Japanese developer releases native iOS client for Internet Computer

A Japanese developer has released a Swift-based iOS client designed to let native Apple applications communicate directly with canisters on the Internet Computer.

Developed by Hude-san, the project, called ICNativeClient, provides tools for iOS and macOS developers to connect native applications with ICP canisters without relying on a traditional web frontend. The package supports iOS 17 and newer, as well as macOS 13 and newer.

The latest version, 0.7.7, adds support for creating delegated sessions from existing Ed25519 identities. Each session uses a fresh session key, while the root private key is not retained in the session or its Keychain record.

The package also includes Candid support, allowing developers to generate typed Swift models and canister clients from Candid interfaces. It supports verified queries and updates, authentication and raw Candid-byte transport.

Security and response verification are a key part of the client. Its standard query and call APIs verify responses using Internet Computer certification mechanisms, while an explicitly named unsafe query API is available when developers intentionally choose to bypass verification.

The release comes as developers continue exploring ways to bring Internet Computer applications into native mobile environments. A recent discussion on the DFINITY developer forum also highlighted growing interest in native iOS development and the use of Internet Identity’s newer link-based communication for mobile authentication.

For developers, the project provides another route to building native Apple applications that communicate with ICP canisters, while retaining features such as Internet Identity authentication, certified responses and Swift-based Candid bindings.

The release adds to a growing set of developer tools around native applications in the Internet Computer ecosystem, as developers look beyond browser-based interfaces for building applications on the network.