Apple Developer Weekly #230 Tools Can Help with Work, But Being Human Requires Yourself
Must-watch video about hacking WidgetKit for animation effects
From 13
I thought last week's newsletter had a lot of content, but this week's is even more packed.
But if I had to recommend just one thing, it would definitely be Bryce Bostwick's video explaining how to hack WidgetKit to create animation effects. You must watch it.
13 on May 19, 2025
🎓My Talk at National Taiwan University: Mobile App Innovation Contest AI Application Lecture - Third-Party AI Technologies and Applications
Last week's newsletter previewed three themed lectures jointly organized by NTU and Apple RTC, where I was one of the speakers.
The talk wasn't recorded, but there's a link to a summary and presentation materials compiled by a netizen.
The content is the essence of my experience using AI tools extensively to date.
And the title of this week's newsletter "Tools Can Help with Work, But Being Human Requires Yourself" was my closing statement in the talk.
🗞️iPlayground Launches Official Newsletter and Physical WWDC Watch Party
This is the first time iPlayground, Taiwan's developer conference, has implemented a newsletter mechanism. Those interested in the event are welcome to subscribe. The first issue contains many important announcements, please check it out.
Additionally, the organizers want to host a physical "WWDC Watch Party" event. If you can stay up late, it should be quite fun (guess what drinks the organizers have prepared?).
Registration information is available here.
🤯Apple's Widget Backdoor, The Secret to Making Widgets Animate
This is the most moving iOS development-related video I've seen in years.
First, the content is incredibly fascinating - you'd never imagine the "little loophole" Apple left in WidgetKit could create so many possibilities.
Second, the effort author Bryce Bostwick put into making this video. It looks effortless and natural, but I can't even imagine how much time he spent researching and editing.
Well, enough talk - go watch it! You won't regret it.
🧪Apple Releases & News
Xcode 16.4 (16F6) officially released, though the Release Notes still showed RC at press time
iOS 18.5 (22F76) has a different build number from RC. Other platforms' official releases are same as RC
Tax and Price updates for Apps, In-App Purchases, and Subscriptions App Store tax and price adjustments
♿️GAAD and Apple Previews New Accessibility Features
Apple has been announcing new accessibility features for the next generation of operating systems during GAAD (Global Accessibility Awareness Day) in recent years.
The official press release mentions that App Store will soon have "accessibility ingredient labels," similar to the existing privacy labels. It's not yet clear how developers will provide these labels, so be sure to pay attention during WWDC.
The Mac Magnifier feature will allow Macs to use iPhone cameras or external cameras as tools for magnification, text reading, and object detection. This makes it easier to convert text from the physical world into clearer formats. You can learn about this feature through this video:
Apple Music's "Music Haptic Feedback" feature also has a promotional video. "Music is not even about listening. It's about feeling it." is a great punchline:
Speaking of Apple Music, here's another announcement: Apple and Universal Music Group launch "Sound Therapy" playlists. I'll put the links here directly: Focus, Relax, Sleep. I'm writing this newsletter while listening, and it's quite comfortable. Subscribers might want to give it a try.
There are many more new accessibility features, please check them out yourself.
Apple's developer news site also has an interview with developer Klemens Strasser, discussing how he considers making games accessible to as many people as possible.
👄OpenAI's iOS Engineer Demonstrates Development Using Codex
OpenAI launched a new AI coding tool called Codex this week, with a video demonstration in the link.
Unlike common tools, it creates tasks through conversation and sends you a PR to review after completion.
I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but after watching the video, I think it's very similar to my work style when I was a team lead - clarifying requirements and then "just talking" to have colleagues write the code, and later reviewing their PRs.
My main focus was confirming objectives and validating results. I believe people need these two work capabilities to be good team leads or to use AI tools like Codex effectively.
If you ask me if it's great to just talk and have things appear? Honestly, it's fun occasionally, but as a primary work mode, it's not easy. Being able to "just talk" doesn't mean you only need to talk - you're responsible for code you didn't write and the final results. You need clear instructions, project architecture design, and there's a lot that needs careful review.
📊RevenueCat Releases 2025 Subscription Data Report
If you're interested in the subscription app market, don't miss RevenueCat's annual report. It covers data from 75,000 apps and $10 billion in revenue, incredibly rich in content.
This year's content is twice as long as last year's, at 263 pages. But don't be intimidated - the key metrics are explained right at the beginning of the webpage.
👁️Apple Open Sources FastVLM Model, Works on Mobile Devices
Although Apple is clearly behind other major companies in LLM development, they have the strongest consumer hardware. There's great potential for local model applications.
The project is open source. Here's the demo video of the example project and the research paper link.
P.S. One of the authors (@chunliang_tw) is from Taiwan.
⛵️Swift Ecosystem Steering Group
The Swift team has established a new Swift Ecosystem Steering Group, primarily responsible for providing better tools and ecosystem support for Swift Package developers and users. It does not include Swift language development itself.
📺 Recommended Development Tutorial YouTube Channels
Harry Ng's AI Coding Tutorial Series Hanyu and I often make guest appearances
Nil Coalescing (Natalia Panferova) I've recommended their SwiftUI articles and e-books multiple times. They recently started a YouTube channel
🚘Aston Martin x Apple CarPlay Ultra
Using a recent popular joke format: "Is it an iPhone I'm missing? No, it's an Aston Martin!"
Also, a quick mention: Apple has several new ad videos - Pointed, Dropped In, Mirrored, with a more thriller-like style.
There are also two fun Apple Pay ads: one and two. It would be quite fun if Siri spoke in this style.
⚡️Quick Mentions
✂️AppKit to Restrict Pasteboard Permissions Hidden in AppKit update documents, will be similar to current iOS pasteboard restrictions
🌋Airbnb Launches Lava Animated Icon Format Will be open sourced later
➕iOS Developer+ Recent Content Updates
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💪Start Accumulating to Reduce Anxiety Information anxiety often comes from "feeling like you can't learn everything." Sharing a simple and practical technique.
🎒What's in My EDC Bag After a Year of Use Sharing my EDC - what's in my daily and travel backpack as an iOS developer.
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↖️Last Issue Highlights
If you've been too busy to read last week's content, here are the highlights:
Swift 6.2 major new features introduction
Reminder to switch to Scene-based life cycle
iPlayground's recommended sponsor campaign
That's all for this week's Apple Developer Weekly. Feel free to like❤️, comment💬, or reply✉️ to share your thoughts.
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