Box Developer Documentation
Log in

Install the iOS SDK

Guides Mobile iOS Learn to use the iOS SDK Install the iOS SDK
Edit this page
12345

Install the iOS SDK

With an iOS application in place, you will need to import the required Box iOS SDK dependencies into your project using one of the available package manager options.

Select a package manager to use

Carthage

Carthage is a decentralized dependency manager for Swift and Objective-C Cocoa projects. It is open-source and built with Swift.

CocoaPods

CocoaPods is a centralized dependency manager for Swift and Objective-C Cocoa projects. It is open-source and was built with Ruby.

Swift Package Manager

The Swift Package Manager is a tool for managing the distribution of source code, making it easy to share your code and reuse others’ code.

Install the iOS SDK using Carthage

  1. From a terminal window, install Carthage: brew install carthage. Visit the Carthage documentation for other installation methods.
  2. At the root of your iOS application folder, where the {APPNAME}.xcodeproj is located, create a new file named Cartfile, without an extension.
  3. Open the Cartfile and add the Box iOS SDK dependency with git "https://github.com/box/box-ios-sdk.git" ~> 3.0, then save and close the file.
  4. From the terminal, in the folder where the Cartfile is present, update all dependencies: carthage update --platform iOS. A Cartfile.resolved file and a Carthage directory will be created in the directory.
  5. Within a Finder or File Explorer window load the Carthage -> Build -> iOS directory. This should have a framework file named BoxSDK.framework. Keep this window open as we'll use it to add the framework to our project in the next step.
  6. In your Xcode project, click on the name of your application at the top of the project navigator on the left. In the content that displays, click on the name of your project under the TARGETS option. Scroll down to Frameworks, Libraries, and Embedded Content.
  7. Drag BoxSDK.framework from our Finder window over to the frameworks section.

Add framework to project

Install the iOS SDK using CocoaPods

  1. From a terminal window, install CocoaPods: sudo gem install cocoapods.
  2. At the root of your iOS application folder, where the APPNAME.xcodeproj is located, run pod init to create a new Podfile with smart defaults.
  3. Load Podfile, add the Box iOS SDK dependency under # Pods for {APPNAME} with pod 'BoxSDK', '~> 3.0', then save and close.
  4. From the terminal, in the folder where the Podfile is present, download all dependencies: pod install.
  5. Open .xcworkspace in Xcode: open {APPNAME}.xcworkspace and build the project.

Install the iOS SDK using the Swift Package Manager

  1. In your Xcode project, click on the name of your application at the top of the project navigator on the left. In the content that displays, click on the name of your project under the PROJECT option.
  2. Click on Swift Packages and click on the + to add a package.
  3. Enter the following repository URL https://github.com/box/box-ios-sdk.git and click next.
  4. Leave the default settings and click next to finish importing.

Add framework to project

Summary

  • You either selected to install the iOS dependencies using Carthage
    • You installed Carthage
    • You create a Cartfile with the Box iOS SDK dependency
    • You installed the iOS SDK dependencies
    • You manually imported the built dependencies into the Xcode project framework list.
  • Or selected to use CocoaPods and
    • You installed CocoaPods
    • You created a new Podfile with the Box iOS SDK dependency
    • You installed the iOS SDK dependencies
    • You built the project in Xcode
  • Or selected to use the Swift Package Manager and
    • You imported the iOS SDK .git repository into the Swift packages

I've installed the Box iOS SDK dependencies