Company
Xcode
Xcode is for the cases the web cannot cover. We keep those cases few, and we keep the design system the same as the site.
What it is
Xcode is Apple's IDE: the editor, simulator, Interface Builder, SwiftUI previews, Instruments, signing, and the archive that becomes a TestFlight build. If you ship for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, or Vision, you eventually open this app, even if the code is written elsewhere.
It is not VS Code with a skin. It is the toolchain that talks to Apple's certificates, provisioning, and store. Swift, Objective-C, and the SDK live here. A team that cannot open the project on a Mac they own does not own the app.
What it does
Native teams use Xcode to write Swift, run simulators, capture performance, sign builds, and upload to App Store Connect. Designers use previews. Release managers use archives and TestFlight groups.
We keep the Xcode project on a repository you own, with signing in your developer account. A studio Mac as the only place the app compiles is not a handover.
Why we use it
The studio we open when the product has to be native.
We keep native surface area small. The phone should not invent a second truth. Dispatchers can stay on the web while the field uses the app. Certificates, profiles, and the project leave with you. We do not keep the only signing identity on a studio Mac.
If we can ship it as a well-made web app, we will say so before anyone creates a project.
Built on it
Apple
Ships Pages, Keynote, Safari, and the rest of its own apps from this toolchain.
Lyft
The iOS rider and driver apps are Xcode projects in a Swift shop.
A large iOS codebase built and signed through Xcode.
Airbnb
The iOS app is a native Swift project, not a web view with a badge.
Stripe
iOS SDKs and sample apps are maintained as Xcode projects.
Tell us what needs to ship.
You use a working prototype before the production build goes ahead.