Weekly Dev Log: Progress on iOS App Development

Summer has fully arrived in Japan, and that means lots of activities like local festivals and swimming pools. As of today, July 24, 2026, the work has been busy, but there are still small moments to push projects forward. This week, progress was made on the iOS app development for ToneDrill.

Design and Implementation

This week, I organized the top menu screen's structure in Figma. I created designs for both the main menu and submenu screens. I also defined a "Coming Soon" state for features that will be developed in the future and established a color palette to match. SVG icons were created for the menu screens and added to Assets.xcassets, which I organized into separate folders for colors and images.

SwiftUI Development

I implemented the top menu and practice mode screens in SwiftUI. This included using reusable menu card styles and setting up the layout. Navigation between screens was managed using NavigationStack and NavigationLink. I also added disabled "Coming Soon" cards for future features, which helps indicate what’s on the way.

UI Refinements

While working on the navigation, I encountered some issues with the navigation bar caused by NavigationStack. To fix this, I hid the back button and navigation bar using .navigationBarBackButtonHidden(true) and .toolbar(.hidden, for: .navigationBar). I also added a custom "Quit" button that presents an alert before calling dismiss() to return to the PracticeModeView.

AI Assistance

I utilized Codex to help implement the SwiftUI screen based on the Figma UI design. This made the development process smoother and saved a lot of time. However, some detailed adjustments still required manual review and refinement, which is an important part of the process.

Learning and Development

In addition to the app development, I completed one TryHackMe task for the first time in two weeks. The room I am currently working on covers infrastructure used in AI applications, which includes many unfamiliar terms. I aim to keep making progress little by little while researching these terms as I go.

Next Steps

Next week, I plan to continue developing the top menu screen for ToneDrill. I will also organize the UI adjustment points for the portfolio site that Codex implemented in Notion and start making small UI refinements. Additionally, I will keep working on the AI Security Learning Path.

Goals for This Year

• iOS (SwiftUI): Build a solid foundation in SwiftUI and create at least one iOS app.
• Web Development: Continue posting learning logs on Dev.to and eventually turn them into a portfolio site using React Router v7.
• Security (TryHackMe): Continue learning cybersecurity on TryHackMe.

Conclusion

This week has been productive, with significant progress on the ToneDrill app and ongoing learning in AI security. The combination of design and implementation, along with AI assistance, is proving to be a valuable approach.

Merits

• Efficient use of AI tools like Codex for development.
• Clear organization of design assets in Figma and Xcode.
• Incremental progress on complex projects.

Demerits

• Some manual adjustments are still required after AI implementation.
• Learning new terms and concepts can be challenging.

Caution

This article is educational, and any placeholder values must be replaced with actual data when implementing. Readers should verify claims against the original source before relying on them.

Frequently asked questions

• What is SwiftUI? — SwiftUI is a user interface toolkit that allows developers to create apps for iOS using a declarative syntax.
• What is Codex? — Codex is an AI tool that helps developers by generating code based on user input and existing designs.
• What is Figma? — Figma is a web-based UI design tool that allows for collaborative design work.
• What is NavigationStack in SwiftUI? — NavigationStack is a SwiftUI component that manages the navigation between different views in an app.
• What are SVG icons? — SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) icons are images defined in XML format, allowing for scaling without losing quality.
• What is TryHackMe? — TryHackMe is an online platform that teaches cybersecurity through hands-on exercises and challenges.
• What does "Coming Soon" mean in app development? — "Coming Soon" indicates features that are planned for future updates but are not yet available.
• Why is manual review important in AI-assisted development? — Manual review ensures that the final implementation meets design specifications and functions correctly.

Tags

#ios #appdevelopment #devlog #swift #Figma #Codex #TryHackMe #AI #security #webdevelopment