IPadOS 15.2 released Swift Playgrounds 4.0, finally making good on its promise to build apps on the iPad and upload them to the App Store.

So I developed an AR App on the iPad and packaged it and uploaded it to App Store Connection.

advantages

To summarize the practical experience, the main advantages are:

  1. Portable, much lighter than any MacBook Pro; Not only that, but for AR app development, running on the iPad can be directly previewed in real time, without additional connection to the test device, due to the use of the device’s rear camera and LiDar.

2. Complete syntax hints and API completion functions, and have online documents.

3. The split-screen function of iPad makes it very convenient to switch between different working interfaces.

  1. App information setting, packaging and uploading are easy to operate; The required material can also be easily imported from iCloud.

disadvantages

Of course, there are also some shortcomings:

  1. The first thing to do is to have an extra keyboard. Typing directly on the screen is possible, but since the keyboard blocks at least a third of the screen, this efficiency is unacceptable. The best external keyboard is of course the original keyboard (2399), or you can choose logitech’s replacement:

  1. The current version is still lacking in both editing and compiling performance. For example, the compilation speed of real-time preview is slightly slower, and sometimes error messages can’t keep up with the code input speed. The auto-complete function often fails and you need to restart Playgrounds. SwiftUI indent display not handled well, poor readability… There are also some minor bugs, such as the persistent failure to import third-party Swift packages.

  1. Currently, you can’t sync with macOS + XCode. You can sync to Swift Playgrounds on macOS via iCloud, but you can’t edit it on PC. This also makes it impossible to version control with Git, so use caution for larger, formal projects.

conclusion

Overall, this update is a long-awaited feature that makes it possible to complete an App on an iPad and publish it to the App Store. “My iPad Pro is the 2020 version, and if I upgrade to the M1 version, I’m sure replacing macOS is not out of the question.” Your next computer, why should it be a computer? “Again, Apple didn’t brag.

P.S. This article was also written on iPad.