Xcode 27 in Simple Words: Build your first iPhone app, even if you have never written code

by Aleksei Bulatnikov

You have an idea for an app, and Xcode looks like a wall of panels and words you do not know. This book takes you from a blank Mac to your own app on your own iPhone, one plain step at a time.
Xcode 27 in Simple Words is written for people who have never written code. Every term is explained the moment it appears. No step is skipped because "everybody knows that".
Along the way you build Tick, a small habit tracker, and learn how a real app is
- Install Xcode 27 and find your way around its windows
- Create a project and run it on a simulated iPhone in Device Hub
- Read and write just enough Swift to make a real screen
- Design screens with SwiftUI and watch them change live in the preview
- Save data so it survives a restart
- Let the Claude Agent in Xcode plan and write code for you, and keep control of what it changes
- Find and fix bugs with the debugger
- Run the app on your own iPhone
- Give it an icon with Icon Composer and translate it with String Catalogs
- Send it to TestFlight and the App Store
Every chapter ends with "If something goes wrong" and "What you learned". Nearly fifty screenshots were taken on the real Xcode 27 and iOS 27, so what you see on your Mac matches the page.
Written for Xcode 27 on macOS 27. A Mac with Apple silicon is required. No previous programming experience is needed.

191 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 14, 2026