ios

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