Design Ios Apps In Python

How to Build iOS Apps in Python Using Kivy

A guide to building iOS Apps in Python using the Kivy framework.

Ever wanted to build iOS apps without having to learn an entirely new language? Wanted to break into the iOS app market without having to shelve out a $1000 on a MacBook? If one or all of the above apply to you, Kivy might just be the solution to your problem!

What is Kivy?

Kivy is a Python framework that can be used to build both iOS and Android applications. Kivy is an open-source Python library that is used for the rapid development of applications that make use of innovative surfaces, such as multi-touch apps.

It is 100% free to use. The Kivy framework is stable and has a well-documented API, plus a programming guide to help you get started.

Kivy is the main framework developed by the Kivy organization, alongside Python for Android, Kivy iOS, and several other libraries meant to be used on all platforms. In 2012, Kivy got a $5000 grant from the Python Software Foundation for porting it to Python 3.3. Kivy also supports the Raspberry Pi which was funded through Bountysource.

The framework contains all the elements for building an application such as:

Extensive input support for mouse, keyboard, TUIO, and OS-specific multitouch events.
A graphic library using only OpenGL ES 2, and based on Vertex Buffer Object.
A wide range of widgets that support multitouch.
An intermediate language is known as KV that can be used to easily design custom widgets.

Set up and Installation:

Setting up the Kivy library on your local machine is not hard. The official Kivy website has provided documentation on how to set up the library and I'll leave a link to the tutorial here

Creating your First App in Kivy

To get started with building your first app, we want to import the Kivy library into our code:

After that, we will import some modules from the Kivy library into our code. First, let's import the App Kivy module. The app module gives us the ability to use all the fields and methods provided by Kivy. Next, we will import the Label module from Kivy.

For us to create an app in Kivy, we would have to inherit the Kivy App class. This represents the window on the screen that you are going to put all your buttons and widgets into.

We use the def build(self) function to call the content we want in the window. After creating the function, we then use the Label module we imported earlier in our code to return the text we want to be displayed on the screen.

After that, create the helloKivy object and run:

There are several ways to run your Kivy app but if you are using Sublime text editor like I am, you can simply press Ctrl+B to run your code and voila!! Your first app in Kivy!.