Slides from 360iDev 2022 presentation

1. Mohammad Azam
Server Driven UI in iOS

2. About me
• Mohammad Azam
• Instructor at DigitalCrafts
• Udemy Mobile Instructor
• https://youtube.com/azamsharp
• LinkedIn Learning Instructor
• Author & Speaker
• Beginner rock climber (V3-V4)
• Nature Explorer

3. Lake of Glass
April 2022
8.4 miles
Elevation gain 1,771 ft
Final elevation 10,808 ft

4. Server Driven UI in iOS

5. Request
Response

6. Response

7. Response
Pickles
Muffin
Biscuit
Rating: 5
Rating: 4
Rating: 5

8. Publish
Rating: 4
Rating: 5
Pickles
Muffin
Biscuit
Rating: 3

9. What if we want to change the
UI of the app?

10. Pickles
Muffin
Biscuit
Rating: 5
Rating: 4
Rating: 5

11. Pickles
Muffin
Biscuit
Rating: 5
Rating: 4
Rating: 5
Muffin
Biscuit
Rating: 4
Rating: 5

12. Update the code to
accommodate the changes

13. Publish
Muffin
Biscuit
Rating: 4
Rating: 5

15. But what if… we could update the
UI of the apps remotely!

16. Uber
Spotify
Lyft
AirBnb

17. SDUI is an architecture pattern. Use the best
pattern based on the requirements of your app

18. Server Driven UI in iOS

19. App Bundle
ListView
RatingView
Carousel
Featured Image
Text Row

20. Request
Response

21. Response

22. Response
Muffin
Biscuit
Rating: 4
Rating: 5

23. Response
Muffin
Biscuit
Rating: 4
Rating: 5

24. Pet Detail Screen

25. Pet Detail Response

26. Response
Muffin

27. Response
Muffin

28. Architecture

29. JSON
Model
Component
View

30. Demo

31. Versioning

32. Versioning
• What happens if developer pushes out new App Store binary with new
components but user never updates the app?

33. Versioning
• Tell the user to update their app to get new components
• Render older version of the components
• Don’t render anything for brand new components

34. www.petsproject.com/pet-listing?version=2
Return all components compatible with the version

35. Lessons Learned
• SDUI can be a good solution for read-only views.
• The same JSON can be used by Android and Web apps to update instantly.
• You will need to maintain a version of the server end point and only return the
components to the app, compatible with the version.
• No Apple store review is required.
• Requires initial effort to setup the framework
• SDUI requires deep collaboration between different teams.

36. https://github.com/azamsharp/360iDevServerDrivenUI
Source Code

37. https://bit.ly/3e5IsCs
Introduction to Server Driven UI in iOS

38. Resources
• https://www.judo.app/blog/server-driven-ui/
• A Deep Dive into Airbnb’s Server Driven UI System (https://medium.com/airbnb-
engineering/a-deep-dive-into-airbnbs-server-driven-ui-system-842244c5f5)
• Server Driven UI by Tom Lokhorst (http://tom.lokhorst.eu/2020/07/server-driven-ui)
• Server Driven UI by Joe Birch (https://joebirch.co/android/server-driven-ui-part-1-
the-concept/)
• Udemy Course: Introduction to Server Driven UI in iOS
(https://www.udemy.com/course/introduction-to-server-driven-ui-in-ios-swift-
swiftui/?referralCode=2F57B10C28B68D440B89)

39. August 31st 2022: 2:15 PM - 3:00 PM

40. Contact
• Mohammad Azam
• @azamsharp
• http://www.azamsharp.com
• Udemy (https://www.udemy.com/user/mohammad-azam-2/)

41. Thank you!