Hacking with watchOS

INCLUDES FREE UPDATES FOR SWIFT 6 AND BEYOND! Click here for full details.

watchOS might be Apple's tiniest platform, but that doesn't make it any less powerful. In fact, you get the full range of Swift and SwiftUI functionality, plus integration with HealthKit, SpriteKit, and more.

Hacking for watchOS teaches you to build watchOS apps the fast and practical way: you'll learn all the important system frameworks while you build real-world apps with SwiftUI. No more dry theory or useless waffle – just hands-on code and contextual explanation.

• 100% watchOS 10: You can always be guaranteed you're learning the latest, greatest Apple technologies because all my tutorials are written for watchOS 10.
• 100% Swift 5.10: Don't waste time with out of date tutorials – here you can learn smart, powerful, and expressive Swift the way it was meant to be written.
• 100% Practical: You learn Swift while you make real watchOS projects, which means you get to apply your new skills immediately and see them work in context.
• 100% Proven: I've already taught thousands of people how to build iOS and macOS, and now I'll help you transfer your skills to watchOS.

In case you were wondering, this book was written from scratch to take full advantage of SwiftUI, so you can be sure you're learning the latest and greatest way to build watchOS apps.

What's in the course?

If you already read Hacking with Swift, Hacking with macOS, or Server-Side Swift, you'll already know exactly how Hacking with watchOS is structured: I've designed a collection of app projects that teach all the core system frameworks, then ordered them so you start to learn with easy projects and work your way up over time.

Hacking with watchOS teaches you Swift and watchOS frameworks through real-world projects. There's a comprehensive Swift introduction for beginners, but I'm also packing the book with hints and tips that help you transfer your existing iOS skills to watchOS painlessly.

Hacking with watchOS includes 12 projects in total: four apps, four games, and four technique projects that focus on specific watchOS APIs. The projects are:

• NoteDictate: Get started coding in Swift by making a notes app driven entiely by your user's voice.
• Rock, Paper, Scissors: Learn how to use timers, images, groups, and more with this brain-teasing game.
• Storing Data: Persist your apps data using UserDefaults, SwiftData, files, and the secure keychain.
• WatchFX: Build a currency converter using live internet data, plus sliders, pickers, and a page-based user interface.
• Hue Knows: Discover how alerts, menus, and notifications can help you build richer watchOS apps and games.
• Views and Modifiers: Learn how and why SwiftUI structures its layouts as it does.
• Magic 8-Ball: Build your own watch face complication that can predict the future. (Possibly)
• Safe Crack: Combine the digital crown with haptic feedback to create a fun puzzle.
• Animation: Learn how to make your user interfaces come to life with attribute and image animations.
• iMove: Design your own custom workout app using HealthKit and track calories, distance, and more.
• ColorSpin: Add SpriteKit to your apps and build high-performance 2D games – it's easier than you think!
• WatchConnectivity: Transfer data, settings, files, and complication updates between watchOS and iOS.

While building projects, you'll learn all this and more:

• How SwiftUI on watchOS differs from SwiftUI on iOS.
• How to build apps that make the most of a small display – use the digital crown, gesture recognizers, and more.
• Communicating with the user's iPhone to share information, including notifications and app data.
• Reading and writing data using HealthKit to build your own workout app.
• Designing apps to take advantage of system features such as watch complications, animations, and more.
• Handling animation, concurrency, and more.

Download a free sample!

You can download the complete table of contents for this book here, or a 24-page sample PDF here.

Will it teach me Swift?

I've done my best to make sure this book is accessible to everyone: if you're just starting out I'll make sure and explain every concept, but if you're coming from iOS there are tips to help you transfer your existing skills to watchOS.

Hacking with watchOS comes with the same packed Swift introduction you get with Hacking with Swift, but after that it turns to focus on the powerful platform features that lie at the core of watchOS. I'm working hard to cover as much of WatchKit as possible, to help give you the best jump start possible for your own apps.

I already make iOS apps – is watchOS so different?

iOS, macOS, tvOS and watchOS have a number of similarities, not least the Swift programming language that works across all of them. This means coming to watchOS from iOS already gives you a head start because many concepts will be familiar to you.

But when it comes to user interface, watchOS and iOS are worlds apart. The very nature of watchOS is that it's designed to work on the smallest possible devices, so your app needs to work extra hard to load and operate quickly.

I make a point of highlighting everywhere watchOS and iOS come together so you can transfer your skills faster. This means you don't need to learn many things from scratch, and can instead focus on the parts that are different.

What will I get?

You'll get the complete book and all project tutorials as ePub, PDF, and HTML, all without any DRM. Your purchase includes both the WatchKit and SwiftUI editions of the book.

The Hacking with Swift guarantee

We want everyone to be happy with all the Hacking with Swift courses they buy, both now and in the future, which is why all our books come with free lifetime Swift updates and free bonus content with our Frequent Flyer Club, and we also encourage folks to join our Slack community to help solve problems.

However, if you aren't happy with a course you bought from us, we offer a 30-day No Questions Asked refund policy. This applies to all books and video courses purchased through Gumroad, which is our primary distributor. So, if you aren't happy with your purchase, if you changed your mind, or if you just bought the wrong thing by accident, we can refund your purchase up to 30 days after it was made.

Any other questions?

You can email me at paul@hackingwithswift.com or tweet me @twostraws, and I'll do my best to help.