MIT App Inventor for iOS version 0.9 takes off in TestFlight

Sep 25, 2019 evan's Blog

The MIT App Inventor team is pleased to announce version 0.9 of the MIT App Inventor companion for iOS. This is part of our continuting cooperation with Apple to let people create apps for iOS devices in addition to Android devices.

One design goal of MIT’s iOS effort is that the same apps should run either on iOS or Android. Teachers can use the same curriculum and the same examples whether classes are working with iOS or Android or a mixture.

Please test any projects you have that use the newly supported components for iOS and report issues. Beta testers for earlier versions should have received notification of the update via Apple TestFlight.

You can apply to MIT’s beta testing program to try App Inventor iOS. With this new beta release, we will be inviting more people to join the beta testing program, first pulling from the pool of previous applicants, and then from newer sign ups. Preference will continue to be given to teachers to allow for testing curriculum.

Warning to teachers: This beta version is offered without any guarantee that it will be stable enough for general classroom use at this time. If you do encounter issues, please report them using the link to the bug report form below. Moreover, Apple’s testing process might result in the iOS companion becoming temporarily unusable from time to time. If that happens, students would be unable to continue their work until issues are resulved, which might take several days.

Want to join the beta test? Please enter the queue using this form.

Already using MIT App Inventor for iOS? You can update using Apple TestFlight. Remember to report bugs here.

We have also updated the feature coverage website to reflect this release.

Release notes for this version

• Added CloudDB component
• Added HorizontalScrollArrangement and VerticalScrollArrangement components
• Added Switch component
• Added support for legacy Button background in Classic theme
• Added PasswordDialog method to Notifier
• Added ChoosingCanceled and TextInputCanceled Notifier events
• Added DrawArc and DrawShape methods to Canvas
• Added MakeDate, MakeTime, and MakeInstantFromParts to Clock
• Added Stop method to VideoPlayer
• Implemented reverse list block
• Improved TableArrangement logic
• Made return key a proxy for “connect with code” in main screen
• Fixed a bug where components would be drawn beyond the bounds of their containers
• Fixed a bug where true/false would be rendered as 1/0
• Fixed an issue with fixed scaling that would result in too short a screen on devices like iPhone X
• Fixed a threading issue with callbacks
• Fixed arrangement logic in horizontal and vertical arrangements
• Fixed bugs around large number math
• Fixed miscellaneous issues with the Spinner component
• Fixed miscellaneous issues with CheckBox
• Fixed a bug where buttons wouldn’t be updated based on their intrinsic size
• Fixed a bug where Canvas would clear after switching to another view
• Fixed a crash triggered by changing the number of rows/columns in a TableArrangement
• Miscellaneous bug fixes

Known issues

• Some CloudDB projects with high throughput, such as SketchAndGuess, can occasionally result in a use-after-free bug that crashes the companion. We are still working to track this bug down.
• App Inventor reports an error “undefined symbol AIComponentKit.Component” on iOS 13.