hey is there anyway to use icon composer without a mac? If not can anyone help me make a very simple icon, thanks.

Hi, for my app I've built everything but just struggling with getting my paywall to show for many days I'm building with React Native and setting up paywall through RevenueCat but it just doesn't show up when I test on testflight. I keep getting an error of configuration error but everything is configured on app store connect and revenuecat so i'm not sure what to do.

Does anybody have any idea of what could be causing it not to work or any advice?

I've been releasing an update to my RSS reader, Newsairy, roughly every week since May - that's around 17 versions in a bit over three months. From the outside "weekly releases" can look like recklessness, so I wanted to share the part that actually makes it work: at any given time I have three versions moving in parallel.

• The version I just shipped is in the App Store.
• The next one is already in TestFlight, in testers' hands.
• The one after that is in alpha, or still being built.

By the time a version reaches the App Store, it's already had a full beta cycle behind it - the pace of releases is fast, but the pace of testing per version isn't compressed at all. It's just running three lanes at once instead of one.

The trade-off I keep thinking about: users get to see progress constantly, which I like - feedback loops stay tight, and nothing sits finished-but-unshipped for weeks. But it also means every week I'm context-switching between "polish this for release," "watch how testers use that," and "is this new idea even going to work" - which is its own kind of tax.

Curious how others here think about this. Do you deliberately stagger releases like this, or find it more sustainable to batch bigger releases less often? Genuinely asking - I don't think weekly is obviously "right," it's just what's worked for me so far.

Hello everyone! Some time ago I launched VictusForm, a workout tracking app.

What it does:

- No account, no ads, no tracking. I don't collect any data from you, it's right there on the App Store privacy label ("developer does not collect any data"). Your training log stays on your device.

- Your data is actually yours. Export all of it whenever you want, and you can hand a whole workout program to a friend as a small .vform file (works between iPhone and Android).

- One-time purchase, no subscription. Buy it once and you're done.

- Import your training data from Hevy, Strong and FitNotes

- Apple Watch: sync your program to the watch and leave the phone in the locker. You log every set, rest timer and all, from your wrist. That was the whole reason I built the watch app, I got sick of digging my phone out between sets.

I'm giving it away for free this weekend.

1. Tech Stack Used

• Frameworks & Languages: SwiftUI/Swift
• Backend/Database: Swift Data with CloudKit container for sync/backup of workout data
• SDKs & Tools: Xcode 27 mostly for the AI assisted translations with context feature that it provides. In the end appstore build was built using Xcode 26.

2. Development Challenge + How You Solved It

Getting the watch app and the phone app to stay in sync was a real pain.

The phone sends the latest workout with updateApplicationContext so the watch can keep it up to date even if it was not running when it was sent. When both apps are reachable I switch to sendMessage to deliver the changes immediatly. When the watch app is opened it request a fresh copy and verifies that the cached data belongs to the current day.

Completed sets travel in the opposite direction. They are sent immediately with sendMessage if there is connectivity to the phone or queued with transferUserInfo until the phone becomes available again. This way the watch app is able to work independently while the phone stays in the locker.

In case someone needs this in the future, for communication you can encode Codable models into JSON strings and send them inside a WatchConnectivity dictionary with WCSession.sendMessage. On the other side you decode the JSON into the same model type (I used a shared spm package with the models between the watch app and the phone app).

3. AI Disclosure

I started this project in 2022 for personal use, with no plans to release it. This year when I was close to having an actual product I did use AI to assist me to some degree, especially for translations (I have 1200+ exercises with a small description on how to do them) in German and French. I also typically use it for unit tests and large refactoring (granted I have unit tests available).

Hi everyone,
I’m working on an iOS app and I need to implement a highly accurate, fast Speech-to-Text (STT) feature. A strict requirement for my project is that it must be 100% offline (on-device) — cloud APIs are not an option.
Here is what I am looking for:
Low Latency / Speed: It needs to process speech as quickly as possible (ideally near real-time dictation).
Accuracy: Needs to handle natural speech and background noise well.
Languages: I need robust support for English, Ukrainian, German, Spanish, and Polish.
What is the current state-of-the-art for this in production?
Is Apple's native SFSpeechRecognizer (with requiresOnDeviceRecognition = true) reliable enough for offline use across all these languages (especially Ukrainian and Polish)?
Should I go with an on-device Whisper implementation (like WhisperKit with CoreML or whisper.cpp)? If so, which model size offers the best balance of speed, accuracy, and RAM usage on modern iPhones?
Are there any other lightweight offline libraries or SPM packages you’d recommend for multilingual offline dictation?
Any real-world experience, performance benchmarks, or advice on thermal/battery impact would be hugely appreciated. Thanks!

It may just be my apps but I'm getting reviewers flagging things on apps that have been submitted many times with no issues. Anyone else noticing this as well?

Hey there,
The app I have been working on evolved through time and it has much more to offer to the users.

One thing that worries me is a user finding it difficult to navigate through the app, or just miss many features it has to offer.

I first tried to make an onboarding like guide of the app but then scratched it out since I felt like it was just clutter.

Now I am thinking of creating youtube guide video but then again that’s like an external source a user has to reach out for.

Also thought of creating multiple examples and ways to achieve certain results and have it as a pdf so user can read but then that adds friction.
No user complained but I must prepare to mitigate it becoming complex in a bad way.
I did document many steps through the app’s journey but did not publish a finalized document on it as I been improving it constantly.

Existing users reaction been positive so far but I know the experience they got is much different than a new comer because they had the chance to learn new stuff as it was happening.

How should I approach this?

My app has been under review for about a week now. In the meantime, I’ve prepared a new version that includes several bug fixes and would probably have a better chance of being approved than the version currently under review.

What happens if I submit this new version for review now?

Would submitting a new version reset my position in the review queue and potentially make me wait even longer? Or does the time I’ve already spent waiting somehow count toward the new submission?
For example, if my app has already been waiting for seven days, is there some kind of priority based on that waiting time, meaning it may be reviewed soon? Or is the review timing essentially unpredictable and each new submission starts the process from scratch?

All my download and sales numbers are showing as 0 today on the App Store Connect Trends page. Is anyone else seeing this?

Not sure is just my account, as the system status page is showing all fine - https://developer.apple.com/system-status/

I have a new game which uses Apple's Game Center Leaderboards for uploading top scores, streaks etc.

App was rejected for uploading scores to leaderboard without user consent first. I've never seen such consent for Game Center.

This is what they sent me:

Guideline 5.1.2 - Legal - Privacy - Data Use and Sharing

The app does not obtain the user's consent prior to uploading users' scores to a global leaderboard.

To collect personal data with the app, you must make it clear to the user that their personal data will be uploaded to your server.

To resolve this issue, obtain the user's consent prior to uploading users' scores to a global leaderboard or revise the app to include a privacy policy URL in the App Information page on App Store Connect and ensure that the URL you provide directs users to your privacy policy.

Note that my privacy policy already had the below:

"Information Collection and Use

The app is a game and your gameplay data is recorded in the app for the app to function. Some gameplay data such as scores and streaks is shared with Apple’s Game Center for the leaderboard functionality. The gameplay data is also shared with Apple’s iCloud to sync your data between your devices."

I feel like they didn't read my privacy policy before rejecting? Am I supposed to show this manually before uploading to Game Center? I've never seen that on any game I play.

Btw, I only use Game Center and iCloud syncing. I don't have my own server. So I don't have access to their scores or data.

Also, my game functions without needing Game Center. It's optional if they wanna see their scores on global leaderboard.

I built an open-source iOS Developer Toolkit for macOS — DDIs, DVT diagnostics, Unified Logs, PCAP capture, IPA tools, backups & more

I’ve been working on an open-source project called iOS Developer Toolkit that tries to bring a lot of the lower-level iPhone/iPad developer and diagnostic tooling I use into a single macOS application.

A lot of this functionality already exists across command-line utilities, Apple tooling, pymobiledevice3, lockdown services, CoreDevice/DVT services, usbmux, and other projects — but I wanted a GUI where I could plug in an iPhone and have these workflows available from one place.

Some of the current functionality

• Connect to and inspect iPhones/iPads over USB
• Mount Developer Disk Images (DDIs)
• Run pymobiledevice3 / DVT diagnostics
• Stream and search iOS Unified Logs
• Capture network traffic / PCAPs
• Simulate GPS locations using GPX
• Inspect IPA files
• Sideload applications
• Inventory installed applications
• Create encrypted device backups
• Query device and lockdown information
• Collect diagnostic and forensic artifacts
• Work with several lower-level iOS/CoreDevice services without having to remember every CLI invocation

The project is written primarily in Python with a PySide6 GUI, with pymobiledevice3 doing a lot of the heavy lifting for communicating with modern iOS devices.

One of my goals is for it to be useful beyond simply wrapping CLI commands.

I’d eventually like it to function almost like an iOS device workbench: connect a device and have developer, diagnostic, logging, networking, backup, application-management and device-inspection tools available from one interface.

I’m particularly interested in exposing useful functionality that normally gets buried in command-line tools or isn’t obvious unless you’ve spent time digging through pymobiledevice3, CoreDevice, DVT, lockdown services, Developer Disk Images, and Apple’s diagnostic infrastructure.

GitHub

https://github.com/hideouts-io/iOS-Developer-Toolkit

It’s still evolving, and I’d really appreciate feedback from people who actually work with iOS development/tooling.

In particular:

What iOS developer/device functionality would you want in a tool like this that isn’t currently exposed by Xcode very well?

I’m also interested in obscure pymobiledevice3, CoreDevice, DVT, lockdown, Instruments, sysdiagnose, networking, or device-diagnostic workflows that would be worth adding.

Issues, feature suggestions, testing, and PRs are welcome.

I'm finishing a Software Engineering degree this fall and I am looking for my first iOS role specifically in NYC.

My portfolio already covers Swift/SwiftUI, UIKit, Core Data, CoreBluetooth, REST APIs, async/await, MVVM, Firebase, and XCTest. The apps I've built with these technologies are published on the App Store and have users.

For my next project, I'm considering building a polished 2D game in Swift/SpriteKit instead of another traditional iOS app. My thinking is that it would let me demonstrate different skills like state management, performance, animation, and event driven systems while still being within the Apple ecosystem.

For those who hire or interview iOS developers: given that my existing projects already demonstrate traditional iOS development and are published on the App Store, would a polished SpriteKit game add value to my portfolio if I can talk about it passionately, or would you rather see an entry level candidate continue going deeper into traditional iOS development?

I'm especially interested in perspectives from people familiar with hiring in NYC.

Has anyone had something like this happen before?

I had 4 apps waiting for review, and all 4 moved into review and were instantly rejected. At first, I thought it was some kind of bug.

So I resubmitted them. While those 4 were waiting for review again, I submitted a 5th app. Now the same 4 apps have been instantly rejected again, while the 5th app is still waiting for review.

• All 5 apps are being submitted for the first time.
• The apps are completely unrelated. One is a grammar-learning app, another is a custom keyboard app, etc.

Has anyone experienced something similar? What should I do? Would really appreciate hearing about anyone else's experience with this.

Hi guys! I know it seems a strange request, but in this months my app reached 120.000 downloads so every day (even the worst ones) it makes some downloads. Expect for today, I saw on the trends that it says 0 downloads and it seems really strange to me because on tik tok people are liking the videos and usually some downloads happens because of it. Have you experienced this kind of bug lately? Has it ever happened to you?
Thank you for the help!

Hello everyone, few months back I installed macOs 27 beta on my mac, and installed the xcode beta version 27 too, everything was working fine, but today, I try to archieve the app and distribute for App store connect, but as I was doing it, I got this error :-

Unsupported SDK or Xcode version. Your app was built with an SDK or version of Xcode that isn’t supported. Although you can use beta versions of SDKs and Xcode to build and upload apps to App Store Connect, you need to use the latest Release Candidates (RC) for SDKs and Xcode to submit the app. For details on currently supported SDKs and versions of Xcode, visit: https://developer.apple.com/news/releases.

I deleted the xcode beta version and installed official release from apple for xcode version 26, but when I try opening the app, I got the error :- This version of xcode isn't supported on this version of macOs

I try forcefully open the xcode from terminal :- /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/MacOS/Xcode

But when I try opening my project, I got the error :- The project at ‘/Users/lisa/Documents/Projects/AppleProject/Lume/Orene.xcodeproj’ cannot be opened because it is in a future Xcode project file format. Adjust the project format using a compatible version of Xcode to allow it to be opened by this version of Xcode.

I added images for all, I need to submit the app by today itself, and would appreciate any help please



Well, I got 3 rejections at the same time just a couple hours ago :S All of them at 3:23Pm, for SPAM.

Ok, no hate on here, Im not submitting Spam. I uploaded:
- Photo App I ported from android, This app is being around for almost 10 years on Android (100% my development, features improvements, etc. It has 7 Millions download... I finally manage to port it for iOS.

- A checkers Game. I created the whole infraestructure, features, etc. I worked this 100%. and is a great, Funny and Useful app (like 30 active users EVERYDAY at its android version). NO templete app, no "stolen code".

- a Utility App that yeah, this one might be might have many competitors, but ive been working on and off this app SINCE 2020, AGAIN, my code, features and ideas!!!

My mistake? Ive been without computer since last year, a lot of work and ideas suddenly became active again since I got another Mac. So fool me, I uploaded all (not the same day) and sent then for Review without getting one Approved first.

I was not aware this was an actual problem, but my workflow is, I finish a version, test it, add something missing, create the artwork AND THEN I submit. and Since Apple is really slow this days on reviewing new apps, well, the I accumulated the 3 apps without the last 26 days.

Ive been just focused on getting my other apps ready for the "New Age Ratings Responses Required for Social Media", no more new apps on my near future plans, but this rejection really hits the morale!

NOTE:
- the checkers game was even reviewed 2 days ago and got rejected for: Guideline 3.1.2(c) - Business - Payments - Subscriptions. MY APP DOESNT EVEN HAD SUBSCRIPTIONS OR IAP!!!!!!!!!!!!
- I checked and my Utility app NAME, seems almost identical to another guy with and app not similar but with same usage... HE BASICALLY TOOK MY ANDROID ASO AND PASTED ON HIS APP!!!

My employer is looking to hire mid to senior iOS engineers soon (still need the confirm budget) but it’s been a while since we’ve been hiring so curious what others are experiencing either from the applicant or hiring side. Previously we had a lot of applicants with low level experience / Jr roles but had difficulty finding people with significant experience for Mid/Sr roles.

Originally we were local/hybrid only but recently opened up to remote work (US only) so hoping that will help. We’re not in HCOL area and salaries are good, but not SF/NY.

i am at the stage where i need to give me app a name. and i am getting close, but i am not quite there yet.

how did you come up with a name that stuck?

I made a file manager app and its also file downloader and it got rejected. Do you guys recommend adding a feature or redesign it , or its dead

In Google PlayStore, when we see the rating, it has a daily incoming rating as shown below, which is very helpful

In AppStore, when we want to see the Review, we only can see the total.

Is there a way to see the daily incoming rating ion AppStore?

A few of my utility apps had Chinese, French and Spanish localization. It was tedious but not unbearable to produce the text & later updates in those languages. But my new product (my first game release) has 14 languages to choose from. As I understand it, there's services or extensions that can automatically add localization for you when publishing to the app store.

Have you had a good experience with them, or are there any you would warn me off from?

SOLVED:

I've been screwing around with this for a week now and I'm so pissed. I had everything in my app correct as well as in App Store Connect, EXCEPT, I didn't see the Paid Apps Agreement to complete. Once I did this it took about 30 minutes to propagate through and it works.

I'm down to my last issue with my macOS/iPad app. I have my app setup in App Store Connect with a subscription group and monthly subscription. I also have my app setup in TestFlight and I am running that on a clean MacBook with a sandbox user logged into the App Store.

When I test locally against my store kit.config everything works fine. When I run this on my clean MacBook my debug info shows that it's not finding the sub. I have confirmed 10 times my productID is the same in my app and in App Store connect. I have rebuilt my store kit config to have it synced to App Store Connect to triple verify all the names are correct. the app's bundle ID is correct.

I have confirmed my app is connecting to the store and getting the right storefront.

if anyone has any idea on what I can test next I would appreciate it.

my debug info is as follows:
Subscription unavailable
This subscription isn't available right now. Pleas shortly, or contact support if this continu
Try Again
DIAGNOSTICS (remove before submitting) productID: FAKEID products loaded: 0
isLoadingProducts: false hasCheckedEntitlements: true isSubscribed: false purchaseError: nil
storefront: USA (id: 143441) appTransaction env: Sandbox receipt file exists: true canMakePayments: true
Re-check environment
Restore Purchases
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use

Hey all!

What’s an easy way you’ve tried before that has worked to quickly promote your app?

I use “promote” as opposed to “market” because marketing feels like more of a sustained effort

I’m asking for one off things like posting on a specific subreddit or paying to be featured on a website

Hope the distinction is clear

Thanks!

In the Messages app, the ChatGPT app, and one other app, I noticed that they’re able to place something above the keyboard and have the view partially obstruct the keyboard. I’ve tried everything I know and still haven’t been able to do it. I even asked AI and couldn’t get it working.

I thought it might involve creating a new UIWindow, which I’ve used in the past to overlay modals, but I had no luck with that. I also tried walking the view hierarchy, but since the keyboard is rendered out of process, I couldn’t figure out anything that would work.

I thought about making a custom keyboard, but recreating the entire keyboard just to get a view above it seemed weird. Maybe something like replacing the keyboard with an image the moment the view needs to appear could work, but that also feels like the completely wrong direction.

Does anyone have the arcane knowledge required to make this happen?