Cocoa plotting framework for Mac OS X and iOS

Here is Core Plot 1.0 for those looking for a plotting framework in their iOS application.

Building my first iPad app - to share or not - that is the question

Last november, I wrote a blog post about looking for inspiration to help me building my first iPad app: a Tumblr client for browsing pictures. Very simple idea. Since then, I've spent quite some time, on and off, not only about the idea itself but also on sharing to the world the process of building the application. What if someone steal my idea?

Well, this kind of thing can happen as soon as someone post about his or her work on the internet. Maybe someone is reading my blog and is waiting in the dark for my next blog post about this app so he can start coding and publish on the App Store. May be. May be not.

Building a Tumblr client is not really a novel idea. There are many available already. But the thing is they all suck. I don't like their design. I don't like using them. I want to build my own and love using it. This is exactly what I did with Ultimate Password Manager. I love using it. And many others do too!

So, I want to be proud of something that I've built. Sharing with others how I tackle the task of building this application is also useful. In order to build something and write about it, your ideas must be clear and well defined. Just the process of posting on the blog about it helps me think better about this application design and refine a lot of details. In the end, I'm winning and eventually my users will hopefully win too.

If someone is inspired by my work on this application and start on their own and eventually create a really cool and nice looking application for browsing pictures on Tumblr, then I would be more than happy to buy it and use it and tell the world how happy I am about it. In the end, whatever happens, I'll win. And remember, this is not always about money.

Keep reading my blog learn how I'm creating my first iPad app: a Tumblr client for browsing pictures! Comments are always welcomed too!

How to influence your presence on the App Store

This week, UPM 3.1.2 came out and I noticed something interesting. According to www.appannie.com, my application was being featured in 122 countries on the App Store in the Productivity category.

I did a little search in order to find an explanation for this. Before the update, my app wasn't featured at all in the App Store all over the world. Meh. By having a mere 175 updates downloaded by users on the first day and nearly 600 hundreds the following day, this seems to generate enough traffic on the Apple servers to trigger something. Could this traffic be influencing Apple algorithm for select which apps to feature on each App Store category? If yes, maybe I should plan smaller but more frequent updates for my application! What is your experience on this matter?

A small but nice feature within the TestFlightSDK 0.8

Today I was doing some testing within my app and found out a nice feature of the latest TestFlightApp.

If you leave your testing device running the application that is under control of the SDK and you happen to push a new update through the TestFlightApp web service, you'll receive an alert within the app.

Who tried Linguan for iOS application localization?

Just found out about Linguan on the Cocoanetics web site. This Mac OS application allows a developer to simplify the localization of his application (Mac OS or IOS). Anyone tried it? Any comments? I may try it myself and post a review of it.

Effects of adding the TestFlightSDK on the IPA size

You want to add the TestFlightSDK to your iOS app in development and wonder how much the IPA size will increase? Expect to see about one megabyte size increase. 

Finally, starting the application on a iPhone 4S takes 4 seconds without the SDK but once the SDK is added the launch time stays the same.

Xcode 4.2, iOS versions and ARMv6, ARMv7 build architectures

Today I want to share my discoveries about compiling an iOS app under Xcode 4.2. With every major release of Xcode and iOS SDKs comes a few surprises. With Xcode 4.2 and iOS 5 SDK, the problem is that under Xcode 4.2, the new default build architecture is ARMv7 only. The ARMv6 is no longer part of the default settings. So, this may be a problem is your application needs to run on older devices. In my case, a few build and linking errors prevented a successful build of my app.

But, which device is using ARMv6 and which one is using ARMv7 ? Here is a list.

• ARMv6 is for original iPod, iPod touch second gen, original iPhone and iPhone 3G.
• ARMv7 is for iPhone 3GS and up, original iPad and up. 

Also good to know, the original iPod supports only iOS 3.1.3. The iPhone 3G is capable of running up to iOS 4.2. So, plan accordingly. See this table for maximum supported iOS versions for each iOS device: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_iOS_devices

If you want to re-add the ARMv6 architecture to your build settings, follow these instructions: Warning iPhone apps should include an armv6 architecture even with build config set?

For example, if you want to support iOS 4.2 and still support iPod touch second generation or the iPhone 3G, you'll have to set architecture to ARMv6 and deployment target to 4.2. The original iPhone, the original iPod touch won't be supported. You should also set the UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities in the info.plist of your app.

Update: thanks for pointing me that iPod touch second gen was missing and about the wrong link to the article on StackOverflow.

Çingleton 2011 Symposium - a brief summary

Last weekend, the Çingleton 2011 Symposium was held in Montréal for the first time. This two day event was very enlightening and refreshing. It was about mobile application development and general trend in that field.

I attended this symposium and here is a brief summary of things that I've heard at the event.

First, the most striking thing is that as iOS developers with ideas and a desire to push limits of mobile applications, we are all part of something really big that is going on since 2007. Nobody knows if we are at the tipping point yet. It is clear that things we do now with our mobile devices is very different from things we will do in five or ten years from now. Nobody really knows.

Second, Apple legacy will be felt for a long time even after Steve Jobs passing away. What Apple does is provide users with great products and great user experience with them. And to achieve this, they are not afraid to take risks and try new things. We should too, as iOS developers do the same thing. Think design, think about the users, think about the experience should all be driving our development efforts.

Third, we should feel grateful just to be in the middle on all these technical advances and be able to make a difference. Even small ones.

Here is a few things that I've have heard on the floor at the event:

• Applications discovery is still a major problem for indie iOS developers. How do we get noticed in a 500 000 applications store?
• Android presence in the market is very real. Developers starts to think about the business value of porting iOS apps to the Android Market. Fragmentation is a real issue. More than 650 devices to test against. 
• The iPad potential in story telling application is way under utilized. A few good apps exists in that area but their cost of development make them rare beasts. 
• The analog world is more and more numerical. The use of natural user interaction models will help make the numeric nature of this world more approachable. 

Finally, here is a few photo sets from this event.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gruber/sets/72157627919287660/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cingleton/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/foobar/6252403530/in/set-72157627786395573

App Store review status unaffected by iOS 5 release

A couple of weeks ago, Apple asked developers to submit updated versions of their apps on the eve of iOS 5 release. Well, it seems that App Store review times were not affected at all and are still showing very fast review times for new and updated apps.

Çingleton coverage to begin soon

The Çingleton Symposium is about to begin. Coverage will be posted here and over my twitter account for more up to the minute observations and remark. Stay tuned.

More info here: http://www.çingleton.com/