CocoaPods Integration

Step 1: Install CocoaPods

Installing the iOS SDK via CocoaPod automates the majority of the installation process for you. Before beginning this process please ensure that you are using Ruby version 2.0.0 or greater. Don’t worry, knowledge of Ruby syntax isn’t necessary to install this SDK.

Simply run the following command to get started:

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$ sudo gem install cocoapods

Note: If you are prompted to overwrite the rake executable please refer to the Getting Started Directions on CocoaPods.org for further details.

Note: If you have issues regarding CocoaPods, please refer to the CocoaPods Troubleshooting Guide.

Step 2: Constructing the Podfile

Now that you’ve installed the CocoaPods Ruby Gem, you’re going to need to create a file in your Xcode project directory named Podfile.

Add the following line to your Podfile:

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target 'YourAppTarget' do
  pod 'Appboy-iOS-SDK'
end

Note: We suggest you version Braze so pod updates automatically grab anything smaller than a minor version update. This looks like ‘pod ‘Appboy-iOS-SDK’ ~> Major.Minor.Build’. If you want to integrate the latest version of Braze SDK automatically even with major changes, you can use pod 'Appboy-iOS-SDK' in your Podfile.

We recommend that integrators import our full SDK as outlined above. However, if you are certain that you are only going to integrate a particular Braze feature then you have the option to import just the desired UI subspec instead of the full SDK.

Example Podfile

If you would like to see an example, see the Podfile within our Stopwatch Sample Application. If you use use_frameworks! in your Podfile, please see the Podfile within our HelloSwift Sample Application.

Step 3: Installing the Braze SDK

To install the Braze SDK Cocoapod, navigate to the directory of your Xcode app project within your terminal and run the following command:

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pod install

At this point, you should be able to open the new Xcode project workspace created by CocoaPods.

Step 4: Updating your App Delegate

• OBJECTIVE-C
• swift

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#import "Appboy-iOS-SDK/AppboyKit.h"

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[Appboy startWithApiKey:@"YOUR-APP-IDENTIFIER-API-KEY"
         inApplication:application
     withLaunchOptions:launchOptions];

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import Appboy_iOS_SDK

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Appboy.start(withApiKey: "YOUR-APP-IDENTIFIER-API-KEY", in:application, withLaunchOptions:launchOptions)

Step 5: Specify Your Data Cluster

Compile-time Endpoint Configuration (Recommended)

If given a pre-existing custom endpoint…

• Starting with Braze iOS SDK v3.0.2, you can set a custom endpoint using the Info.plist file. Add the Appboy dictionary to your Info.plist file. Inside the Appboy dictionary, add the Endpoint string subentry and set the value to your custom endpoint URL’s authority (for example, sdk.iad-01.braze.com, not https://sdk.iad-01.braze.com).

Your Braze representative should have already advised you of the correct endpoint.

Runtime Endpoint Configuration

If given a pre-existing custom endpoint…

• Starting with Braze iOS SDK v3.17.0+, you can override set your endpoint via the ABKEndpointKey inside the appboyOptions parameter passed to startWithApiKey:inApplication:withLaunchOptions:withAppboyOptions:. Set the value to your custom endpoint URL’s authority (for example, sdk.iad-01.braze.com, not https://sdk.iad-01.braze.com).

Implementation Example

See the AppDelegate.m file in the Stopwatch sample app.

SDK Integration Complete

Braze should now be collecting data from your application and your basic integration should be complete. Please note that when compiling your iOS app and any other third-party libraries, Bitcode must be enabled.

Updating the Braze SDK via CocoaPods

To update a Cocoapod simply run the following commands within your project directory:

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pod update

Customizing Braze On Startup

If you wish to customize Braze on startup, you can instead use the Braze initialization method startWithApiKey:inApplication:withLaunchOptions:withAppboyOptions and pass in an optional NSDictionary of Braze startup keys.

• OBJECTIVE-C
• swift

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[Appboy startWithApiKey:@"YOUR-APP-IDENTIFER-API-KEY"
          inApplication:application
      withLaunchOptions:launchOptions
      withAppboyOptions:appboyOptions];

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Appboy.start(withApiKey: "YOUR-APP-IDENTIFIER-API-KEY",
                 in:application,
                 withLaunchOptions:launchOptions,
                 withAppboyOptions:appboyOptions)

Note: This method would replace the startWithApiKey:inApplication:withLaunchOptions: initialization method from above.

This method is called with the following parameters:

• YOUR-APP-IDENTIFIER-API-KEY – Your App Identifier API Key from the Braze Dashboard.
• application – The current app
• launchOptions – The options NSDictionary that you get from application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:
• appboyOptions – An optional NSDictionary with startup configuration values for Braze

See Appboy.h for a list of Braze startup keys.

Appboy.sharedInstance() and Swift nullability

Differing somewhat from common practice, the Appboy.sharedInstance() singleton is optional. The reason for this is that, as noted above, sharedInstance is nil before startWithApiKey: is called, and there are some non-standard but not-invalid implementations in which a delayed initialization can be used.

If you call startWithApiKey: in your didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: delegate before any access to Appboy’s sharedInstance (the standard implementation), you can use optional chaining, like Appboy.sharedInstance()?.changeUser("testUser"), to avoid cumbersome checks. This will have parity with an Objective-C implementation that assumed a non-null sharedInstance.