SwiftLee Weekly - Issue 273

This week's SwiftLee Weekly covers: Build apps without Xcode or xcodebuild Camera support for Xcode's Simulator An App Store Connect feature you need to enable Enjoy this week's SwiftLee Weekly! THIS WEEK'S BLOG POST ​Billing Grace Period Explained: How It Works and Why It Matters​ During a workshop with Apple last week, I discovered several optimizations for my apps. One of them is a feature that's disabled by default, but that can reduce churn and retain more revenue: Billing Grace Period. SPONSORED ​Tired of chaotic mobile releases?​ Runway brings order to the madness. It automates the manual work, eliminates launch-day anxiety, and keeps your whole team on the same page. Trusted by teams at Gusto, ClassPass, and Kickstarter, Runway supports iOS, Android, and cross-platform apps—and integrates seamlessly with the tools you already use. Start running smoother releases at runway.team. CURATED FROM THE COMMUNITY ​StoreKit Examples - GitHub Repo​ A new open-sourced project by Jordi Bruin allows you to play around with the StoreKit Store and Subscription Store views. This can be a great starting point for those implementing a paywall! ​github.com​ ​Swift Enums vs Structs - Picking the Best Tool for the Job​ Do you know when to use which? This article shines a light on a decision we're making often when writing Swift. ​danielsaidi.com​ ​W.W.D.C. 2025: The Pregame Quiz​ WWDC is around the corner and I can tell we're all getting more excited. How about a pregame quiz to build up even more excitement? ​swiftjectivec.com​ ​Building a business around Tuist​ Going from an Indie project into a real business. It's a similar journey I'm in with RocketSim and I recognize quite some parts of this story from sales, marketing, to security certificates. ​tuist.dev​ ​Build an iOS app faster than ever with xtool​ Building an app without Xcode or xcodebuild? Yes, you can! ​dimillian.medium.com​ SWIFT EVOLUTION An overview of last week's Swift Proposal state changes. Check them out when they're in review, as it's your opportunity to influence the direction of Swift's future. AcceptedSE-0472Starting tasks synchronously from caller context Returned For RevisionSE-0480Warning Control Settings for SwiftPM AcceptedSE-0482Binary Static Library Dependencies Active ReviewSE-0485OutputSpan: delegate initialization of contiguous memory Active ReviewSE-0486Migration tooling for Swift features SNIPPET OF THE WEEK Camera Support on Xcode's Simulator Not a code snippet this week, but a sneak peek into what I've been working on lately: Camera Support for Xcode's Simulator. More background information in this week's question! You can find this post on Twitter/X, or LinkedIn. Antoine v.d. SwiftLee  @twannl Testing the camera in Xcode's Simulator used to be impossible. I'm working on a major update of RocketSim, which allows you to use the Mac camera inside Xcode's Simulator. Here's a demo of Looki, which we always had to test on a real device. Game-changing for productivity! 🚀 9:3 PM • May 25, 2025 31 Retweets 373 Likes Read 20 replies ​ QUESTION OF THE WEEK " Is it possible to test camera functionality on the Simulator? That's a question I've had a few years ago. I added the feature to RocketSim's roadmap and users started to vote it to being the most requested feature. Like with many of RocketSim's features, I often have no idea where to start. I keep thinking about them for months, jumping back and forth between potential implementation ideas. Last week, I finally found a way to actually enable camera support for Xcode's Simulator. It uses any of your Mac's cameras in replacement of the iOS camera. It's quite magic to see it working after developing for so long without proper camera support! Yet, it's also a highly challenging feature for me to build. There's no way to simulate a hardware device on iOS and I really need to trick the system to accept the macOS camera devices. This also means that I'll have to test many scenarios—there are simply many ways to use the camera on iOS! Looking at all the responses on this feature, I'm highly motivated to push this through. UIImagePickerController support is already completed and I'm now testing with Apple's AVCam Sample Code. If you have an open-sourced project that uses the camera, please add it to the GitHub issue so I can validate this feature. I truly can't wait for you to try out this feature! Want to have your question answered next week? Ask your question via this form (anonymously) or reply to this email with your question. EARN ROCKETSIM LIFETIME Share and Earn RocketSim Lifetime & a 1-on-1 coaching session Apple has recognized RocketSim as an Essential Developer Tool in the Mac App Store, and now you can get lifetime Pro access by sharing your unique referral link! ​​ How to get started: Click to share on X/Twitter, LinkedIn, Bluesky​ Or copy your referral link to share anywhere: ​https://join.swiftlee-weekly.com/9f07646e/ ​​ Rewards: Earn your first reward after just 3 sign-ups! Check your progress anytime using your referral dashboard. The grand prize? A personalized 1-on-1 career coaching session! Several subscribers have already claimed their rewards—will you be next? Thank you so much for your support, and until next Tuesday, Antoine Thanks for being a SwiftLee subscriber! ​ All my content is available to you for free. Like what I do and want to support me? ​Buy me a coffee or try RocketSim, an Essential Developer Tool as recommended by Apple. This newsletter is built with Kit. Need my experience? 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