How to Use Web3.swift in iOS

Fetch data from the Ethereum blockchain using Swift

Ever since the introduction of the Ethereum blockchain in the year 2015, it has revolutionized the entire software development industry. It is the first blockchain that has smart contract capability, allowing developers to create and deploy decentralized applications (dApps) that interact with the Ethereum blockchain.

Nowadays most dApps are web-based applications. However, I do believe that mobile native dApps will become more and more popular when blockchain technology gets greater adoption over time.

In this article, I will show you how to create a simple dApp that fetches the latest gas price from the Ethereum Mainnet. Throughout the process, you will learn how to gain access to a public node, what library you should use in your Xcode project, and how to connect & fetch data from the Mainnet.

Without further ado, let’s jump right in!

The Basic Concept

If you are reading this article, I assume you already have some basic idea of what a blockchain is. If you don’t, you can think of it as a gigantic server consisting of thousands of nodes hosted all around the world.

Pro tip: Check out this page for all the Ethereum nodes currently available…