Category: Apple

Apple publishes another round of beta versions for next minor release of iOS/iPadOS 15.6, macOS 12.5, watchOS 8.7 and tvOS 15.6.

No notable changes are reported for these beta versions.

Beta download: Operating Systems

Let's spend first July weekend with some good reads.

• SwiftUI new addition – renderers are covered in SwiftUI Renderers and Their Tricks by javier;
  
  
• Majid Jabrayilov covers power of task modifier in The power of task view modifier in SwiftUI;
  
  
• How to change status bar color in SwiftUI by Sarun W. provides an overview of new and old view modifiers affecting status bar;
  
  
• Another take on Swift existential types Existential any in Swift explained with code examples by Antoine van der Lee;
  
  
• macOS system extension development is now much easier thanks to ExtensionKit, here is an example by Guilherme Rambo – Creating custom extension points for Mac apps with ExtensionKit;
  
  
• Introducing XCTUnimplemented by Point-Free Pointers intends to simplify unit testing for production apps;
  
  
• Easily access system folders in iOS 16 – Get URLs for system folders in iOS 16 by Natalia Panferova got you covered;
  
  
• Couple of good articles on formatting by Brett Ohland – FormatSyle Deep Dive, What’s new with FormatStyles in iOS 16, From Strings to Data using ParsableFormatStyle and Formatting your own types.

And that's a wrap for today. See you next week with more interesting articles!

Apple publishes an update on regulations requiring Apple to provide third-party payment options in South Korea for in-app purchases.

As with Netherlands app developers should request specific entitlement and provide information on payment system used by the app.

Developers are to pay Apple 26% commission on purchases made through external payment providers. It is still developer's responsibility to calculate and report overall sales made through external systems, while Apple maintains the right to conduct audits.

Apple Developer:

• Update on apps distributed in South Korea
• Distributing apps using a third-party payment provider in South Korea

References:

• App Store apps can now use third-party payment providers in South Korea
• App Store Developers in South Korea Can Now Use Alternative Payment Providers
• App Developers Can Apply to Use Third-Party Payment Processors in South Korea With Limitations
• StoreKit External Purchase Entitlement for South Korea
• Netherlands and Apple Reach External Payments Agreement

Initial beta versions of iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 had noticeable change in Home app. iPad was not eligible to act as Home Hub anymore.

Apple made a comment that iPad could be used as Home hub for "current features" while undisclosed "new features", probably won't be supported.

As of now, it seems that these "new features" are related to Matter standard which HomeKit is adopting.

Reference: iPads Will Work as Home Hubs in iOS 16, But Won't Support New Home Architecture

Apple getting updates for current OSes ready. Fourth round of beta versions is published for iOS/iPadOS 15.6, macOS 12.5, watchOS 8.7, tvOS 15.6.

No significant changes reported in new beta versions.

Beta Download: Operating Systems

Reference: iOS 15.6 beta 4 now available to developers and public testers

Apple shares story behind "Gibbon: Beyond the trees" game which won Apple Design Award this year.

These articles usually help to understand the vision developers and designers put into their products and, therefore, could be great source of inspiration.

Apple Developer: Behind the Design: Gibbon: Beyond the Trees

WWDC22 is over, but the whole summer is open to play with betas, frameworks and SwiftUI navigation features. So let's spend some hours learning new things.

• Sarah Reichelt shares great quick recap of SwiftUI for Mac – SwiftUI for Mac 2022;
  
  
• Another good overview of any and some in Swift 5.7 by Lee Kah Seng – Understanding the “some” and “any” keywords in Swift 5.7;
  
  
• And to understand it even better here is a great piece by Antoine van der Lee – Some keyword in Swift: Opaque types explained with code examples;
  
  
• Paul Hudson shares practical use of SwiftUI new features – How to use inner shadows to simulate depth with SwiftUI and Core Motion;
  
  
• And also need to mention his three comprehensive reviews of new things for developers – What’s new in Swift 5.7, What’s new in SwiftUI for iOS 16 and What’s new in Xcode 14?;
  
  
• Mastering NavigationStack in SwiftUI. Deep Linking. by Majid Jabrayilov provides examples on new SwiftUI navigation API;
  
  
• Sarun W. puts new SwiftUI Mac features to use with series of articles – Create a mac menu bar app in SwiftUI with MenuBarExtra, SwiftUI Grid and How to add a TextField to Alert in SwiftUI;
  
  
• Natan Rolnik dives into server-side Swift with Deploying Server-Side Swift Apps With Docker on Heroku;
  
  
• Quick guide on the Grid container in SwiftUI – new layout view explained by Natascha Fadeeva.

Swift and SwiftUI capture our attention for this week. Let's see what next week might bring us.

Apple released beta 4 for macOS 12.5 Monterey. No significant changes are reported for this beta, but it adds support for M2 Macs which are now received by first buyers.

Beta download: Operating Systems

Reference: Apple Seeds Fourth Beta of macOS Monterey 12.5 to Developers, Adds Support for M2 Macs

Apple previews new Safari features which will be available in macOS 13 Ventura.

Safari Technology Preview Release 147 is now available for download for macOS Monterey 12.3 or later and macOS Ventura beta. Updates to Safari Technology Preview are no longer available for macOS Big Sur. If you already have Safari Technology Preview installed, you can update in the Software Update pane of System Preferences on macOS Monterey, or System Settings under General → Software Update on macOS Ventura.
Note: Shared Tab Groups and syncing for Tab Groups, Website Settings, and Web Extensions are not enabled in this release.

Apple Developer

Features available for test:

• Live Text
• Web Push
• New web extensions

Download: Safari – Resources

Release notes: Safari Technology Preview Release Notes

Mobile People community is getting back to business. This time we're reviewing WWDC22 announcements and planning our R&D activities for the summer.

This is not an Apple Treats episode yet. But stay tuned, podcast is set to return in July.