Waller

Waller is a SwiftUI-based wallpaper downloading app that leverages SwiftData for data persistence and AppStorage for user settings. This app fetches beautiful, high-quality photos from the Pexels API, and allows users to search, view, download, like, and share wallpapers. It also offers a Favorites section where users can save their favorite images.

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Table of Contents

• ✨ Features
• 🖼️ Screenshots
• ⚙️ Installation & Setup Guide
• 🛠️ Technologies Used
• 📚 Key Learnings
• 🔮 Future Improvements

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Features

• Getting Started Page: Welcomes the user.
• Home Page: Displays a feed of images fetched from the Pexels API with a search bar for users to find photos related to specific topics like nature, animals, landscapes, etc.
• Favorites Tab: Allows users to save their liked photos. These are stored persistently using SwiftData and can be accessed even after the app is closed and reopened.
• Photo View: Clicking on a photo opens it in a larger view with options to:
  • Download the photo
  • Like the photo (saved to favorites)
  • Share the photo via standard sharing options
• Search Functionality: The search bar allows users to look for photos based on keywords like "nature", "birds", etc.

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Screenshots

Here are some screenshots of the app:

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Installation & Setup Guide

Follow these steps to set up and run Waller on your local machine:

Prerequisites

Make sure you have the following installed:

• Xcode (latest version)
• A Pexels API key (You can get it here).

Steps to Install

1. Clone the Repository Open a terminal window and run the following command to clone the repository to your local machine:

   git clone /~https://github.com/Reshamhere/Waller.git

2. Open the Project Navigate to the project directory:

   cd Waller

   Open the project in Xcode:

   open Waller.xcodeproj

3. Set Up the Pexels API

   • Create an account on Pexels if you don’t have one.
   • Get your API key from the Pexels website.
   • In Xcode, open the file where the API key is required and paste the key in the appropriate place.

4. Run the App

   • Select a simulator or a connected device in Xcode.
   • Hit the Run button or press Cmd + R to build and run the app.

The app should now launch and you can begin using it to search for wallpapers, like images, and add them to your Favorites!

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Technologies Used

• SwiftUI: Used to build the user interface with declarative views.
• SwiftData: Employed for persisting liked photos in a local database.
• AppStorage: Utilized for storing user preferences and settings.
• Pexels API: Integrated to fetch high-quality wallpapers and photos based on search queries.

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Key Learnings

Throughout the development of Waller, I’ve gained a wealth of knowledge and honed my skills in the following areas:

1. Fetching Data from an API: I learned how to interact with an API (Pexels in this case) to fetch and display images dynamically within the app.
2. Working with SwiftData: I gained hands-on experience with SwiftData to store, manage, and fetch the user's liked photos, ensuring data persistence even after app restarts.
3. AppStorage for Settings: Implementing AppStorage helped me learn how to store simple user preferences locally, such as favorite photos or app settings.
4. Dynamic UI with SwiftUI: This project helped me deepen my understanding of SwiftUI's declarative syntax, and how to use it to create responsive, dynamic interfaces, such as the interactive photo viewer.
5. Search Functionality: I learned how to integrate search functionality that dynamically updates the UI based on the user's input and fetches related images from the API.
6. Sharing Options: Implementing the photo sharing feature gave me insight into how to utilize iOS sharing APIs to let users share content via different platforms.

Overall, this project has been a tremendous learning experience, improving my knowledge of SwiftUI, networking, and data storage, while allowing me to apply these concepts in a practical, real-world project.

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Future Improvements

While this app is fully functional, I plan to enhance it with the following features in the future:

• Implement more advanced search filters for photo categories.
• Add user authentication to allow users to save their favorites across devices.
• Enhance the UI/UX for a smoother, more polished experience.

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Note: This project is an original work created by me, and the source code is provided as part of my portfolio.