As you may have noticed I like to keep a list on this site of open source ios apps.

Earlier I received a submission of the url to an open source iPhone app that updates on what is happening at the US congress in real time, and provides access to data about members of the US Congress.

Politics aside, it provides an example of an app that retrieves and organizes data from an online source, and there is also a Phonegap version if you are looking for any html/javascript enthusiasts out there looking for a starting point trying to build with Phonegap.

You can find the source code for the newer native version here:
https://github.com/sunlightlabs/realtimecongress-ios

The source code for the previous Phonegap version can be found here:
https://github.com/sunlightlabs/real_time_congress-iphone_html

You can find the app on iTunes here.

I’ll be adding it to the list of open source apps soon.

©2012 iPhone, iOS 5, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.

It’s been another very active week for the site, and I appreciate everyone sharing the resources from this site.  It really keeps things going.  The community is getting more active, and there were so many great resources shared in the last week.

If you have a specific resource you’d like to share there’s two great ways to share them.. you can tweet them at me @maniacdev or you can post them on the iPad and iPhone Development Forum.

These are the top resources shared in the past week:

Latest edition here: iOS Development Resources

Tutorials: How To Create Great Looking iOS Apps Even If You Are A Design Noob – An excellent set of tutorials and guides from an app design expert for those without a design background looking to design a great looking and user friendly app.

Open Source: Libraries For Custom Status Bar Notifications And UIBarButtonItems – Open source project enabling customizable status bar notifications, overlays, and UIBarButtonItem’s similar to the Reeder, Evernote, and Google Maps apps.

Open Source: Generate Objective-C iOS App Code Using A Simple Domain Specific Language – An open source project that generates app source code from a very brief domain specific language.

iOS Beginner Screencasts – Xcode And Objective-C From The Start - A set of high quality screencasts for those who are absolute beginners to Xcode and Objective-C.

Open Source: Library With A Massive Number Of Useful UIKit Interface Enhancements – A very useful, and rapidly growing library of useful user interface enhancements.

Example Source Code: Face Detection And Augmented Reality – Source code from an upcoming book demonstrating face detection, and location based augmented reality.

Tutorial: How To Build An iOS Chat App Using Cocoa Classes – A step-by-step guide demonstrating how to use Cocoa networking classes such as NSUrl by creating a simple chat application.

Tutorial: Detailed Adwhirl Cocos2D Guide – A newly updated guide for those having difficulty integrating Adwhirl and Cocos2D.

Open Source: Beautiful App Sales Tracking Tool MyAppSales – A newly open sourced app with a beautiful interface, and extensive historical statistics for those looking to track app sales data.

Building An iOS App With Sencha Touch And Phonegap From The Start – A step-by-step guide starting at the absolute beginning for those looking to build an application with Phonegap and Sencha Touch.

Thanks for reading, please share this — you can use the buttons below!

©2012 iPhone, iOS 5, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.

A few weeks ago I posted a short video similar to this one:

UPDATE: Tutorial Has been posted!

I’ve been asked since then when I would come out with the tutorial.   I was finally able to get around to completing the source file, and I’ve added line by line (well pretty close) comments in plain english to make it easier to follow.

The above video utilizes the exact source code from this tutorial running in the iPhone simulator.

Following the suggestions of a friend of mine who is just starting to learn this I’ve used as few methods as possible, and made extensive use of autorelease objects to make the flow easier to follow for beginners.

The tutorial features:

• Loading/Placing Images
• Animation
• Touch Events
• Text
• Sound Effects
• Background Music
• Buttons
• Resetting The Game

Coming up next week I will be posting a more comprehensive tutorial, but I am posting the source code now.  If you look through this code and the comments you should be able to grasp what is going on, and I hope that the upcoming tutorial will fill in the gaps. Be sure to come back next week when the full tutorial is posted!

I recreated this from scratch using Sparrow Framework and Objective-C because in my findings it was easiest to follow for a beginner looking to create an action game.

Things could change a little as I haven’t really looked through it myself.. just quickly coded it and wrote line by line comments. If you open it up, and are wondering which files to look at to understand things go to the Game.h and Game.m files.. the app delegate files were created automatically with the Sparrow project and I didn’t comment those.

Update! I have modified the project to remove an error that occurred on some systems due to a recursive search being done in the project for already included files.  Please re-download if you encountered this problem.

You can download the source with music/sound effects here:
BalloonGameTutorial

Graphics are included so the example will run but are slightly different because I am using graphics similar to those in the video in my own game.

As far as licensing goes feel free to use this in your own apps, and if you do send me a message or post a comment about it, and I’ll mention it on this site. You may not use any portion of this project in your own tutorials, books, etc. (and definitely don’t submit it to a site buying tutorials.. you know who you are!) without permission.

Please be sure to check back next week when the entire tutorial is posted which will give you a much better idea of how to extend/use this source code and utilize the Sparrow Framework.

If you have any questions as to why I did something or have any suggestions for the tutorial then please post them below — it will help to make the final tutorial better.

Also, if you could share this post that would be great too and help motivate me to make more!

©2012 iPhone, iOS 5, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.

Let’s face it.. getting app downloads is tough. There are over 200,000 apps out there, and it is very easy for an app to fade into obscurity.

Even free apps can suffer from this, you really have to get the word out there, and there are many different approaches.

One approach that has worked for one developer was to take their app, and release the source code. With so many people interested in iPhone development the app was able to go from 40 to about 1000 downloads in a day.

The app is SpaceBubble from Nick Vellios for which the iTunes link can be found here along with the source code.

The source code will be added to the Open Source iPhone App Store Apps listing.

[Source: Vellios.com]

©2012 iPhone, iOS 5, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.

Welcome to the sixth iteration of the open source iPhone and iPad apps list.  A For those that have seen similar listings on other sites using the exact wordings, and links below welcome to the source for the original list.  Also included are some open source iPad apps, and universal open source iOS apps.

It can be tough to learn how to develop, especially when it comes to finding complete examples.  That’s why I put this list together.  Each of these open source iPhone apps is not just open source, but has been in the app store, and all but one are in there right now.  So if you’re looking for an example of some real apps here they are.

Last Update: 1/9/2012

If you are looking to add a list to your site rather than simply copy this list why not write a post about your favorite apps from this list, and link back to this page?  I’ll even give you a link back in the form of a trackback.

The Open Source iPhone Apps List

Here is the open source iphone app list in alphabetical order:

1. 2012 Olympics - App displaying timetable for 2012 Olympic events. (iTunes link) (source code)

2. ABC 123 – Sequence memorization game. Utilizes Cocos2D. (iTunes link) (source code)

3. AntiMapLog - An app for recording your own data (location, time, etc.) over a period of time. (iTunes link) (source code)

4. Barcode Scanner - An example app that is part of the Zxing barcode reader project. (iTunes link) (source code)

5. Battle For Wesnoth – Fantasy themed turn based tactical RPG game available on several platforms and now the iPhone/iPad. (iTunes link) (source code)

6. Bubbsy - Cocos2D based game using Box2D fixes and Tiled level creation. (iTunes link) (source code)

7. Camlingual - App that can read and translate signs using sophisticated OCR. (iTunes link) (source code)

8. Climbers - 2D finger dragging climbing game created with Cocos2D. (iTunes link) (source code)

9. Colloquy – Conversion of the most popular Mac IRC client to the iPhone. (iTunes link) (source code)

10. ComicFlow – Beautiful comic book reader for iPad. (iTunes link) (source code)

11. Countitout - A generic counting app. (iTunes link) (source code)

12. Diceshaker - Dice rolling simulator designed for role-playing game enthusiasts. (iTunes link) (source code)

13. Dollar Bets - App for recording personal bets placed with your friends. (iTunes link) (source code)

14. Doom Classic - Classic 3D first person shooter. (iTunes link) (source code)

15. Dozuki - Interactive repair manual app from the guys at iFixit. (iTunes link) (source code)

16. Ecological Footprint - Calculate, display, and record your ecological footprint. (iTunes link) (source code)

17. Edgy - App for demonstrating the basics of OpenCV and the iPhone. (iTunes link) (source code)

18. Edhita - iPad text editor with file transfer support and browser previewing. (iTunes link) (source code)

19. Fosdem- Calendar app for the Fosdem open source conference. (source code)

20. Freshbooks – Open Source iPhone app that enables usage of Freshbooks web invoicing software from your iPhone. (iTunes link) (source code)

21. Frotz - Open Source interactive fiction app with support for the Z-machine format. (iTunes link) (source code)

22. Gas Guide - Guides for helping medical students study built from the Gas guide source. (iTunes link) (source code)

23. Gorillas – Classic Worms/iShoot turn based shooter type game converted to iPhone from basic. Utilizes Cocos2D. (iTunes link) (source code).

24. iLabyrinth - Puzzle game written in Cocos2D requiring you to navigate through increasingly difficult labyrinths. (iTunes link) (source code)

25. iStrobe - Turns the iPhone 4 flash into a highly configurable strobe light. (iTunes link) (source code)

26. Last.fm – Software that enables usage of the Last.fm platform for personal radio stations. (iTunes link) (source code)

27. Mobilesynth - A monophonic synthesizer designed for live performance. (iTunes link) (source code)

28. Molecules – Allows you to view 3D models of molecules and manipulate them through touch. (iTunes link) (source code)

29. Mover – Allows you to transfer stuff from one iPhone to another by “flicking” it to the other device. (iTunes link) (source code)

30. Mugician - iPad music synthesis app being used by various musicians in real life gigs. (iTunes link) (source code)

31. Natsulion - A basic twitter client converted from mac. (iTunes link) (source code)

32. NevoChess – A Xiangqi game. (iTunes link) (source code)

33. News:yc - A hacker news client. (iTunes link) (source code)

34. NowPlaying – Allows you to check local theater listings, and check rotten tomato ratings. (iTunes link) (source code)

35. Packlog – Backpack journal client. (iTunes link) (source code)

36. PlainNote - Simple Open Source Notepad. (iTunes link) (source code)

37. PocketFlix – Find movies, and manage your Netflix information. (iTunes link) (source code)

38. Prey - Anti-theft tracker featuring on-demand and push notification activation. (iTunes link) (source code)

39. Puff Puff – Beautiful underwater 2D game utilizing Cocos2D and Openfeint featuring unique physics based gameplay. (iTunes link) (source code)

40. reMail – E-mail client featuring ultra-fast search. Removed from app store, but source made available. (source code)

41. RobotFindsKitten – Port of a very silly “classic” ASCII game. (iTunes link) (source code)

42. RPI Shuttle Tracker - App for tracking bus positions around the RPI campus. (iTunes link) (source code)

43. Sci-15 HPCalc – Calculator app based on classic scientific HP-Calculator. (itunes link) (source code)

44. SpaceBubble – Space game featuring core graphics, and accelerometer usage. (itunes link) (source code)

45. Star3Map – Augmented reality star and planet charting application. (itunes link) (source code)

46. Stockfish Chess – A chess game featuring extremely effective AI . (itunes link) (source code)

47. Sudoku Resolv  - Sudoku solving app using computer vision. (itunes link) (source code)

48. Task Coach – Personal to-do list and task manager. (itunes link) (source code)

49. Tilt Monster - iPhone game written with the Corona SDK that reached top 25 in the app store. (itunes link) (source code)

50. Travel Advice UK - App featuring worldwide travel advice provided by the UK Governemnt. (itunes link) (source code)

51. Tux Rider – iPhone port of the extremely popular, and beautiful 3D Tux Racer game. (itunes link) (source code)

52. Tweejump – Platform jumping game inspired by Icy Tower. Utilizes Cocos2D. (itunes link) (source code)

53. Tweetee – Enhanced version of the Natsulion Twitter Client. (itunes link) (source code)

54. Tweetero – Basic twitter client with image uploading. (itunes link) (source code)

55. ViralFire – Unique game where you are a dodging blood cell. (itunes link) (source code)

56. Wikihow – A reader app for the popular how to wiki site. (itunes link) (source code)

57. Wikipedia – Official Wikipedia app for iOS devices. (itunes link) (source code)

58. Wolfenstein 3D Classic Platinum – If you haven’t heard of Wolfenstein post below so we can say a prayer for you. (itunes link) (source code)

59. WordPress – Client for managing WordPress blogs. Also has an iPad version. (itunes link) (source code)

60. Xpilot – Simple massively multiplayer arcade shooter from the early days of the internet. (itunes link) (source code)

61. YourRights – Pocket database containing a summary of your legal rights. (itunes link) (source code)

62. ZBar – A barcode reader open source iphone app. (itunes link) (source code)

Check them out if you are working on something similar or think they might have a feature you could use there’s no reason to re-invent the wheel.  Always make sure you understand the licenses as many of these open source iPhone apps are GPL and require that you open source your app.

Please Share And Comment

Please click here to share this list with others by tweeting about it.

Know Any Other Open Source iPhone Apps?

If you’ve found or have released an app that you would like added to the open source iphone apps list then please mention it in the comments.

©2012 iPhone, iOS 5, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.

Hi everybody, if you’ve been following me on twitter you may have seen my tweet about an open sourced iPhone version of Space Invaders. 

If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s a very concise implementation of the classic game, and also a very basic implementation, but I noticed something pretty cool while playing with it, and that was the particle based explosions. So what I did was spend about 3 minutes playing with the code, and I came up with the demo shown here in this video.

To create these explosions a Particle Emitter created by the guys at 71 Squared (makers of some great iPhone game development tutorials) along with a custom texture class. 

To create the explosions a Particle Emitter is first created and initialized using the initParticleWithEmitter class, where you can specify parameters for the color, duration, size, number of particles, and gravity of the resulting display of particles (an example of this is in the EaglView.m file).

To display the particles a time index is created, and the update: method is executed along with the renderparticles method.  I won’t go into the details here as the ParticleEmitter classes are extremely well documented.

Download the source code for the explosion generator here:
>>> Explosion Generator Source <<<

Have fun with the code.

©2012 iPhone, iOS 5, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.