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New IDE with Swift Support for iOS and macOS: First Look
The world of Apple ecosystem development rarely offers developers alternatives to Xcode. However, a new integrated development environment (IDE) has recently appeared on the market, promising to change the approach to writing Swift code for iOS and macOS. We decided to test this tool and share our first impressions.
The new IDE is aimed at both professional developers and beginners who want to write for Apple without being tied to the heavyweight Xcode. The environment is available for macOS and Windows (via a cross-platform interface), which is especially valuable for those working in heterogeneous teams.
Key Features
- Smart Swift autocomplete. The system analyzes context and suggests not only basic types but also custom structures, protocols, and extensions. This speeds up code writing by 2-3 times compared to standard Xcode.
- Built-in dependency manager. Support for Swift Package Manager at the interface level: you can add libraries, update them, and resolve version conflicts without the terminal.
- Live UI preview. An analog of SwiftUI Preview, but with faster rendering. Changes in the code are displayed instantly, which is critical for iterative interface development.
- Git integration. Visual diff, interactive rebase, and Git Flow support out of the box. No need to switch to third-party utilities.
- Memory and performance profiler. Built-in tools for finding leaks and bottlenecks, working in real time.
Interface and Usability
The environment is designed in a minimalist style with dark and light themes. Navigation between files is done through a tree explorer rather than tabs, reminiscent of the Visual Studio Code approach. At the same time, the IDE maintains native performance: startup takes less than 3 seconds even on a MacBook Air with M1.
The debugger deserves special attention: it supports conditional breakpoints, real-time value viewing, and even object graph visualization. This makes working with complex multithreaded Swift applications much more transparent.
Who Is This IDE For?
The tool will be useful for:
- Developers tired of Xcode's slow indexing;
- Teams working on large projects with many dependencies;
- Students and beginners learning Swift, thanks to built-in hints and documentation;
- Those who want to write for Apple without using macOS as their primary OS.
Prospects
Currently, the IDE is in beta testing, but it already shows impressive results. The developers promise support for Swift Testing (a new framework from Apple), integration with TestFlight, and extension via plugins. If the project continues to develop at this pace, it could become a real alternative to Xcode for a significant part of the community.
We will follow the updates and will definitely return with a more detailed review after the stable version is released. For now, we recommend downloading the beta version and trying it out in your projects.
