Third-party libraries shorten development time, provide easy access to additional features, and help us focus on the core aspects of our projects. Once again, we present you with our selection of the best iOS libraries of the year.
Any iOS engineer’s day would be much more complicated without the many tools and libraries supporting the development process.
Knowing which libraries to use is essential for shortening development time and finding better solutions to common problems. This article showcases all the libraries our iOS team loves to use and utilize, as well as the ones we have created for our needs.
Libraries never go out of style
This year, we’re bringing a selection of tools we use the most. Some of them are oldies but goldies that continue to stay relevant for our everyday work.
Obligatory side note on using libraries responsibly
Keep in mind that using third-party libraries comes with a responsibility. If you plan to use the libraries on the list, or any libraries in fact, you should ask yourself these two questions first:
- Do you plan to use the library in only one place for a single feature, bringing no other value to the rest of the app?
- Is this library supported and maintained regularly by its developers?
If both of your answers are yes, feel free to take it to the next level.
Our selection of the best iOS libraries in 2024
SnapKit
I couldn’t imagine a world without this library, and I would immediately notice it missing from the project. It is a simple and powerful tool for defining constraints, resulting in better, more responsive, and faster development. Its fluent and expressive syntax provides many functionalities, including anchoring views, simplifying aspect ratio, and other advanced features.
let box = UIView()
view.addSubview(box)
box.snp.makeConstraints { constraints in
constraints.center.equalToSuperview()
constraints.width.height.equalTo(50)
}
Firebase
It’s hard to call Firebase just a library since it contains a suite of tools that simplify different aspects of app development, such as authentication, real-time databases, cloud storage, messaging, analytics, crashlytics, and more.
Auth.auth().signIn(withEmail: email, password: password) { authResult, error in
if let error = error {
print("Error logging in: \(error.localizedDescription)")
} else {
print("User logged in successfully!")
}
}
Firebase is well adapted across our projects and has become our tool of choice for achieving the goals mentioned above.
KeychainAccess
A popular library in Swift with the primary goal of simplifying interaction with the Keychain. It offers a simple and easy set of APIs for storing, retrieving, and managing secure information. We recommend using it if you want to enhance your app’s security and protect its data from unauthorized access. For example, you can see how easy it is to save and get a password from the Keychain.
let keychain = Keychain()
try? keychain.set("password", key: "myAccount")
let password = try? keychain.get("myAccount")
Sourcery
Sourcery is a powerful code generation tool that automates repetitive tasks using user-defined templates. This is very useful in mocking when you have to create many new testing files that just use different class names.
<span data-es-language="c"></span>lass UserViewInterfaceMock: ViewInterface {
var setUsernameCalled = false
var setUsernameReceivedValue: String?
func setUsername(username: String) {
setUsernameCalled = true
setUsernameReceivedValue: username
}
}
With Sourcery, you need to make your protocol inherit Automockable, and you are all set. Also, the last thing to mention is that Sourcery works with SwiftLint, so all your generated lines will conform to best practices from the beginning.
SwiftLint
SwiftLint is an extensively used and highly configurable library that enforces Swift’s writing style and conventions for Xcode projects. It helps keep a consistent and readable codebase by applying a set of rules defined by the creator and the development team.
Lottie
Lottie is a valuable tool for developers who are always trying to enhance their apps’ look and feel. It supports vector-based animation, easy installation, cross-platform compatibility, and more. Since animating can be pretty complex, Lottie will easily incorporate complex animations created with tools like Adobe After Effects.
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
startAnimating()
}
func startAnimating(){
animationView.setAnimation(named: "bird_flying") // "bird_flying" is an example animation that can be found here: https://lottiefiles.com/17655-bird-flying
animationView.play()
}
It is very easy and straightforward to import and configure animations using Lottie.
Charts
Charts is a library that integrates different charts into iOS applications, providing a very customizable solution for data visualization. It supports different chart types like line, bar, pie, radar, etc. Users can interact with charts through various gestures, animations, and more.
let entries = [
ChartDataEntry(x: 1.0, y: 10.0),
ChartDataEntry(x: 2.0, y: 25.0),
ChartDataEntry(x: 3.0, y: 15.0),
// Add more data entries as needed
]
let dataSet = LineChartDataSet(entries: entries, label: "Sample Data")
dataSet.colors = [.systemBlue]
dataSet.circleColors = [.systemBlue]
let data = LineChartData(dataSet: dataSet)
lineChartView.data = data
You should note that since iOS 16, Apple has released its own version of charts, and this may be the last time we’ve written about this tool.
Kingfisher
Kingfisher is our go-to tool for image loading and caching. You provide an image URL for the tool to download, which sends it to memory and disk caches and then displays it in many UIKit-friendly classes. Kingfisher can also help with async image loading, placeholders, transition effects, processing, and much more. It also has SwiftUI support.
// Basic version
let url = URL(string: "https://example.com/image.png")
imageView.kf.setImage(with: url)
// SwiftUI version
import KingfisherSwiftUI
var body: some View {
KFImage(URL(string: "https://example.com/image.png")!)
}
Honorable Mentions
Alamofire
Alamofire is one of the best and most used frameworks in iOS development. Its main task is simplifying networking requests, handling responses, authentication, and other useful capabilities the tool provides.
AF
.request("https://api.example.com/data")
.responseJSON { response in
// Handle response
}
From top to bottom, you make your request, validate your response, and decode it into necessary data models.
RxSwift
Reactive programming is simple, elegant, and powerful. It intends to enable easy composition of asynchronous operations and data streams in the form of Observable objects. Learning this way of working takes time, but once you know it, you’ll never use it any other way.
observable
.subscribe(onNext: { // some action })
.disposedBy(disposeBag)
RxCocoa goes hand in hand with RxSwift (since it includes some iOS-specific features). For example, button tappings, text inputs, and all other UI elements are way easier to maneuver when RxCocoa is on.
let buttonSelected = button.rx.tap.asSignal()
buttonSelected
.emit(onNext: { // some action })
.disposedBy(disposeBag)
To be fair, we have started moving towards Combine where it makes sense, but this process is still ongoing, and we’ll still heavily utilize Rx in years to come.
Best iOS libraries developed by Infinum
Like any other development team, we are constantly working on new ideas and have created many libraries we use heavily in our projects. Check them out below as well.
Locker
A lightweight library for handling sensitive data (String type) in Keychain using iOS Biometrics features.
Prince of Versions
Used for easier versioning of your applications; allows you to prompt your users to update the app to the newest version.
I18n
A library that makes localizing your app much easier by adding custom properties to UI elements and setting up available languages within the code.
Collar
This library for analytics debugging can show you different types of analytics collecting data as they happen in the app.
Sentinel
A library for configuring a single entry point for every debug tool used.
Anything to add?
There are many libraries in the ocean of iOS. Here, we picked some of our favorites that make our lives easier and shorten the development time so we can use them in other productive workflows. If you have another one we might have missed, feel free to contact us on social media.
