Whether it’s the groceries you need from the store, the chores your mom left on the kitchen counter for when you got home from class, or even things to do before you die, lists are everywhere. Presenting data in a column (or a list) is the most familiar and natural way to organize information in both the analogue and digital worlds.

There are several protocols featured in the Swift Standard Library that enable generic programming in Swift. By defining common behaviors and functionalities for types and collections, these protocols provide a standard way for types to interact with each other. Today we’re going to take a look at four of the key Swift Standard Library Protocols, these are: We’ll provide a brief overview of how each works, and then how we can implement them in our projects.

Let’s start at the very beginning, so it’s clear exactly what we’re talking about here – in Swift, networking is the process of sending and receiving data between an iOS application and a remote server or another device over the internet.

If you’re building for mobile apps, you need Realm in your life. It’s specifically designed for mobile devs and even though it’s available on multiple platforms, it’s typically used to develop iOS apps, using Swift. Built on top of SQLite Realm Swift is a very high-level abstraction layer that simplifies database operations for the developer. Today we’re going to unpack it, with a guide that drills so far down into the subject, it’s practically in Australia.

Core Data enables us to manage the model layer of an Apple application. This layer is a crucial part of our app’s engine room, allowing the pretty bits at the front end to interact with the data and business logic at the back. We love Core Data because it provides a powerful database technology framework, and it’s built on top of the SQLite management system, which requires zero configuration or external storage space.

Introduced in 2023, SwiftData is the latest addition to the range of database framework options in Swift, Apple’s primary programming language for iOS. Built on top of Core Data, two levels above SQLite, it’s great for simplifying our persistent stores and it allows us to use declarative code, which is a really useful time-saver.

The term ‘data persistence’ refers to data that remains available, even when the program that created it is idle, sleeping or unable to open. In many cases, our iOS apps need to provide support around the clock, so we need our data to be ‘always on’ – even when the apps themselves are not.

Push notifications play a vital role in user engagement and retention, keeping users up to date and creating a sense of FOMO that leads to purchases. And in iOS, we get the added benefit of Apple’s Push Notification Service (APNs). which acts as a middleman between the app server and the user’s device, facilitating the delivery of push notifications even if the app is not active or the user is checking another of their apps.

iOS in-app purchases, or IAPs, allow developers to offer content, services, and features within their iOS apps for users to purchase. This can provide a significant revenue stream for developers, while enabling users to enhance their experience or access premium content and services. An iOS in app purchase can be a good alternative to paid applications, as an iO app developer can offer the app for free and monetize it via app purchasing options.

If you’ve done any work on iOS apps these last few years, you’ll know how concise and expressive the Swift language can be. And you may well have benefited from Swift extensions, a powerful mechanism that lets you, the developer, extend both your functionality and Swift’s, by extending any Objects and Structures you need. However, the variety and versatility of extensions does present teething challenges.