Sahar, Ahmad iOS 26 Programming for Beginners

A hands-on guide to kickstarting your iOS app development journey with Swift 6, UIKit, and Xcode 26
10. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-80602-392-9
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 634 Seiten

iOS 26 Programming for Beginners returns in its 10th edition, fully updated to reflect Apple's latest innovations in app development. Perfect for complete newcomers as well as those transitioning from other platforms, this practical guide walks you through every step of building your first iOS app using Swift 6 and Xcode 26.
Following a project-based approach, you'll create a feature-rich journal app while mastering UIKit fundamentals, including storyboards, navigation, data persistence, media integration, and map-based features. Each chapter builds on the last with clear explanations, step-by-step instructions, and real-world examples that reinforce your learning.
Along the way, you'll enhance your app with Apple Intelligence, Apple's on-device AI platform, to deliver smart, personalized user experiences. You'll also leverage the elegant Liquid Glass UI design system introduced in iOS 26, to give your app a modern and immersive feel.
By the end of this book, you'll have built and deployed a complete iOS app and gained the essential skills to pursue a career in mobile development.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Sahar, Ahmad, Ahmad Sahar

Fachgebiete

• Mathematik | Informatik EDV | Informatik Programmierung | Softwareentwicklung Software Engineering

Leseproben

1

Hello, Xcode

Welcome to . I hope this book serves as a useful introduction to creating and publishing iOS 26 apps on the App Store.

In this chapter, you’ll download and install Xcode on your Mac. Then, you’ll explore the Xcode user interface. After that, you’ll create your first iOS app and run it in Simulator. Finally, you’ll run your app on an iOS device.

By the end of this chapter, you will know how to create an iOS app, how to run it in Simulator, and how to run it on an iOS device.

The following topics will be covered in this chapter:

• Downloading and installing Xcode from the App Store
• Exploring the Xcode user interface
• Running your app in Simulator
• Running your app on an iOS device

Free Benefits with Your Book Your purchase includes a free PDF copy of this book along with other exclusive benefits. Check the section in the Preface to unlock them instantly and maximize your learning experience.

Technical requirements

To do the exercises for this chapter, you will need the following:

• An Apple Mac computer running macOS 15 Sequoia or macOS Tahoe 26
• An Apple account (if you don’t have one, you will create one in this chapter)
• Optionally, an iOS device running iOS 26

The Xcode project for this chapter is in the folder of the code bundle for this book, which can be downloaded here:

https://github.com/PacktPublishing/iOS-26-Programming-for-Beginners-10E

Check out the following video to see the code in action:

https://youtu.be/Xckyb2f9rVk

You’ll start by downloading Xcode, Apple’s integrated development environment (IDE) for developing iOS apps from the App Store, in the next section.

The total size of the download is very large (13 GB at the time of writing), so it may take a while to download. Ensure that you have enough disk space prior to downloading.

Download and install Xcode from the App Store

Xcode is Apple’s IDE for developing macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS apps. You’ll need to download and install Xcode on your Mac prior to writing your first app. Follow these steps:

1. On your Mac, choose App Store from the Apple menu.
2. In the search field in the top-right corner, type and press the key.
3. You’ll see Xcode in the search results. Click Get and then click Install.
4. If you have an Apple account, type it in the text field and enter your password when prompted. If you don’t have one, click Create Apple Account and follow the step-by-step instructions to create one:

Figure 1.1: Apple account creation dialog box

You can see more information on how to create an Apple account using this link: https://support.apple.com/en-us/108647#appstore.

1. Once Xcode has been installed, launch it. You’ll see a license agreement screen. Click Agree:

Figure 1.2: License agreement screen

1. You’ll be prompted to enter your Mac’s administrator’s username and password. Once you have done so, click OK:

Figure 1.3: Prompt for administrator username and password

1. You’ll see a screen showing you the available development platforms. You just need macOS and iOS for now. Tick iOS 26.0, leave all other options unticked, and click Download & Install:

Figure 1.4: Development platforms screen

1. If you see a prompt to relaunch Xcode to use updated frameworks, click Relaunch Xcode.
2. If you see a What’s New in Xcode screen, click Continue.
3. You’ll see the Welcome to Xcode screen. Click Create New Project... in the left-hand pane:

Figure 1.5: Welcome to Xcode screen

1. Xcode will start to download iOS 26.0 Simulator automatically. Note that you will not be able to run any apps on Simulator until this process has been completed:

Figure 1.6: Simulator download progress bar

1. You’ll see the new project screen as follows. In the Choose a template for your new project section, select iOS. Then choose App, and click Next:

Figure 1.7: New project screen

1. You’ll see the Choose options for your new project screen:

Figure 1.8: Choose options for your new project screen

Configure the options as follows:

• Product Name: The name of your app. Enter in the text field.
• Organization Identifier: Used to create a unique identifier for your app on the App Store. Enter for now. This is known as the reverse domain name notation format and is commonly used by iOS developers.
• Interface: The method used to create the user interface for your app. Set this to Storyboard.

Leave all other settings at their default values. Click Next when done.

1. You’ll see a Save dialog box. Choose a location to save your project, such as the or folder, and click Create:

Figure 1.9: Save dialog box

1. You’ll see a Provide Author Information dialog box as follows:

Figure 1.10: Source control preference screen

The reason you see this dialog box is the Source Control checkbox in the Save dialog was ticked. Apple recommends that Source Control be turned on. Source Control (also known as version control) is outside the scope of this book, but if you wish to learn more about it, along with Git, see this link: https://git-scm.com/video/what-is-version-control.

Enter the following information:

• Your own name
• Your email address

Click Save when done. The Xcode main window will appear.

Fantastic! You have now successfully downloaded and installed Xcode and created your first project. In the next section, you will learn about the Xcode user interface.

Exploring the Xcode user interface

You’ve just created your first Xcode project! As you can see, the Xcode user interface is divided into several distinct parts, as shown here:

Figure 1.11: Xcode user interface

Let’s look at each part in more detail. The following descriptions correspond to the numbers shown in the preceding screenshot:

• Toolbar (1): Used to build and run your apps and view the progress of running tasks.
• Navigator area (2): Provides quick access to the various parts of your project. The Project navigator is displayed by default.
• Editor area (3): Allows you to edit source code, user interfaces, and other resources.
• Inspector area (4): Allows you to view and edit information about items selected in the Navigator or Editor areas.
• Debug area (5): Contains the debug bar, the variables view, and the Console. The Debug area is toggled by pressing + + .

Next, let’s examine the toolbar more closely. The left side of the toolbar is shown here:

Figure 1.12: Xcode toolbar (left side)

Let’s look at each part in more detail. The following descriptions correspond to the numbers shown in the preceding screenshot:

• Navigator button (1): Used to display or hide the Navigator area.
• Coding Assistant button (2): Used to display or hide the Coding Assistant area. This feature helps you write code and fix issues using Xcode’s integrated intelligence.
• Stop button (3): Used to stop the currently running app.
• Run button (4): Used to build and run your app.
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