Welcome to the 17th issue of the iOS Coffee Break Newsletter 📬.

SwiftLeeds has come to a close, and I am so glad I could attend this fantastic event! It was my first iOS conference, and I couldn't have picked a better one.

Even though I went solo, I never felt alone — everyone was so welcoming and friendly. Making connections was effortless.

🚀 Big thanks to Adam and the entire organizing team for making this event happen! I have made great connections that I plan to keep in touch with, and I am already excited about next year! 👀

Talks

SwiftLeeds 2024 featured a diverse range of talks, from non-technical stories like Chloe's transition from teaching to mobile development and Josh's journey of overcoming his stutter, to more technical topics such as Max introduction to WebAssembly and Matthew Massicotte's deep dive into Swift Concurrency.

Among the sessions, I have chosen a few that resonated most with me and left a lasting impact. Here is a quick look at those standout talks:

All the talks should be available soon on the SwiftLeeds Youtube channel.

From Side Project to Going Indie

Antoine kicked off SwiftLeeds with a captivating talk about his journey to becoming an Indie developer. From the developers I have met over the past few days, it is clear that most are working on side projects. However, only a small portion of them are able to earn enough from these projects to fully support themselves.

Hopefully with Antoine's strategies and insights, we can better leverage our side projects, potentially turning them into a stepping stone for a significant career shift.

Off topic, it was conducted a study on SwiftLeeds and Antoine is in fact the tallest iOS developer alive!

Cut costs, not corners - Master modularization with SPM

Antonio talk about modularization with SPM was one of the most interesting ones to me because I can totally see myself into his struggles while refactoring his monolith iOS project using SPM.

Antonio shared practical advice for working with SPM, offering helpful strategies to implement in your projects. He highlighted common pitfalls to avoid and provided guidance on maintaining SPM projects effectively over time. Unfortunately, I couldn't reach out to him at the end of the talks, but I will try to get to him to discuss some topics.

For those who attended the talk, have you found the out way of the maze?

Fixing Image Performance for The Worst iPhone

Aviel's talk covered the image performance issues his team encountered and how they tackled them. If you are interested in practical solutions, I highly recommend watching it when it becomes available.

He shared real world examples of CPU overload, OOM crashes, frame rate drops in SwiftUI, and how they managed to overcome these to maintain 60 FPS, ensuring smooth scrolling through high resolution images. It is definitely a great resource for anyone dealing with similar performance challenges!

From Quantum to Code: A Teacher's Journey into Mobile Development

Chloe Jenner's debut as a conference speaker was nothing short of remarkable, delivering a poetic and deeply inspirational talk! In a refreshing, non-technical session, Chloe shared her personal journey, transitioning from being a teacher to the fast-paced world of mobile development.

Her engaging storytelling and practical advice encouraged the audience to embrace their own career shifts, while highlighting the untapped potential of individuals from diverse backgrounds. It was one of the most powerful and motivational talks I have seen!

For anyone feeling like they "do not belong here", take a 20-minute break and let Chloe's talk change your mind!

The Roast of your App's Design

Hidde delivered one of the most entertaining talks at the conference by humorously roasting two applications that clearly lacked adherence to Apple's Human Interface guidelines. The main issues pointed out the excessive taps required for actions, intrusive onboarding processes, misuse of animations, and failure to incorporate native components.

A big shoutout to Harry and Antonio for playing along and being the subject to all kinds of dutch 🇳🇱 jokes!

As a side note, rumor has it that Harry hasn’t stopped crying since ...

Zerocam: Indie App of the Conference (Personal choice)

I met Sergio at the conference, where we talked about his passion for photography and his app, Zerocam. It is a minimalist iPhone camera app designed without heavy post-processing or complex controls, offering an experience similar to a digital camera.

Key Features:

• Natural Photography: No artificial post-processing, just RAW photos with soft, natural results.
• One-Button Simplicity: One-button operation for hassle-free shooting.
• No Distractions: No settings or mode changes, focusing solely on capturing moments.
• Lens Switching: Quick lens change via Force Touch.
• Become a Better Photographer: Join the 365 Challenge with the dedicated widget and improve your photography skills daily.

If you would like to see more content focused on applications, let me know! You can always reach out to me on X. Feel free to connect!