Hey everyone,
I’m working on an iOS app and I need to add Google Docs functionality. I’m wondering if there’s a ready-made SDK or wrapper for Google Docs that works with iOS. If not, do I have to build everything from the ground up using Google’s APIs?
I’ve looked around but couldn’t find clear info on this. Has anyone here worked with Google Docs in their iOS apps? What approach did you take?
Any advice or experiences would be super helpful. Thanks in advance for your input!
I’ve actually tackled this challenge in a recent project. While there isn’t a dedicated iOS SDK for Google Docs, you can leverage the Google Drive API to interact with Docs files. We used the GoogleAPIClientForREST library, which simplified API calls significantly.
Our approach involved using OAuth 2.0 for authentication, then utilizing the Drive API to list, create, and modify Docs. For viewing and editing, we embedded a web view with the Google Docs web editor URL.
One gotcha we encountered was handling offline scenarios. We implemented a local caching system to store recent documents, which improved the user experience considerably.
It’s not a plug-and-play solution, but with some effort, you can create a smooth Google Docs integration. The learning curve is steep initially, but the flexibility it offers is worth it in my opinion.
hey, i’ve done this before! google’s APIs are pretty straightforward for ios. u dont need a special sdk, just use the rest api. it’s a bit of work but not too bad.
pro tip: use a webview for editing docs. saves tons of time. just make sure u handle offline stuff well.
good luck with ur project!
Having integrated Google Docs into an iOS app before, I can share some insights. There’s no official SDK specifically for Google Docs on iOS, but you can use the Google Drive API to handle most functionalities. We implemented this using Google’s REST API and Alamofire for network requests.
For document editing, we found it most effective to use a WKWebView to load the Google Docs web editor. This approach saved us considerable development time compared to building a custom editor.
One challenge we faced was managing authentication tokens efficiently. We ended up using KeychainAccess to securely store tokens, which worked well for our use case.
Overall, while it requires some custom development, integrating Google Docs is certainly achievable. Just be prepared for a bit of a learning curve with the API documentation.