SwiftData, a new framework introduced at WWDC 2023, provides a Swift-like API for working with persistence in iOS apps. It simplifies the usage of Core Data by offering a more user-friendly syntax, making it easier to define models, access and query data, and handle data insertion and deletion.

An important distinction to make here is that SwiftData still uses the underlying storage architecture of Core Data that iOS developers are very familiar with. SwiftData simply presents a more user-friendly syntax for working with Core Data. If you’ve worked with Core Data in the past, you’ll find SwiftData’s new syntax simply amazing.

Ever since Swift came out, using Core Data with your app has always seemed out of place. All of the “Swift-y” features that came out each year with Swift and SwiftUI were leaving Core Data, which had a deep Objective C heritage, in the dust. 

A good example here is the .xcdatamodeld, or Schema Model Editor, file. This file is used to define your database’s schema.

This is a convenient way to define all the elements of your model, but it feels separate from the rest of your code. In fact, the compiler uses the schema to make class files for you, but they’re located in the derived data of your project! This technique also differs from the approach taken in SwiftUI, which pushes developers toward defining everything in code instead of separate helper files like storyboards.

The introduction of Swift macros in Swift 5.9 looks like it’ll be a game changer. There’s sure to be a lot of content to cover Swift macros in the near future, so for now, here are some of the highlights while checking out SwiftData.

Here is a model for a User class

class User {
    var name: String
    var email: String?
    var hobbies: [Hobby]
}

If I were using Core Data, I’d have to go into the Schema Editor, add a new entity, and add attributes for the properties. With SwiftData, that’s all done with one addition, @Model:

import SwiftData
​
@Model
class User {
    var name: String
    var email: String?
    var hobbies: [Hobby]
}

That’s it! Our User class is now a valid model for use in SwiftData, which has its own import when you want to use it. 

The @Model macro sets up a perfectly valid model, but you can also make customizations. For example, to ensure the email is unique, you can add a macro to that property:

@Model
class User {
    var name: String
    @Attribute(.unique) var email: String?
    var hobbies: [Hobby]
}

You can even define deletion rules for the relationships using the @Relationship macro:

@Model
class User {
    var name: String
    @Attribute(.unique) var email: String?
​
    @Relationship(.cascade)
    var hobbies: [Hobby]
}

How do we manage persistence? Gone are the days of the Persistence.swift file for initializing the persistence stack for your app. SwiftData has a new modifier that lets you define exactly which types you want to consider part of your model:

@main
struct UserApp: App {
​
    var body: some Scene {
        WindowGroup {
            ContentView()
        }
        .modelContainer(for: [User.self, Hobby.self])
    }
}

The modelContainer(for:) modifier takes an array of types you want your model to track.

Accessing data also has never been easier! With a model defined and the modelContainer injected into the environment, you can access your database entries!

@Query var users: [User]
var body: some View {
    List(users) { user in
        NavigationLink(user.name, destination: UserView(user))
    }
}

You can also customize the query to handle things like sorting:

@Query(sort: \User.name, order: .forward) 
var users: [User]
​
var body: some View {
    List(users) { user in
        NavigationLink(user.name, destination: UserView(user))
    }
}

Adding, Updating and Deleting data is also much easier!

SwiftData has introduced a much simpler way to persist your data in your Swift apps. Thanks to Swift macros, you can instantly make your models, in code, SwiftData ready and configure them to your liking. With a new modifier, you can access the context, and with the new @Query property wrapper, you can easily perform queries.

One more cool thing is that the @Query property wrapper is all set up for Observation, so your user interface stays up to date with the database! Pretty sweet right? There’s a lot packed into a little bit of configurable syntax under the hood. 

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Where to Go From Here?

WWDC has a great set of videos to get an introduction to SwiftData:

• Meet SwiftData
• Build an app with SwiftData
• Model your schema with SwiftData
• Migrate to SwiftData

I do hope you enjoyed this quick look at SwiftData, and if you have any questions or comments, please leave them below!

Each year at WWDC, Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, the company showcases what’s next for its biggest platforms — iOS, macOS, and more — and what developers can do to make apps and services for them. Let’s take a look at two key announcements made at the keynote address on Monday, 5 June 2023.

Apple Vision Pro, a new headset

The Vision Pro is a personal display on your face with all the interface touches you’d expect from Apple, with an operating system that looks like a combination of iOS, MacOS and TVOS.

The device itself looks like other headsets, though the glass front hides cameras and even a curved OLED outer display. The headset is secured to the wearer’s head with a wide rear band. You also have an external battery back that connects over a cable and sits in your pocket. There’s a large Apple Watch-style digital crown on the right side that lets you dial immersion (i.e. the outside world) in and out.

The Vision Pro has three-element lenses that enable 4K resolution, though you can swap out lenses, presumably for different vision capabilities. Audio pods are embedded within the band to sit over your ears, and “audio ray tracing” maps sound to your position. A suite of lidar and other sensors on the bottom of the headset track hand and body motions.

Technically speaking, the Vision Pro is a computer, with an M2 chip found on Apple’s highest-end computers. But a new R1 chip processes all the other headset inputs from 12 cameras, five sensors and six microphones, and sends it to the M2 to reduce lag and get new images to its displays within 12 milliseconds. The Vision Pro runs the new VisionOS, which uses iOS frameworks, a 3D engine, foveated rendering and other software tricks to make what Apple calls “the first operating system designed from the ground up for spatial computing.”

Interior cameras track your facial motion, which is projected to others when on FaceTime and other video chatting apps. The interface uses hand motions to control the device, though there are also voice controls. It’s tough to tell how these controls will work, and we’d expect that users will need some time to adapt to not using a mouse and keyboard. 

There is a lot more to this stunning device, take a look at ’s video introducing Vision Pro Introducing  Vision Pro

Every single person who reviewed the device after the keynote were left mesmerised by the experience. However the one key thing that could be an issue is that it is SUPER EXPENSIVE. It will retail for $3,499. For comparison, Meta announced its Quest 3 last week at the price point of $499, while its Quest 2 is retailing for $299. Of course the Vision Pro is way more impressive than the Quest in terms of hand tracking, integrating with the  ecosystem and much more. With micro-OLED displays, spatial audio, a 3D-like camera and many other high-end features, it’s no surprise that the Apple Vision Pro is a bit on the pricey end. So, it might be more designed for enterprise users than ordinary consumers.

And while everyone agrees $3,499 is a huge amount of money, that doesn’t mean people won’t buy it. Where the discussion actually lies is whether or not the Vision Pro is worth that astronomical asking price. Would you be willing to pay $3,499 to get your hands on an Apple Vision Pro headset? Let me know in the comments below.

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iOS 17

 claims that iOS 17 brings a ton of quality-of-life improvements. However only a few key updates got me excited.

• Interact with a widget from your Home Screen, Lock Screen, or in StandBy. Complete a to-do, play or pause a song or podcast, or access your Home controls to get tasks done in the moment.
• A new safety feature, Check In, sends a note to a trusted contact when you reach a location — like when you make it home safe after late-night travel. If it’s taking you longer to get to a destination, you’ll be prompted to extend the timer rather than alert your contact. It also shares your battery and signal status. Check In is end-to-end encrypted.
• The Photos app now recognizes your pets, such as cats and dogs, and places them in the people section.
• AirDrop has been a helpful tool to send files between Apple devices, but now you can share your contact info with Name Drop. You can choose what you want to share between email addresses, phone numbers and more.
• Journal is a new secure app for personal recollections. Apple is pitching it as a gratitude exercise, but iOS will auto-include activities like songs and workouts you’ve done to your personal log. 
• A new mode, StandBy, converts an iPhone to an alarm clock when it’s charging and rotated horizontally. It gets smart interactions like a large visible clockface along with calendar and music controls.
• Audio messages are now transcribed, so you can read them in the moment and listen later.

Unlike previous iOS announcements, this one left me feeling disappointed.

There were many other updates announced. Which ones did you like or think are pretty cool? Let me know in the comments below.