Learning WatchKit Programming

Create Breakthrough Apple Watch Apps with the New watchOS 2 and the Updated WatchKit Framework!

Apple Watch is improving quickly: Using Apple’s new watchOS 2 operating system and the updated WatchKit framework, you can create tomorrow’s hottest wearable apps. Learning WatchKit Programming, Second Edition, will help you master these technologies and gain the same “early mover” advantage that early iPhone developers enjoyed.

Leading iOS development trainer and author Wei-Meng Lee guides you step by step through architecting, designing, and building cutting-edge Apple Watch apps. You’ll learn how to make the most of the newest platform improvements, including direct programmatic access to key hardware features; support for new Watch Connectivity Framework APIs; and new ways to use location, consume web services, and persist data.

Using practical Swift code examples designed for clarity and simplicity, Lee guides you through building apps from the ground up. You’ll learn how to build native watch apps that perform exceptionally well on their own and how to integrate your apps with iPhones to do even more.

Coverage includes

• Writing high-performance, native watch apps that run independently of the iPhone
• Accessing hardware, including Digital Crown, microphone, and Taptic Engine
• Storyboarding apps and testing them on the Apple Watch Simulator
• Mastering Apple Watch’s multiple-screen navigation
• Building efficient interfaces with Apple Watch UI controls
• Creating and programming “complications”–apps that display data on the watch face, such as alarms, tachymeters, chronographs, and calendars
• Displaying information via labels, images, or tables
• Passing and returning data to Interface Controllers
• Integrating location services into Apple Watch apps
• Using Watch Connectivity Framework APIs to link watch and iOS apps
• Calling and consuming web services
• Persisting data on the watch
• Displaying short- and long-look notifications Implementing glances to help users gather information faster 

This guide will help you extend your existing iOS skills, build apps that solve a whole new set of problems, and reach millions of people in the fast-growing Apple Watch marketplace.

All of this book’s sample Swift code is available for download at informit.com/title/9780134398983. (Register your book to gain access.)