1. Path to iOS 7
Jayant Sai
(Staff Software Engineer @ LinkedIn)

2. “Flat-i-fication”

3. Agenda
From (iOS 6)
To (iOS 7)

4. Seems easy
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Flatter User Interface
Fix navigation/status bar
Remove shadows
No more round corners
Easier said that done... we have to switch to...

5. iOS 7 SDK

6. First: Identify the issues

7. Major issues

8. Unexpected issues

9. Lots of minor issues

10. What to fix?

11. Product & Design
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Status bar
Navigation bar: icons and labels
Search bar
Remove rounded corners
Remove shadows and gradients
Flatter buttons
Utilize blur

12. Engineering & QA
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Fix regression issues
Refresh design to fit iOS 7
Implement iOS 7 specific features
Update all automation

13. Timeline
• 2012
• Mon 6/11: iOS 6 announcement
• Wed 9/12: iPhone 5 announcement
• Wed 9/19: iOS 6 release
• Fri 9/21: iPhone 5 release
• 2013
• Mon 6/10: iOS 7 announcement
• Tue 9/10: iPhone 5C/5S announcement (Rumored)
• Wed 9/18: iOS 7 release (Prediction)
• Fri 9/20: iPhone 5C/5S release (Prediction)

14. Lets execute...

15. Fixing the build, build systems and automation
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LinkedIn Mobile team follows train model
iOS 7 update part of Sep 15th release
Drop iOS 5.x
Fix deprecation warnings & build errors
Hudson (http://hudson-ci.org) for all builds
Parallel builds for iOS 6 and iOS 7
Minimal automation script changes
• sudo xcode-select --switch
/Applications/Xcode5DP<VERSION>.app/Contents/Developer/

16. Compile time & Runtime macros
• 6 vs 7 compile issues (https://gist.github.com/jsai/7158899)
#ifdef __IPHONE_7_0
// iOS 7 specific code
#else
// iOS 6 code
#endif
• Runtime behavior (https://gist.github.com/jsai/7158914)
#define LI_IS_IOS7_RUNTIME ...
if (LI_IS_IOS7_RUNTIME) {
// iOS 7 code
} else {
// iOS 6 code
}

17. Designers updating User Interface
Usual app development:
• Design comes up with design
• Engineering implements design
• Design tweaks
• Engineers update UI/UX
• More design tweaks
• Engineers update
• ... this can go on
Give designers full control to update the UI/assets

18. UINavigationBar padding
Code pretty straight forward
(void)setupBackButtonWithSelector {
// create a custom button
LIButton *backButton = ...
// configure back button
// create UIBarButtonItem with custom view
// add item to navigation bar
}

19. UINavigationBar padding
• Override [UIView alignmentRectInsets]
(https://gist.github.com/jsai/7158977)
(UIEdgeInsets)alignmentRectInsets {
if (LI_IS_IOS7_RUNTIME) {
switch (self.positionInNavBar) {
case LIButtonNavPositionLeft:
return LeftInset;
case LIButtonNavPositionRight:
return RightInset;
default:
return UIEdgeInsetsZero;
}
return UIEdgeInsetsZero;
}

20. UINavigationBar
•
https://gist.github.com/jsai/7158970
(void)setupNavigationBar {
UINavigationBar *navigationBar = ...;
...
if (LI_IS_IOS7_RUNTIME) {
[UIApplication sharedApplication].statusBarStyle =
UIStatusBarStyleLightContent;
navigationBar.barTintColor = NAV_TOOLBAR_BG_COLOR;
navigationBar.tintColor = NAV_TINT_COLOR;
} else {
[navigationBar setBackgroundImage:image
forBarMetrics:UIBarMetricsDefault]];
} }

21. Search Bar
• UISearchBar embedded in UINavigationBar
• [UISearchBar setShowsCancelButton:animated:] does
nothing
• Add UISearchBar and UIBarButtonItem for Cancel
(https://gist.github.com/jsai/7158998)
UISearchBar *searchBar = [[UISearchBar alloc] init];
self.navigationItem.titleView = searchBar;
UIBarButtonItem *cancel = ...;
self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = cancel;

22. Profile Image Blur
• ‘People with a picture get viewed on average more than 11 times
as much as people without’
• CoreImage Gaussian Blur filter

23. Profile Blur
•
https://gist.github.com/jsai/7159010
- (UIImage *)blurredImageWithRadius:(CGFloat)r {
CIImage *inputImage = CIImage with CGImageRef;
CIFilter *blurFilter = Filter with CIGaussianBlur;
[blurFilter setValue:inputImage
forKey:kCIInputImageKey];
[blurFilter setValue:@(r)
forKey:@"inputRadius"];
CIImage *outputImage = Get output image from blur
filter;
return outputImage;
}

24. It's not over 'til the flat lady
sings…

25. Release
• Sep 13th
• Code complete
• Sep 17th
• Critical bug found (not related to iOS 7 update)
• Sep 20th
• Final build uploaded
• Sep 23rd
• App Approved and released

26. Updated App

27. Communication & feedback

28. Plan of Action
• Aug release
• iOS 7 beta crash fixes
• Sep release
• UI refresh
• Fix iOS 6 regressions
• Oct release
• Follow-up cleanups/issues
• Executed
• Aug 7: Final designs for UI refresh
• Aug 19: Code complete for basic iOS 7 fixes
• Sep 13: Fix remaining iOS 7 & iOS 6 bugs

29. Celebrate the wins
Featured during Apple Sep 10th announcement

30. And the small ones as well
Special mention by Jeff (CEO) during All Hands

31. Communication
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Keep the team informed
Send weekly progress updates
Get people excited
Upgrade people’s iPhone with latest iOS betas. 
Solicit feedback from co-workers
Nag them to download latest/greatest if you have to
Be the Champion

32. Remember, it takes a team

33. “Question?”
Thank you