5 Third Party iOS Libraries I Have Found Useful Lately

As I mature as a developer, I try to rely on other people’s code more an more. Why build something from scratch when a solution already exists that you can fit in your project. In Pocket MUD Pro, I used 13 3rd party libraries and am using quite a bit more in the project that I’m currently working on. I figured that I would share some of the libraries that I have been using so that it might save you some time in the future.

1. CocoaAsyncSocket

Link: https://github.com/robbiehanson/CocoaAsyncSocket

Many of my applications involve TCP or UDP networking. There is a lot of boiler plate code involved in every networked application, and CocoaAsyncSocket solves much of that for you.

2. Appirater

Link: http://github.com/arashpayan/appirater/

Screenshot

Hopefully, you have heard of this one or a similar library by now. It’s very challenging to get users to want to review your applications, let alone give you a positive review. AppiRater allows you to prompt a user to rate your application based on either number of launches or “significant events” which you specify.

3. Zip Archive

Link: http://code.google.com/p/ziparchive/

I try to ship small applications that download assets upon launch. A good way to send these assets over the wire is to zip them up and stick them on your server. I have written an article about this on iCodeBlog.

4. Quick Dialog

**Link: ** https://github.com/escoz/QuickDialog

Creating forms in iOS is pretty painful. It usually involves custom table cells and a lot of delegate nonsense. QuickDialog takes away some of this pain and allows you to easily create iOS forms. You can even design them using JSON.

QuickDialog Screenshot

5. TSMiniWebBrowser

Link: https://github.com/tonisalae/TSMiniWebBrowser

Often times, you want a quick and dirty browser in your application. I generally use it to point to in-app documentation or take the user to a page after tapping on a link. It’s quick and easy.

Screenshot

I hope you find some value in this list. I’d love to hear about the libraries you use frequently.

Happy Coding!

#iPhone
Brandon Trebitowski

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