Top 8 Open-Source Libraries That Every iOS Developer Should Use

Open-source libraries for iOS developer

Today, Swift is one of the most popular and widely used programming languages when developing an iOS application. If you as an iOS developer start a new project, chances are high that you will prefer to write it in Swift.

Therefore, it is important that you make yourself aware of Swift libraries as these libraries will make the transition smooth and help you save a lot of time while writing your app. However, you can get a complete list of Swift libraries on both GitHub and Bitbucket, but categorizing the right one that can make a difference in your code is not easy.

You need to analyze different libraries and check them out so that you can find the right library for you, but it will consume a lot of time and effort. So, to make it easier for you, I have listed the top 10 Open-Source libraries that every iOS developer should check out in 2017.

2017’s Best Open-Source Libraries That Can Help iOS Developer to Save Their Time

Alamofire

An HTTP networking library ‘Alamofire‘ is written in Swift and claims to simplify networking in your application. Built on top of NSURLSession and the Foundation URL Loading System, this high-end library mainly focused on core networking implementations, and for this purpose, some of the additional component libraries also have been developed by the Alamofire Software Foundation to bring additional functionality to the Alamofire ecosystem. This feature-rich iOS library effortlessly wraps networking mechanisms in a simple Swift interface.

Exclusive Features of Alamofire Library:

  • Allows Uploading and Downloading Progress Closures with Progress
  • Download File using Request or Resume Data
  • Upload File / Data / Stream / MultipartFormData
  • URL/JSON/plist Parameter Encoding
  • HTTP Response Validation

AFNetworking

An advanced networking library ‘AFNetworking‘ is a perfect choice for iOS and Mac OS X as it is built on top of the Foundation URL Loading System. It is a fast networking library that mainly uses blocks and GCD (Grand Central Dispatch). Moreover, the library has a modular architecture with elegant and feature-rich APIs that can be used easily.

It is a perfect example of how an open-source project must be run as an amazing community of experienced developers contributes to AFNetworking daily, making this library the most popular one.

A Wide Range of Features of AFNetworking Library:

  • Amazing Community of Developers Use and Contribute to AFNetworking Daily
  • It powers widely used apps on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac
  • A Modular Architecture that features rich APIs

TTTAttributedLabel

TTTAttributedLabel is a drop-in extra for UILabel, delivering a much easier way to performantly render attributed strings. The library is well-known for supporting link embedding, both automatically with NSTextCheckingTypes and manually by stipulating a complete range for a URL, address, phone number, event, or transit information.

Also, TTTAttributedLabel supports VoiceOver through the UIAccessibilityElement protocol as of version 1.10.0. Every single link can be easily selected with an accessibility label equal to its string value and a corresponding accessibilityValue for URL, data links, etc.

Some of the features of TTTAttributedLabel Library:

  • Custom Styling for links within the label
  • Label style legacy for attributed strings
  • Automatic Data Detection
  • Manual Link Embedding
  • Long-press gestures along with tap gestures for links

PLCrashReporter

PLCrashReporter is an in-process crash reporting framework for iOS and Mac OS X. The framework is popular for powering various crash reporting services that are obtainable for iOS, including Flurry, HockeyApp, and Crittercism. Moreover, PLCrashReporter is a lot easier to integrate with existing or custom crash reporting services. For crashing reporting, it only uses supported and public APIs/ABIs.

Features of the PLCrashReporter framework:

  • The framework makes use of only supported and public APIs/ABIs for crash reporting.
  • It doesn’t interfere with debugging in lldb/gdb.
  • Offers complete register state for the crashed thread.
  • Using DWARF and Apple Compact Unwind frame data, it is the most accurate stack unwinding obtainable.
  • A lot simpler to integrate with existing or custom crash reporting services.

ObjectMapper

Have you ever written an app that downloads info through an API? You may have spent a lot of time writing code to map responses to your objects. ObjectMapper is one such framework that is written in Swift and simplifies the conversion of Model objects. The framework can help you to change a JSON response into your model object and objects back to JSON.

Some of the Exclusive Features of ObjectMapper:

  • Custom Transformations during Mapping.
  • Nested Objects that stand alone in arrays or in dictionaries
  • Struct Support
  • Mapping objects to JSON
  • Mapping JSON to objects
  • Undisputable Support

Nimbus

Today, Nimbus is a mega-framework that is full of documented goodies and it could be useful for your project. It is the only iOS framework today whose feature sets are keeping growing only as fast as its documentation. Loaded with enormous features, Nimbus is a perfect framework, offering well-documented and modular components that suffice common iOS software requirements.

Enormous Features of Nimbus Framework:

  • A simple approach to table models
  • Rich Text label with hyperlinks
  • Radio Groups
  • Standardized interapp communication
  • Powerful debugging tools
Swift for iOS App
Swift for iOS App

SwiftyJSON

Now, it becomes a lot easier to deal with JSON data in Swift using SwiftyJSON which is an open-source library. You can use this library in a more readable way as optional unwrapping is handled automatically in it for its users.

Top Features of SwiftyJSON Library:

  • SwiftyJSON is quite simple to use.
  • It allows you to recover different values from the original JSONValue just by using subscripts
  • A perfect open-source library that helps you use JSON in Swift without any hassle.
  • No need to bother about optional wrapping as it is done automatically.

CHIPageControl

If you are looking forward to animating any boring UIPage Control, CHIPageControl is a complete collection of wonderfully animated page controls to replace boring UIPageControl. The library allows you to choose between 8 stylish controls that are animated and easy to implement. You just need to drop UIView and set its class to be one of CHIPageControls. Once, you perform it, you are all ready to go.

CHIPageControl Features:

  • Just drop UIView and set its class to be one of CHIPageControls.
  • Allows you to choose between 8 stylish controls
  • A lot easy to Implement

Conclusion

So, these are the top 8 open-source iOS libraries that every iOS developer should use to save the time that they spend writing certain components for their application. What do you think about these mentioned libraries? Have you explored any of the libraries mentioned above for your iOS app development project?

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