INSIDE IMESSAGE EXTENSIONS — THE QUIRKY WORLD OF APPLE’S NICHE DEVELOPMENT TOOLS

Summary from the TLDR Web Dev newsletter

Together To Do is an iMessage extension designed to replace comma-separated text messages with a checkable list. Its developer found it challenging to integrate SwiftUI into iMessage extensions as Apple doesn’t use SwiftUI by default yet. Adding to this, iMessage functionality in the iOS 17 simulator was broken, making testing difficult and necessitating workarounds with older simulators or physical devices. While the potential audience within the iMessage App Store is smaller than the regular App Store, Together To Do has achieved notable rankings and consistent organic downloads, suggesting that iMessage extensions may be a viable niche.