Launch of the WOTD iOS App

I am officially an iOS developer! So I have designed and shipped my first ever iOS app which is the iOS version of the https://wotd-app.com/ application.

Development Process

I decided not to long after the launch of the web version about building an iOS app version of the wotd-app.com application. I thought it might be an interesting project to take on and experience iOS development.

So for building this I decided to use it in the native iOS language (Swift) mainly just from personal preference. I did consider using cross platform technologies such as Flutter/React native. I decided to focus on native technology because of the deeper level functionality.

Supported Devices: iPhone 12/13/14/15, iPad, iPad Air, iPad Pro

Design Process

The design process for building this was fairly straightforward, as it mainly copied the same logic from the web application version.

However, after reviewing the initial application. I decided to add some additional functionality to differentiate this application from the browser based counter part. I added a Guess the Anagram game, this fun game gives the player 60 seconds to guess a word in which the letters are reorganised in a random order.

I also opted to a re-skin as well. I went for a blue primary background with orange as the secondary colour. I chose white as the primary colour as I felt these three colours complemented each other quite well and didn't clash.

I also used the Quicksand font family that was available on Google Fonts. This also helped adhere to the guidelines in the iOS development guidelines to ensure your app design does not have minimal design/functionality.

Future Ideas

Android Mobile version

I think it would be interesting to explore an Android version, however from a Project Management perspective I am looking about how to also develop the main web application, while also making sure the iOS application up to date and also reducing the amount of follow-up work to be done on the Android client app.

One of the potential challenges of the Android version is the difference in the UI elements, and also the wide amount of device types to test.

Specialised iPad version

I think it could be interesting to see how this functionality could grow with the additional screen space on an iPad. The usual user interface for the app makes it look empty and lacking functionality. So I could make an iPad version with some additional functionality.

This version could then be ported into any future Android Tablet versions, to ensure there is parity in feature on both platforms.

Click here to see my first app live on the App Store.

You can also keep up to date with my recent commits on Github/Twitter