Hacking with tvOS

tvOS lets you build apps and games for the biggest device of all: your user's television. This means you can build gorgeous high-definition apps that are more immersive than ever, taking full advantage of the Siri remote.


100% tvOS 12: You can always be guaranteed you're learning the latest, greatest Apple technologies because all my tutorials are written for tvOS 12.


100% Swift 4.2: Don't waste time with out of date tutorials – here you can learn smart, powerful, and expressive Swift the way it was meant to be written.


100% Practical: You learn Swift while you make real tvOS projects, which means you get to apply your new skills immediately and see them work in context.


100% Proven: I've already taught thousands of people how to build iOS apps, and now I'll help you transfer your skills to tvOS and unleash the power of your TV.


If you already read Hacking with Swift, Hacking with macOS, or Hacking with watchOS, you'll already know exactly how Hacking with tvOS is structured: I've designed a collection of app projects that teach all the core system frameworks, then ordered them so you start to learn with easy projects and work your way up over time.


Hacking with tvOS teaches you Swift and tvOS frameworks through real-world projects. There's a comprehensive Swift introduction for beginners, but I'm also packing the book with hints and tips that help you transfer your existing iOS skills to tvOS painlessly.


Hacking with tvOS includes 12 projects in total: four apps, four games, and four technique projects that focus on specific tvOS APIs. The projects are:


1. Randomly Beautiful: Build a beautiful screensaver app using UITableView, GCD, and JSON.


2. Flashlight: Code a quick-fire memory game while learning about UICollectionView and animated transforms.


3. Focus: Learn how to master focus with preferred focus and focus guides.


4. TV News: Connect to a web API and deliver news feeds with a custom collection view, tab bar, and remote images.


5. Language Pairs: Build a memory pairs game with custom focus effects, 3D flip transitions, and more.


6. Dark Mode: Learn how to make apps that look beautiful on Apple TV, regardless of user preference.


7. Wikimaps: Build a MapKit touring app that drops pins based on Wikipedia articles.


8. Blastazap: Code your own explosive space shooter using SpriteKit: sound, music, explosions, and more.


9. Top Shelf extensions: Customize your user's home screen by adding rich content – it's easier than you think!


10. Movieshopper: Build a complete app using TVMLKit, Apple's unique user interface system for tvOS.


11. BioBlitz: Power up your Swift skills with custom getters, setters, and property observers, while building a fun strategy game.


12. Storing files: Learn how on-demand resources and the iCloud key-value store let you reduce how much storage your app needs.


While building projects, you'll learn all this and more:


- How tvOS and TVML differs from Cocoa Touch on iOS.


- Creating advanced user interfaces native controls from UIKit: UITableView, UICollectionView, and more.


- Taking full advantage of the Siri remote, including focus, fast swiping and voice dictation.


- Downloading on-demand resources as they are needed, to minimize your app's install footprint.


- Designing apps to look great in the all-new dark mode for low-light environments.


- Handling animation, concurrency, and more.


I've done my best to make sure this book is accessible to everyone: if you're just starting out I'll make sure and explain every concept, but if you're coming from iOS there are tips to help you transfer your existing skills to tvOS.