Scanning NFC tags using CoreNFC in an iOS app

Introduction I never had a chance to work with NFC (Near Field Communication), but I have always been curious to find out how it works. In this article, I will focus on scanning NFC tags using CoreNFC with NFCNDEFReaderSession. Preparation Before we begin, let’s add the necessary objects: Near Field Communication Tag Reading capability to the project. Privacy - NFC Scan Usage Description key to Info.plist. Near Field Communication Tag Reader Session Formats to the entitlements file. First Step The first step before starting scanning is to check if the device supports NFC reading by using the NFCNDEFReaderSession.readingAvailable property. ...

July 12, 2024 · 2 min · Dmytro Chumakov

Scanning for peripheral devices using BLE in an iOS app

Introduction I had the chance to work on a project where communication via BLE was at the heart of the project. Before adding any code to application, I always asked myself about two scenarios: The first scenario is when the device acts as a central device while searching for and connecting to peripheral devices. The second scenario is when the device acts as a peripheral device by using CBCharacteristic and changes its value. In this article, I will focus on the first scenario and will show how to scan for peripheral devices. ...

July 10, 2024 · 3 min · Dmytro Chumakov

Battery Performance Testing for iOS App

Introduction Working with batteries on iOS devices for large applications has always been tricky. The amount of energy consumed by the screen, location services, network calls, processing, background tasks, etc., is significant. From a developer’s perspective, it seems complicated, but Xcode provides tools to address this problem. To find the issue, you need to open Xcode and go to the Debug Navigator. In the Debug Navigator, you will see the Energy Impact gauge. In the histogram, blue indicates good performance, while red indicates overhead. Based on this information, you can analyze the overhead and resolve potential issues by utilizing Instruments such as Network, Location, CPU Profile, etc. For each case, Xcode provides instruments that allow you to dive deeper and understand what is happening in detail. ...

July 7, 2024 · 1 min · Dmytro Chumakov

Creating a 2D Space Game for iOS Using SpriteKit - Part 2

Introduction In the previous chapter, I started talking about the video game creation process, from project setup to adding the background. Now, I’m going to add the player and physics to it. You can download the project here. First Step The first step is to initialize player using SKSpriteNode, set up player.position, and add player as a child node. SKSpriteNode - is an onscreen graphical element that can be initialized from an image or a solid color. ...

July 3, 2024 · 3 min · Dmytro Chumakov

Creating a 2D Space Game for iOS Using SpriteKit - Part 1

Introduction I have never tried creating a game before; it feels like magic to me. I know that games have an enormous amount of underlying layers of abstractions and tools such as game engines, rendering, and so on. I have always been eager to learn at least 1% of the game creation process. In this article, I’m going to explore step-by-step instructions for creating a game for the iOS platform using SpriteKit. ...

June 28, 2024 · 2 min · Dmytro Chumakov