| name | ios |
| description | iOS engineering rules — permissions, code signing, Swift/SwiftUI. Load for iOS targets. |
Scope
This skill is the engineering half of iOS support: platform rules that apply to any iOS task — permissions, signing, distribution, and native code standards.
The design half lives in skills/mobile/ios-hig/SKILL.md (navigation patterns, controls, typography, layout, Dark Mode, accessibility). Load it only when the task touches UI — screen layout, navigation, visual or interaction design. A signing, build, or non-UI logic task does not need it.
Design & UX (non-negotiable, applies even to non-UI tasks)
- Respect the Safe Area — never place interactive elements behind notches, home indicators, or Dynamic Island
- Support Dynamic Type — use semantic text styles (
UIFont.preferredFont, Text().font(.body)) instead of fixed sizes
- Support both light and dark mode using semantic system colors only
Permissions & Privacy
- Request permissions only at the moment they are first needed (not at launch)
- Provide a clear in-app rationale before the OS permission dialog appears
- Handle all permission states:
notDetermined, authorized, denied, restricted
- Populate every required
NSUsageDescription key in Info.plist before submitting to App Store
- Privacy Manifest (
PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy): required for apps using certain APIs (file timestamps, user defaults, disk space) — add it before App Store submission
Code Signing & Distribution
- Always use Automatic Signing in Xcode for development; switch to Manual Signing for CI/CD
- Distribution certificate + provisioning profile must match the
bundleIdentifier exactly
- Use TestFlight for all pre-production builds — never distribute
.ipa files directly
- Increment
CFBundleVersion (build number) for every TestFlight build; increment CFBundleShortVersionString only for user-visible releases
Native Swift / SwiftUI Standards
- Prefer SwiftUI for new screens; use UIKit only when SwiftUI cannot achieve the required behavior
- Use
@StateObject for objects owned by the view, @ObservedObject for injected objects, @EnvironmentObject for app-wide state
async/await over completion handlers for all new async code- Never force-unwrap (
!) without a guard or a comment justifying why it cannot be nil
