Danny Bolella (aka Captain SwiftUI)

Emptiness in SwiftUI How "Empty" can be designed and accounted for using EmptyView, EmptyModifier, and ContentUnavailableView

Ahoy there ⚓️ this is your Captain speaking…

I kept coming up empty on topics, until it hit me: "nothing" is something! In this article, I’ll discuss 3 types of Emptiness in SwiftUI.

Let's talk about nothing!

captainswiftui.substack.com/p/emptiness-...

YouTube video by Sean Allen Swift 6.2, New Era of Swift, Foundation Models, Dark Side of iOS Dev & More.

New Swift News out now on my YouTube channel.

- What's new in Swift 6.2
- New era of iOS Dev
- Dark side of iOS Dev
- Foundation Model ideas
- Tik Tok indie marketing origin story???

Video - youtu.be/KIbPHB6FIlo

The Northern Stars of Liquid Glass An overview of the new HIG principles of Hierarchy, Harmony, and Consistency

Ahoy there ⚓️ this is your Captain speaking…
Liquid Glass just introduced three new design principles — Hierarchy, Harmony, and Consistency. 🌊
These are the Northern Stars for Apple’s new design era.
Read here → captainswiftui.substack.com/p/the-northe...
#SwiftUI #LiquidGlass #iOS26

The Great Shift in Apple Development A new, sweeping era has begun. Here are the signs...

As Apple announces the new #iPhone17 and other “awe dropping” hardware updates, they’re also officially launching the new design system, #LiquidGlass. As developers, it’s all part of The Great Shift in how we approach Apple development.

captainswiftui.substack.com/p/the-great-...

The Great Shift in Apple Development A new, sweeping era has begun. Here are the signs...

Ahoy there ⚓️ this is your Captain speaking…

This summer hasn’t just been busy — it’s marked a real shift in how we code and design on Apple platforms.

I’m calling it The Great Shift.

captainswiftui.substack.com/p/the-great-...

#ios #ipados #macos #swiftui #swift #iphone #liquidglass

Meet with Apple - Apple Developer Join us around the world for a variety of sessions, labs, and workshops — tailored for you.

Question for my network: Has anyone been to one of the recent Meet with #Apple Workshops around the new design system?

- What's it like? (format, sessions, etc)
- Is it required to go all 3 days?
- What was the biggest take-away for you and your team?

developer.apple.com/events/view/...

Windowing on iPadOS (Or How I Learned to Love The Backlog Bomb) The New Windowing System brings iPadOS even closer to macOS, but opens up a world of new development considerations

iPadOS windowing is here — and it’s not just about resizing.
🧱 It brings a new micro-state
📏 It can break layouts you haven’t tested
🪟 It demands smarter SwiftUI structure
Check out my initial thoughts and findings: captainswiftui.substack.com/p/windowing-...
#SwiftUI #iPadOS #WWDC25

Finding Deeper Meaning in Liquid Glass Search How Apple has aligned search with where they believe the future of application design is going

Spotted this new search pattern in the iOS26 wild — News and Health both use Liquid Glass-style multi-tabbed search.

It’s subtle, but it changes how we structure views, surface context, and think about when users actually need to search.

🧭 I unpacked it here → open.substack.com/pub/captains...

Thoughts on Liquid Glass as a New Design System The Captain talks through the impact of the new design system during Office Hours

Liquid Glass is not just a material update. Apple 🍏 made it clear it’s a new design system, and we as devs need to jump on board 🚢

Watch as I share my thoughts on LG from the last Office Hours 🕰️: captainswiftui.substack.com/p/thoughts-o...

Summarizing Scores with Foundation Models, #Playground, and Xcode AI Apple's AI offerings for developers are knocking it out of the park, both on and off device

Ahoy there ⚓️
Part 2 of my WWDC25 dev log is live ⚾️
🧠 Foundation Models generated summaries
🧾 #Playground macro test
🗣️ AVSpeech speaks the scores
🤖 Xcode AI refactored code and added a feature
SwiftUI meets AI → open.substack.com/pub/captains...
#WWDC25 #SwiftUI #FoundationModels #XcodeAI

Subscribe to Captain SwiftUI The Captain’s Blog on Swift, SwiftUI, and Apple Development. Click to read Captain SwiftUI, by Danny Bolella, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.

Join the Captain's Crew 🚢 (with a limited-time discount) and get access to this week's 🕰️ Office Hours: Post-WWDC Edition!

We'll be covering a whole bunch of topics 📋, sharing insights and thoughts, and trying some of the WWDC goodies live!

Subscribe here: captainswiftui.substack.com/e61c7588

Make your UIKit app more flexible - WWDC25 - Videos - Apple Developer Find out how your UIKit app can become more flexible on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro by using scenes and container view...

“As scenes are vital for ensuring flexibility, adopting UIScene life cycle will soon be mandatory. In the next major release following iOS 26, UIScene life cycle will be required when building with the latest SDK.”

developer.apple.com/videos/play/...

Played with Foundation Models from this years #WWDC25 and I’m EXTREMELY impressed! One thing I’m curious about: how long has an average response been taking on your system?
I’ve been sitting somewhere around 11.2 seconds.

Optimize SwiftUI performance with Instruments - WWDC25 - Videos - Apple Developer Discover the new SwiftUI instrument. We'll cover how SwiftUI updates views, how changes in your app's data affect those updates, and how...

This #WWDC25 session is required viewing. If you want to write better, more performant #SwiftUI, working with Instruments is a huge guiding tool. And the enhancements this year are absolutely fantastic: developer.apple.com/videos/play/...

WWDC25 Keynote and PSOTU Impressions The Captain's Initial Thoughts on What Apple Shared on Day 1

#WWDC25 dropped some heat — I broke down Day 1 in a fast read:
✅ What rumors came true
🧊 Apple’s Liquid Glass redesign
📐 Real SwiftUI updates
🧠 Foundation Models framework

Dev-first takes here → open.substack.com/pub/captains...

#SwiftUI #AI #AppleDeveloper

WWDC25 Keynote and PSOTU Impressions The Captain's Initial Thoughts on What Apple Shared on Day 1

Day 1 of WWDC25 is in the books—and I’ve got first impressions from both the Keynote and the PSOTU. From the big reveals to the subtle signals about Apple’s direction, here’s what stood out (and what I’m keeping an eye on next).

📖 Read the full Day 1 recap: open.substack.com/pub/captains...

Craig's key points for Developers at the end of the #WWDC25 Keynote was to take note of:

1️⃣ Foundation Models Framework
2️⃣ App Intents
3️⃣ Visual Intelligence

Really looking forward to diving into these more at the Platforms State of the Union...

🚨 It’s WWDC Day.

The Captain’s locked in — ready for the big reveal.
New APIs? New SwiftUI magic? Who knows. That’s the fun.

First coverage post drops tonight — stay tuned. 🧭
#WWDC25 #SwiftUI

Join us for a special Post-WWDC Office Hours 🕰️ on June 19 at 11 AM EDT!

The Captain and Crew will be gathering to unpack all the exciting announcements Apple 🍎 makes during WWDC.

Join with a new paid subscription—now available with a special WWDC promo:
👉 captainswiftui.substack.com/e61c7588

WWDC25 Pre-Game Analysis and Predictions The Captain’s Take Heading Into The Happiest Week of an Apple Devs Year

Less than a week to go until #WWDC25!!!

Get yourself even more hyped by checking out my pre-game analysis and predictions!

open.substack.com/pub/captains...

Still wrestling with SwiftUI’s Form?
I broke down the tradeoffs of using Apple’s built-in container vs. building your own — plus what really happens when you try to style Form yourself.

Catch up here → open.substack.com/pub/captains...
#SwiftUI #iOSDev #UXDesign #CaptainSwiftUI

Well shiver me timbers… we did it! The crew has entered the 1000 club!🎉

🫡 Thank you EVERYONE who’s embarked on this adventure with me 🚢

Come join us on our next voyage! captainswiftui.substack.com

Almost there…

Be the 1000th subscriber by joining here: captainswiftui.substack.com

Forming an Opinion on SwiftUI Forms Filling in the Gaps on When to use SwiftUI's Form and When to Roll Your Own

Ahoy there ⚓️ this is your Captain speaking…
Just dropped a new piece:
🧾 “Forming an Opinion on SwiftUI Forms”

Apple’s Form might save time — or box you in. I explored both sides.

open.substack.com/pub/captains...

#SwiftUI #iOSDev

A Tale of Two Custom Container APIs How the Public Custom Container Solution Stacks Up Against It's Shadowy, Private Counterpart in SwiftUI

Ahoy there ⚓️ this is your Captain speaking…
I thought I was building a dynamic SwiftUI container with ForEach(subviews:).
What I got? A redraw tsunami.
What saved me? A secret, hidden old friend…
New post — “A Tale of Two Custom Container APIs”

open.substack.com/pub/captains...

#SwiftUI #iOSDev

Thoughts on App Delegate Deprecation Listen to Captain SwiftUI’s thoughts on UIApplicationDelegate being deprecated and what that could mean for Apple’s strategy moving forward!

Here’s a clip from this weeks Office Hours where I share my thoughts on App Delegate being deprecated!

To join the next Office Hours, start a paid subscription and join the crew!

open.substack.com/pub/captains...

May 7th Office Hours Information! Here's the details on how to join the first Office Hours Session

Tomorrow night is the ❗️FIRST❗️ session of Captain SwiftUI's Office Hours 🕰️! I look forward to exploring this new format, meeting new devs, and having great discussions!

Learn more about the session and how you can join: captainswiftui.substack.com/p/may-7th-of...

WWDC25 Pre-Game Analysis and Predictions The Captain’s Take Heading Into The Happiest Week of an Apple Devs Year

Ahoy there ⚓️ This is your Captain speaking…

My WWDC25 Pre-Game Analysis & Predictions article just dropped!

This one’s got hot takes, hopeful wishes, and a few dev dreams I’d love to see come true next month.

open.substack.com/pub/captains...

#WWDC25 #SwiftLang #iOSDev #SwiftUI

❗️JUST ONE WEEK AWAY❗️until the first Office Hours with Captain SwiftUI! Join the Captains Crew as a paid subscriber to get access!

Use to promo link for a special discount: captainswiftui.substack.com/promo

Ready to step up your #swiftui wrap game? Learn about some of the best (property) wrappers in “The Underground Wrapper Scene”

open.substack.com/pub/captains...