Facebook's Parse adds SDKs for Apple TV, Apple Watch
Parse, the app developer hub owned by Facebook, is broadening its toolset for creators on Apple mobile products.
The social network's subsidiary unveiled new software development kits (SDKs) designed specifically for Apple's tvOS and watchOS 2, encouraging developers to use Parse for building immersive apps on Apple TV and Apple Watch.
Parse mobile engineer Nikita Lutsenko admitted in a blog post on Monday that the team had some hurdles, including dealing with the local data storage situation on Apple TV and detaching from the smartphone on Apple Watch.
"Another core difference of tvOS is the user input experience. Since there is no hardware keyboard or big touchscreen, inputting text feels challenging and less immersive," Lutsenko explained about tvOS. "To counter this problem, we updated our Facebook integration library to give you the ability to login to tvOS apps using the recently announced Facebook tvOS SDK, by using just a few lines of code."
Both of Parse's new SDKs are available on GitHub.
Facebook acquired Parse, then a startup with a cloud-based platform of scalable cross-platform services and tools for developers, in April 2013 for an undisclosed sum. The Parse deal came with tools designed for development on iOS and Android devices.
Since then, Facebook engineers have elaborated how Parse fits into the company's platform, bolstering the world's largest social network for more third-party apps and B2B clientele -- not to mention more data.
Parse has a bevy of other SDKs already on the popular digital library for source code as Parse announced back in August that it would be open sourcing all of them.
Parse already introduced other new SDKs during Facebook's annual F8 developer summit in San Francisco in March.
Luring developers to the Parse cloud, the SDKs demonstrated yet another answer to the blossoming Internet of Things movement, enabling developers to integrate data from internet-connected devices within their applications.