To notch or not to notch? NotchKit can help you decide.
Paul Hudson September 24th 2017 @twostraws
Enterprising WWDC 2017 scholar Harshil Shah has created a framework that lets you simulate how your app could look on iPhone X if you wanted to try ignoring the notch.
His project, NotchKit, “is a simple way to hide the notch on the iPhone X and create a card-like interface for your apps,” and works by subclassing UIWindow so that you can choose to make apps that #EmbraceTheNotch or ignore it entirely if you prefer.
Shah makes it clear that Apple’s human interface guidelines ask developers not to try to hide the sensor housing, but much more interesting is his rationale for sharing his work:
It only took me a couple of days using the simulator to realise that embracing the notch is the way forward. My intention with open-sourcing this was to make it easier for others to reach that conclusion as well.
If you’re still on the fence about the notch – Notch or Not, as it were – perhaps you should give his framework a try and decide for yourself.
Link: NotchKit on GitHub
About the author
Paul Hudson is the creator of Hacking with Swift, the most comprehensive series of Swift books in the world. He's also the editor of Swift Developer News, the maintainer of the Swift Knowledge Base, and Mario Kart world champion. OK, so that last part isn't true. If you're curious you can learn more here.
