of the keyboard with custom buttons. But app developers should be prepared to start testing their apps with 3rd party keyboards. Most of us are probably not going to build a custom keyboard. I expect to see more apps advertising “search for us on your phone” if this feature works smoothly. It makes discoveryĪlso worth noting is that a search in Spotlight will now return AppStore results, which could make a nice shortcut for prospective users to find your app in the store. I’m a bit concerned that these changes will add up to make the AppStore an even bigger popularity contest, especially those last three features. App Bundles, to sell multiple apps at a special bundle price.There are lots of changes to the AppStore coming ![]() will be introduced with upcoming devices, so be ready with high-quality vector art, while continuing to push more design elements into code. But it’s not impossible that new resolutions (e.g. And in the new XCode 6, the simulator has options for a mysterious “Resizable iPhone”, which tells me that developers should start making their UIs more fluid now, in preparation for more diversity in device aspect ratios.Īs far as we know, all iOS 8 devices will be retina, which eases the burden of shipping too many different assets in your application. All indications are that a larger iPhone is coming this year. While no new hardware was announced at this WWDC, the writing is on the wall for continued resolution independence. ![]() Apple’s continued use of these gestures will make them both less opaque to users, and more expected in 3rd party apps. It’s also safer now to adopt some of the more obscure iOS 7 gestures, like swiping to take action on items in a list, and the back-swipe as a universal back button. But we’re now two generations out from iOS 6, and if your app hasn’t yet adopted a new design, it’s officially feeling antiquated, and it’s time to invest that effort. Good news for battle-weary developers after last year’s major iOS 7 overhaul - the fundamental design language of iOS 8 remains the same. Here’s an early look at what these announcements mean to teams building iOS applications. In addition to introducing lots of interesting consumer software features, Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference 2014 was jammed packed with important announcements for teams building mobile applications. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |