iOS Newsletter
Hi folks!
This week Apple shipped improvements to Xcode with better coding intelligence and faster performance on large projects - the kind of iterative work that doesn’t make headlines but makes your day easier. Check the Xcode release notes for details. The new iOS beta added Liquid Glass effects in Measure, a refreshed Games app, and AI-generated podcast chapters.
Meanwhile, distributed systems tooling is coming to Swift. Franz Busch announced the open source Temporal Swift SDK — a framework that handles workflow orchestration so you can focus on business logic rather than failure modes.
The Swift Student Challenge 2026 submissions open in February 2026 (specifically Feb 6-28) - if you mentor junior developers or know someone building their first app, bookmark it now.
In this issue: robust concurrency patterns and notifications, SwiftUI’s task identity nuances, AI-powered image generation, testing at scale, health tracking integration, immersive visionOS experiences, and shipping binaries with automation.
AI
Generating images in Swift using Image Playground
Need to generate images programmatically in your app? Majid Jabrayilov demonstrates how to use the Image Playground framework’s text-to-image API in Swift.
Swift
Pitfalls of Parameterized Tests
Alex Ozun shares five common pitfalls when adopting Swift Testing at scale - and the best practices that help teams avoid them.
One Swift mistake everyone should stop making today
String replacement behaving unexpectedly? Paul Hudson explains why replacingOccurrences(of:with:) can cause bizarre bugs and what to use instead.
Building Closed-Source Binaries with GitHub Actions
Need to automate binary builds for your closed-source Swift package? Daniel Saidi shows how GitHub Actions can streamline your entire build pipeline.
Concurrency
Task Identity
Why don’t SwiftUI tasks re-run when view properties change? Chris Eidhof reveals how task identity controls dependency tracking in your views.
MainActorMessage & AsyncMessage: Concurrency-safe notifications
Notifications crashing with concurrency errors? Antoine van der Lee explains why you need MainActorMessage and AsyncMessage for thread-safe Notification Center usage in iOS 26+.
visionOS
Getting Started with Video on visionOS
Want to master video playback on Vision Pro? Florent Morin shares three approaches for building immersive video experiences, from simple 2D playback to fully spatial content.
Framework
Tracking workouts with HealthKit in iOS apps
Want to build a fitness app that captures real-time workout data? Letizia Granata shares how to integrate HealthKit and create responsive SwiftUI interfaces for health tracking.