> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://cometchat-22654f5b-docs-rn-guide-message-privately.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Overview

> Overview of Overview in CometChat.

The **CometChat Swift UI Kit** lets developers integrate text chat and voice/video calling features into iOS apps seamlessly.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/cometchat-22654f5b-docs-rn-guide-message-privately/_MYSdWhXnUkTkjEH/images/49951f3b-1623200156-8d0c9739561f72309468e818fa7efa6d.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=_MYSdWhXnUkTkjEH&q=85&s=839807629d802f093e0316f53aaf53c6" width="1033" height="541" data-path="images/49951f3b-1623200156-8d0c9739561f72309468e818fa7efa6d.png" />
</Frame>

The iOS UI Kit’s **Swift UI components** are completely customizable. Included is a fully polished UI and the complete business logic. We provide the source code, which you can adapt it to fit your needs.

<CardGroup>
  <Card title="I want to checkout iOS UI Kit.">
    Follow the steps mentioned in the `README.md` file.

    Kindly, click on below button to download our iOS Chat UI Kit.

    [iOS Chat UI Kit](https://github.com/cometchat-pro/ios-swift-chat-ui-kit/archive/master.zip)

    [View on Github](https://github.com/cometchat-pro/ios-swift-chat-ui-kit)

    **I want to integrate UI Kit with my App**

    * [UI Components](/ui-kit/ios/v3/ios-ui-components)
    * [Customize UI Kit](/ui-kit/ios/v3/customize-ui-kit)
  </Card>

  <Card title="I want to explore sample apps.">
    Import the app into Xcode and follow the steps mentioned in the `README.md` file.

    Kindly, click on below button to download our Swift Sample App.

    [Swift Sample App](https://github.com/cometchat-pro-samples/ios-swift-chat-app/archive/master.zip)

    [View on Github](https://github.com/cometchat-pro-samples/ios-swift-chat-app)

    Or else, you can also checkout our Objective-C Sample App.

    [Objective-C Sample App](https://github.com/cometchat-pro-samples/ios-objective-c-chat-app/archive/master.zip)

    [View on Github](https://github.com/cometchat-pro-samples/ios-objective-c-chat-app)
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have met the following requirements:

* You have installed the **latest version of Xcode**. (Above Xcode 12 Recommended)
* Please note, CometChat's **iOS Chat UI Kit** works for iOS devices from **iOS 11 and above**.

<Tip>
  > If you're building the new project, the please add below line in **AppDelegate.swift**> > **var window: UIWindow?**
</Tip>

<Note>
  > Please install the latest pod version on your Mac to avoid integration issues> > Please follow the below steps:> > 1. sudo gem update cocoapods --pre> 2. pod update> 3. clean> 4. build
</Note>

***

## Installing the iOS Chat UI Kit

### 1. Setup 🔧

**i. Register on CometChat 🧑💻**

* To install iOS Chat UI Kit, you need to first register on **CometChat Dashboard**. [Click here to sign up](https://app.cometchat.com/login).

**ii. Get Your Application Keys 🔑**

* Create a **new app**
* Head over to the **QuickStart** or **API & Auth Keys section** and note the **App ID**, **Auth Key**, and **Region**.

**iii. Add the CometChat Dependency**📦

We recommend using CocoaPods, as they are the most advanced way of managing iOS project dependencies. Open a terminal window, move to your project directory, and then create a Podfile by running the following command

Create podfile using the below command.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Bash">
    ```sh theme={null}
    $ pod init
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

Add the following lines to the Podfile.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Bash">
    ```sh theme={null}
    For Xcode 12 and above:

    platform :ios, '12.0'
    use_frameworks!

    target 'YourApp' do
         pod 'CometChatPro', '3.0.919'
         pod 'CometChatCalls', '3.0.0'
    end
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

And then install the CometChat framework through CocoaPods.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Bash">
    ```sh theme={null}
    pod install
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

If you're facing any issues while installing pods then use the below command.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Bash">
    ```sh theme={null}
    pod install --repo-update
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

***

### 2. Configure CometChat inside your iOS app

**i. Initialize CometChat 🎬**

The `init()` method initializes the settings required for CometChat. We suggest calling the `init()` method on app startup, preferably in the `didFinishLaunchingWithOptions()` method of the Application class.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Swift">
    ```swift theme={null}
    import CometChatPro

    class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate{

       var window: UIWindow?
       let appId: String = "ENTER APP ID"
       let region: String = "ENTER REGION CODE"
        
    func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {

    let mySettings = AppSettings.AppSettingsBuilder().subscribePresenceForAllUsers().setRegion(region:   region).build()
    CometChat(appId: appId ,appSettings: mySettings,onSuccess: { (isSuccess) in
           print("CometChat Pro SDK intialise successfully.")
       }) { (error) in
           print("CometChat Pro SDK failed intialise with error: \\(error.errorDescription)")
        }
        return true
        }
    }
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<Warning>
  > Make sure you replace the **appId** with your CometChat *appId* and *region* with your app region in the above code.
</Warning>

**ii. Create User** 🐣

This method takes a `User` object and the `Auth Key` as input parameters and returns the created `User` object if the request is successful.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Swift">
    ```swift theme={null}
    let uid = "user1"
    let name = "Kevin"
    let authKey = "AUTH_KEY"

    let newUser : User = User(uid: uid, name: name)
    newUser.avatar = "ENTER AVATAR URL HERE"

    CometChat.createUser(user: newUser, apiKey: authKey, onSuccess: { (User) in
          print("User created successfully. \\(User.stringValue())")
      }) { (error) in
         print("The error is \\(String(describing: error?.description))")
    }
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

**ii. Log in your User**👤

The `login()` method returns the User object containing all the information of the `logged-in user.`

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Swift">
    ```swift theme={null}
    let uid    = "cometchat-uid-1"
    let authKey = "ENTER AUTH KEY"

    CometChat.login(UID: uid, apiKey: authKey, onSuccess: { (user) in
      print("Login successful: " + user.stringValue())
    }) { (error) in
      print("Login failed with error: " + error.errorDescription);
    }
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<Note>
  > * Make sure you replace the authKey with your CometChat Auth Key in the above code.> - We have set up 5 users for testing having UIDs: cometchat-uid-1, cometchat-uid-2, cometchat-uid-3, cometchat-uid-4, and cometchat-uid-5.
</Note>

***

### 3. Add Swift Chat UI Kit to your project

To integrate **Swift Chat UI Kit** inside your app. Kindly follow the below steps:

i. Simply **clone the UIKit Library** from the below repository.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Bash">
    ```sh theme={null}
    git clone https:__github.com_cometchat-pro_ios-swift-chat-ui-kit.git
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

ii. After cloning the repository, Navigate to the `Library` folder and drag and drop the `Library` folder inside your project's folder.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/cometchat-22654f5b-docs-rn-guide-message-privately/FGBCGWXGo5d9bVxR/images/c460d3d7-1623200159-9369e0ec407c027b5921356867cd24c9.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=FGBCGWXGo5d9bVxR&q=85&s=172d2e3c2b05a34b057f1d964b8e73d6" width="724" height="417" data-path="images/c460d3d7-1623200159-9369e0ec407c027b5921356867cd24c9.png" />
</Frame>

iii. Make sure you've selected ✅ Copy items if needed as well as 🔘 Create group options while adding a \`Library inside your project.

iv. If the Library is added successfully, all added folders will be in Yellow color.

***

### 4. Launch CometChat

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/cometchat-22654f5b-docs-rn-guide-message-privately/ugckbRl5Q-H7t8X2/images/e6d6784e-1623200161-937cd0e375e1300a22cb40f677f69912.jpg?fit=max&auto=format&n=ugckbRl5Q-H7t8X2&q=85&s=9f4973a44b089bdb797b119b2dc9d9fc" width="7774" height="4184" data-path="images/e6d6784e-1623200161-937cd0e375e1300a22cb40f677f69912.jpg" />
</Frame>

CometChatUI is an option to launch a fully functional chat application using the Swift Chat UI Kit. In the iOS UI Kit all the Swift UI Components are interlinked and work together to launch a fully functional chat on your website/application.

To use **CometChatUI** user has to launch `CometChatUI` class. **CometChatUI** is a subclass of UITabbarController.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Swift">
    ```swift theme={null}
    DispatchQueue.main.async {
    let cometChatUI = CometChatUI()
    cometChatUI.setup(withStyle: .fullScreen)
    self.present(cometChatUI, animated: true, completion: nil)
    }
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<Warning>
  > Please run the above code snippet in the main thread.
</Warning>

***

### 5. Receive Real-time calls (Optional)

To receive real-time call events when the app is in foreground, the user has to register for them in the **App Delegate** class.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Swift">
    ```swift theme={null}
    CometChatCallManager().registerForCalls(application: self)
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<Note>
  > * **This method only allows user to launch the incoming call screen and other calling events when the app is in foreground mode.**
</Note>