# Kivy for iOS
[](https://github.com/kivy/kivy-ios/actions?query=workflow%3Akivy-ios)
[](#backers)
[](#sponsors)
This toolchain is designed to compile the necessary libraries for iOS to run
your application and manage the creation of the Xcode project.
We do not provide any binary distributions of this toolchain.
You do need to compile it at least once before creating your Xcode project.
The toolchain supports:
- iPhone Simulator (x86_64)
- iPhone / iOS (armv7 and arm64)
You can select between Python 2.7 or Python 3.7 by specifying the recipes
`python2` or `python3` when building.
These recipes are not ported to the new toolchain yet:
- lxml
## Requirements
Currently, the toolchain requires a few tools for compilation. You will need:
- Ensure you have python3 installed - this is needed for toolchain.py:
brew install python
- Ensure you have the right dependencies installed for python3:
pip3 install -r requirements.txt
- Xcode 10 or above, with an iOS SDK and command line tools installed:
xcode-select --install
- Using brew, you can install the following dependencies:
brew install autoconf automake libtool pkg-config
brew link libtool
- Install Cython (0.28.1):
# pip method if available (sudo might be needed.)
pip3 install cython==0.28.1
## Using the toolchain
Any Python extensions or C/C++ library must be compiled: you need to have what
we call a `recipe` to compile it. For example, Python, libffi, SDL2, SDL_image,
freetype... all the dependencies, compilation and packaging instructions are
contained in a `recipe`.
You can list the available recipes and their versions with:
$ python3 toolchain.py recipes
audiostream master
click master
cymunk master
distribute 0.7.3
ffmpeg 2.6.3
ffpyplayer v3.2
flask master
freetype 2.5.5
hostlibffi 3.2.1
hostpython2 2.7.1
hostpython3 3.7.1
ios master
itsdangerous master
jinja2 master
kivy 1.10.1
libffi 3.2.1
libjpeg v9a
libpng 1.6.26
markupsafe master
moodstocks 4.1.5
numpy 1.16.4
openssl 1.0.2k
photolibrary master
pil 2.8.2
pillow 6.1.0
plyer master
pycrypto 2.6.1
pykka 1.2.1
pyobjus master
python2 2.7.1
python3 3.7.1
pyyaml 3.11
sdl2 2.0.8
sdl2_image 2.0.0
sdl2_mixer 2.0.0
sdl2_ttf 2.0.12
werkzeug master
Then, start the compilation with:
$ python3 toolchain.py build python3 kivy
You can build recipes at the same time by adding them as parameters:
$ python3 toolchain.py build python3 openssl kivy
Recipe builds can be removed via the clean command e.g.:
$ python3 toolchain.py clean openssl
You can install package that don't require compilation with pip::
$ python3 toolchain.py pip install plyer
The Kivy recipe depends on several others, like the sdl* and python recipes.
These may in turn depend on others e.g. sdl2_ttf depends on freetype, etc.
You can think of it as follows: the kivy recipe will compile everything
necessary for a minimal working version of Kivy.
Don't grab a coffee, just do diner. Compiling all the libraries for the first
time, 3x over (remember, 3 archs, x86_64, armv7, arm64) will take time.
For a complete list of available commands, type:
$ python3 toolchain.py
## Create the Xcode project
The `toolchain.py` can create the initial Xcode project for you::
$ python3 toolchain.py create <title> <app_directory>
$ python3 toolchain.py create Touchtracer ~/code/kivy/examples/demo/touchtracer
Your app directory must contain a main.py. A directory named `<title>-ios`
will be created, with an Xcode project in it.
You can open the Xcode project using::
$ open touchtracer-ios/touchtracer.xcodeproj
Then click on `Play`, and enjoy.
> *Did you know ?*
>
> Everytime you press `Play`, your application directory will be synced to
> the `<title>-ios/YourApp` directory. Don't make changes in the -ios
> directory directly.
## Configuring your App
You can configure and customize your app in various ways:
- Set the icon and launch images in XCode. Note that XCode requires that you
specify these assests per device or/and iOS version.
- When you first build your XCode project, a 'main.m' file is created in your
XCode project folder. This file configures your environment variables and
controls your application startup. You can edit this file to customize your
launch environment.
- Kivy uses SDL, and as soon as the application starts the SDL main, the launch
image will disappear. To prevent that, you need to have 2 files named
`Default.png` and `Default-Landscape.png`, and put them
in the `Resources` folder in Xcode (not in your application folder)
> *Did you know ?*
>
> If you wish to restrict your apps orientation, you should do this via
> the 'export_orientation' function in 'main.m'. The XCode orientation
> settings should be set to support all.
## Using recipes
Recipes are used to install and compile any libraries you may need to use. These
recipes follow the same format as those used by the
[Python-for-Android](https://github.com/kivy/python-for-android) sister project.
Please refer to the
[recipe documentation](https://python-for-android.readthedocs.io/en/latest/recipes/)
there for more detail.
## Reducing the application size
If you would like to reduce the size of your distributed app, there are a few
things you can do to achieve this:
- Minimize the `build/pythonX/lib/pythonXX.zip`: this contains all the python
modules. You can edit the zip file and remove all the files you'll not use
(reduce encodings, remove xml, email...)
- Go to the settings `panel` > `build`, search for `"strip"` options, and
triple-check that they are all set to `NO`. Stripping does not work with
Python dynamic modules and will remove needed symbols.
- By default, the iOS package compiles binaries for all processor
architectures, namely x86_64, armv7 and arm64 as per the guidelines from
Apple. You can reduce the size of your ipa significantly by removing the
x86_64 architecture as they are used only for the emulator.
The procedure is to first compile/build all the host recipes as is:
python3 toolchain.py build hostpython3
Then build all the rest of the recipes using --arch=armv7 --arch=arm64
arguments as follows:
python3 toolchain.py build python3 kivy --arch=armv7 --arch=arm64
Note that these packages will not run in the iOS emulators, so use them
only for deployment.
## Usage
```
python3 toolchain.py <command> [<args>]
Available commands:
build Build a recipe (compile a library for the required target
architecture)
clean Clean the build of the specified recipe
distclean Clean the build and the result
recipes List all the available recipes
status List all the recipes and their build status
Xcode:
create Create a new xcode project
update Update an existing xcode project (frameworks, libraries..)
launchimage Create Launch images for your xcode project
icon Create Icons for your xcode project
pip Install a pip dependency into the distribution
pip3 Install a pip dependency into the python 3 distribution
```
## FAQ
### Fatal error: "stdio.h" file not found
You need to install the Command line tools: `xcode-select --install`
### You must build with bitcode disabled (Xcode setting ENABLE_BITCODE should be No).
We don't support bitcode. You need to go to the project setting, and disable bitcode.
### You don't have permissions to run
It is due to invalid archs, search for them and check it. Maybe you
targetted a simulator but have only armv7/arm64. Maybe you want to target
your iPad but it as only x86_64.
### Why does the python multiprocess/subprocess module not work?
The iOS application model does not currently support multi-processing in a
cross-platform compatible way. The application design focuses on minimizing
processor usage (to minimize power consumption) and promotes an
[alternative concurrency model](https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/General/Conceptual/ConcurrencyProgrammingGuide/Introduction/Introduction.html).
If you need to make use of multiple processes, you should consider using
[PyObjus](https://github.com/kivy/pyobjus) to leverage native iOS
functionals for this.
## Support
If you need assistance, you can ask for help on our mailing list:
* User Group : https://groups.google.com/group/kivy-users
* Email : kivy-users@googlegroups.com
We also have a Discord channel:
* Server : https://chat.kivy.org
* Channel : #support
## Contributing
We love pull requests and discussing novel ideas. Check out our
[contribution guide](http://kivy.org/docs/contribute.html) and
feel free to improve Kivy for iOS.
The following mailing list and IRC channel are used exclusively for
discussions about developing the Kivy framework and its sister projects:
* Dev Group : https://groups.google.com/group/kivy-dev
* Email : kivy-dev@googlegroups.com
Discord channel:
* Server : https://chat.kivy.org
* Channel : #dev
## License
Kivy for iOS is released under the terms of the MIT License. Please refer to the
LICENSE file.
## Backers
Thank you to all our backers! 🙏 [[Become a backer](https://opencollective.com/kivy#backer)]
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## Sponsors
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