The iOS SDK (iOS Software Development Kit), formerly the iPhone SDK, is a

software development kit A software development kit (SDK) is a collection of software development tools in one installable package. They facilitate the creation of applications by having a compiler, debugger and sometimes a software framework. They are normally specific ...

(SDK) developed by Apple Inc. The kit allows for the development of

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on ...

s on Apple's iOS and iPadOS operating systems. The iOS SDK is a free download for users of

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...

(or Mac) personal computers. It is not available for Microsoft Windows PCs. The SDK contains sets giving developers access to various functions and services of iOS devices, such as hardware and

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. ...

attributes. It also contains an iPhone simulator to mimic the look and feel of the device on the computer while developing. New versions of the SDK accompany new versions of iOS. In order to test applications, get technical support, and distribute apps through App Store, developers are required to subscribe to the Apple Developer Program. Combined with Xcode, the iOS SDK helps developers write iOS apps using officially supported

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming l ...

s, including Swift and

Objective-C Objective-C is a general-purpose, object-oriented programming language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to the C programming language. Originally developed by Brad Cox and Tom Love in the early 1980s, it was selected by NeXT for its N ...

. Other companies have also created tools that allow for the development of native iOS apps using their respective programming languages.

History

While originally developing iPhone prior to its unveiling in 2007, Apple's then- CEO

Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; ...

did not intend to let third-party developers build native apps for the iOS operating system, instead directing them to make

web application A web application (or web app) is application software that is accessed using a web browser. Web applications are delivered on the World Wide Web to users with an active network connection. History In earlier computing models like client-serve ...

s for the Safari web browser. However, backlash from developers prompted the company to reconsider, with Jobs announcing on October 17, 2007, that Apple would have a

(SDK) available for developers by February 2008. The SDK was released on March 6, 2008.

Features

The iOS SDK is a free download for Mac users. It is not available for Microsoft Windows personal computers. To test the application, get technical support, and distribute applications through App Store, developers are required to subscribe to the Apple Developer Program. The SDK contents are separated into the following sets: * Cocoa Touch ** Multi-touch events and controls **

Accelerometer An accelerometer is a tool that measures proper acceleration. Proper acceleration is the acceleration (the rate of change of velocity) of a body in its own instantaneous rest frame; this is different from coordinate acceleration, which is acce ...

support **View hierarchy ** Localization (i18n) **

Camera A camera is an optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), with a ...

support *

Media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

** OpenAL **

audio mixing Audio mixing is the process by which multiple sounds are combined into one or more channels. In the process, a source's volume level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated or enhanced. This practical, aesthetic ...

and recording **Video playback **

Image file format An Image file format is a file format for a digital image. There are many formats that can be used, such as JPEG, PNG, and GIF. Most formats up until 2022 were for storing 2D images, not 3D ones. The data stored in an image file format may be ...

s **

Quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...

** Core Animation **

OpenGL ES OpenGL for Embedded Systems (OpenGL ES or GLES) is a subset of the OpenGL computer graphics rendering application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D computer graphics such as those used by video games, typically hardware-ac ...

* Core Services **

Networking Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

**Embedded SQLite database **Core Location **

Threads Thread may refer to: Objects * Thread (yarn), a kind of thin yarn used for sewing ** Thread (unit of measurement), a cotton yarn measure * Screw thread, a helical ridge on a cylindrical fastener Arts and entertainment * ''Thread'' (film), 2016 ...

**CoreMotion * Mac OS X Kernel ** TCP/IP ** Sockets **

Power management Power management is a feature of some electrical appliances, especially copiers, computers, computer CPUs, computer GPUs and computer peripherals such as monitors and printers, that turns off the power or switches the system to a low-power ...

File system In computing, file system or filesystem (often abbreviated to fs) is a method and data structure that the operating system uses to control how data is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, data placed in a storage medium would be one lar ...

Security" \n\n\nsecurity.txt is a proposed standard for websites' security information that is meant to allow security researchers to easily report security vulnerabilities. The standard prescribes a text file called \"security.txt\" in the well known locat ...

The SDK also contains an iPhone simulator, a program used to simulate the look and feel of iPhone on the developer's computer. New SDK versions accompany new iOS versions.

Programming languages

The iOS SDK, combined with Xcode, helps developers write iOS applications using officially supported programming languages, including Swift and

. An .ipa (iOS App Store Package) file is an iOS application archive file which stores an iOS app.

Java

In 2008,

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, ...

announced plans to release a

Java Virtual Machine A Java virtual machine (JVM) is a virtual machine that enables a computer to run Java programs as well as programs written in other languages that are also compiled to Java bytecode. The JVM is detailed by a specification that formally describ ...

(JVM) for iOS, based on the

Java Platform, Micro Edition Java Platform, Micro Edition or Java ME is a computing platform for development and deployment of portable code for embedded and mobile devices (micro-controllers, sensors, gateways, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, TV set-top ...

version of Java. This would enable Java applications to run on iPhone and iPod Touch. Soon after the announcement, developers familiar with the SDK's terms of agreement believed that by not allowing third-party applications to run in the background (answer a phone call and still run the application, for example), and not allowing an application to download code from another source, nor allowing an application to interact with a third-party application, Sun's development efforts could be hindered without Apple's cooperation. Sun also worked with a third-party company called Innaworks in attempts to get Java on iPhone. Despite the apparent lack of interest from Apple, a

firmware In computing, firmware is a specific class of computer software that provides the low-level control for a device's specific hardware. Firmware, such as the BIOS of a personal computer, may contain basic functions of a device, and may provide ...

leak of the 2007 iPhone release revealed an ARM chip with a processor with Jazelle support for embedded Java execution.

.NET

Novell Novell, Inc. was an American software and services company headquartered in Provo, Utah, that existed from 1980 until 2014. Its most significant product was the multi- platform network operating system known as Novell NetWare. Under the l ...

announced in September 2009 that they had successfully developed MonoTouch, a

software framework In computer programming, a software framework is an abstraction in which software, providing generic functionality, can be selectively changed by additional user-written code, thus providing application-specific software. It provides a standard ...

that let developers write native iPhone applications in the C# and .NET programming languages, while still maintaining compatibility with Apple's requirements.

Flash

iOS does not support

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia software platform used for production of animations, rich web applications, desktop applications, mobile apps, mobile games, and embedded web browser video players. Fla ...

, and although

Adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for '' mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of ...

has two versions of its software: Flash and Flash Lite, Apple views neither as suitable for the iPhone, claiming that full Flash is "too slow to be useful", and Flash Lite to be "not capable of being used with the Web". In October 2009, Adobe announced that an upcoming update to its Creative Suite would feature a component to let developers build native iPhone apps using the company's Flash development tools. The software was officially released as part of the company's

Creative Suite 5 Adobe Creative Suite (CS) is a discontinued software suite of graphic design, video editing, and web development application software, applications developed by Adobe Systems. The last of the Creative Suite versions, Adobe Creative Suite 6 (CS6) ...

collection of professional applications.

2010 policy on development tools

In April 2010, Apple made controversial changes to its iPhone Developer Agreement, requiring developers to use only "approved" programming languages in order to publish apps on App Store, and banning applications that used third-party development tools. After developer backlash and news of a potential anti-trust investigation, Apple again revised its agreement in September, allowing the use of third-party development tools.

Mac Catalyst

Originally called "Project Marzipan", Mac Catalyst helps developers bring iPadOS app experiences to macOS, and make it easier to take apps developed for iPadOS devices to Macs by avoiding the need to write the underlying software code twice.

References

External links

iOS Developer Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:IOS SDK SDK Programming tools Software development kits