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Apple’s App Store opened in July 10, 2008, with only 500 apps. Meanwhile, in 2023, there will be almost 2 million apps. Somehow, our apps have to be different than others.
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This article is about for your app to be unique. So, how to make your iOS app unique?
<h2 id="49cd" class="kg kh il bn ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq jt kr ks kt jx ku kv kw kb kx ky kz la gp" data-selectable-paragraph="">Custom Notification Sound</h2>
Almost all of the apps have the default notification sound. If we intent to get the user’s attraction, we must use a unique notification sound. Implementing it is easy.
1. Add an mp3 file to the project. The place does not matter. It just must be under the iOS app folder.
<img class="alignnone wp-image-2809 size-full" src="https://ac.appcircle.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/1_ijKelq6AlBh8W8D-COoV0Q.png" alt="Custom Notification Sound" width="440" height="360" srcset="https://ac.appcircle.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/1_ijKelq6AlBh8W8D-COoV0Q.png 440w, https://ac.appcircle.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/1_ijKelq6AlBh8W8D-COoV0Q-300x245.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 440px) 100vw, 440px" />
2. Send the name of the mp3 file in the push notification. 
If we are using OneSignal, fill the Sound input with NAME.mp3
<img class="alignnone wp-image-2813 size-full" src="https://ac.appcircle.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/1_6x28vSI9Q4on8fVbVGmZuw.png" alt="Sound name" width="460" height="236" srcset="https://ac.appcircle.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/1_6x28vSI9Q4on8fVbVGmZuw.png 460w, https://ac.appcircle.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/1_6x28vSI9Q4on8fVbVGmZuw-300x154.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px" />
If we are sending the push notification via custom JSON, insert the sound key with its value, NAME.mp3 under the aps JSON in the main push notification body.
<script src="https://gist.github.com/acb1ec99d9d47e7598890b11c836669c.js"></script>
<h2 id="d452" class="kg kh il bn ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq jt kr ks kt jx ku kv kw kb kx ky kz la gp">Stickers</h2>
<img class="alignnone wp-image-2810 size-full" src="https://ac.appcircle.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_8569.png" alt="Stickers" width="414" height="896" srcset="https://ac.appcircle.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_8569.png 414w, https://ac.appcircle.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_8569-139x300.png 139w, https://ac.appcircle.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_8569-326x705.png 326w" sizes="(max-width: 414px) 100vw, 414px" />
When a user likes your app, they would like to send their friends some pieces of your app, something related that reminds our app. The way ends up iMessage Sticker Extension. All we need to have some sticker images.
<ol class="">
<li id="de9b" class="lg lh il jk b jl jm jp jq jt li jx lj kb lk kf ll lm ln lo gp" data-selectable-paragraph="">Add target to the project, Sticker Pack Extension.</li>
<li id="c7d8" class="lg lh il jk b jl mi jp mj jt mk jx ml kb mm kf ll lm ln lo gp" data-selectable-paragraph="">Import all sticker images under the Sticker Pack folder in the OUR_TARGET_NAME.xcassets</li>
</ol>
The stickers will be imported on the iMessage automatically.
<a class="au mn" href="https://developer.apple.com/imessage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ugc nofollow">More about Sticker pack Extension</a>
<h2 id="84f7" class="kg kh il bn ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq jt kr ks kt jx ku kv kw kb kx ky kz la gp" data-selectable-paragraph="">Widget Extension</h2>
<img class="alignnone wp-image-2811 size-full" src="https://ac.appcircle.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_8570.png" alt="Widget Extension" width="414" height="896" srcset="https://ac.appcircle.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_8570.png 414w, https://ac.appcircle.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_8570-139x300.png 139w, https://ac.appcircle.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_8570-326x705.png 326w" sizes="(max-width: 414px) 100vw, 414px" />
Users are getting more familiar with widgets since iOS 13. We can use them to show some lean information.
<ol class="">
<li id="35a3" class="lg lh il jk b jl jm jp jq jt li jx lj kb lk kf ll lm ln lo gp" data-selectable-paragraph="">Create Widget Extension target</li>
<li id="ca41" class="lg lh il jk b jl mi jp mj jt mk jx ml kb mm kf ll lm ln lo gp" data-selectable-paragraph="">Build the widget UI as you wish</li>
<li id="3f9f" class="lg lh il jk b jl mi jp mj jt mk jx ml kb mm kf ll lm ln lo gp" data-selectable-paragraph="">Fetch and show the data</li>
</ol>
<a class="au mn" href="https://developer.apple.com/documentation/widgetkit/creating-a-widget-extension" target="_blank" rel="noopener ugc nofollow">More about widget extension</a>
<h2 id="07ec" class="kg kh il bn ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq jt kr ks kt jx ku kv kw kb kx ky kz la gp" data-selectable-paragraph="">Watch Extension</h2>
<img class="alignnone wp-image-2812 size-full" src="https://ac.appcircle.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/incoming-8D0D2078-E5C0-43E8-975C-CA400FFB54CF.png" alt="Widget Extension" width="368" height="448" srcset="https://ac.appcircle.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/incoming-8D0D2078-E5C0-43E8-975C-CA400FFB54CF.png 368w, https://ac.appcircle.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/incoming-8D0D2078-E5C0-43E8-975C-CA400FFB54CF-246x300.png 246w" sizes="(max-width: 368px) 100vw, 368px" />
Watch apps extend brand awareness. The product variety of a brand impacts users in a better way. Users think the brand is a global big one.
<ol class="">
<li id="71f0" class="lg lh il jk b jl jm jp jq jt li jx lj kb lk kf ll lm ln lo gp" data-selectable-paragraph="">Create Watch App for iOS App target</li>
<li id="0433" class="lg lh il jk b jl mi jp mj jt mk jx ml kb mm kf ll lm ln lo gp" data-selectable-paragraph="">Build the Watch UI as you wish</li>
<li id="b2e4" class="lg lh il jk b jl mi jp mj jt mk jx ml kb mm kf ll lm ln lo gp" data-selectable-paragraph="">Fetch and show the data</li>
</ol>
<a class="au mn" href="https://developer.apple.com/documentation/watchkit/setting_up_a_watchos_project" target="_blank" rel="noopener ugc nofollow">More about watch extension</a>
<h2 id="1e7b" class="kg kh il bn ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq jt kr ks kt jx ku kv kw kb kx ky kz la gp" data-selectable-paragraph="">Conclusion</h2>
Apple provides some cool/useful extensions that we should use to increase the impact of our app. Ones that are easy to integrate, and min effort-max efficient are obviously custom notification sounds, sticker pack extension, widget extension, and watch extension. These might differentiate our app than the others, resulting in a decreased churn rate.

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How to Make Your iOS App Unique

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