Book Image

Learning Xcode 8

By : Jak Tiano
Book Image

Learning Xcode 8

By: Jak Tiano

Overview of this book

Over the last few years, we’ve seen a breakthrough in mobile computing and the birth of world-changing mobile apps. With a reputation as one of the most user-centric and developer-friendly platforms, iOS is the best place to launch your next great app idea. As the official tool to create iOS applications, Xcode is chock full of features aimed at making a developer’s job easier, faster, and more fun. This book will take you from complete novice to a published app developer, and covers every step in between. You’ll learn the basics of iOS application development by taking a guided tour through the Xcode software and Swift programming language, before putting that knowledge to use by building your first app called “Snippets.” Over the course of the book, you will continue to explore the many facets of iOS development in Xcode by adding new features to your app, integrating gestures and sensors, and even creating an Apple Watch companion app. You’ll also learn how to use the debugging tools, write unit tests, and optimize and distribute your app. By the time you make it to the end of this book, you will have successfully built and published your first iOS application.
Table of Contents (23 chapters)
Learning Xcode 8
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Chapter 10. Creating a watchOS Companion App

One of the most exciting development opportunities of the last few years became a reality when Apple officially announced they were making a smart watch companion to their iOS ecosystem: the Apple Watch. Since the watch released in April 2015, developers have been testing the limits of the wrist worn device, trying to overcome many of the interesting restrictions that result from its small size and limited computing ability.

The Apple Watch is very different from iOS devices. In this chapter, we're going to spend some time learning about what makes the Apple Watch different, and where its strengths lie. The focus will be on how to think small. To be more specific, we will be covering:

  • How to design for the Apple Watch

  • The components of a watchOS application

  • How a watchOS app differs from an iOS app

  • Building a full watchOS experience