Screen Navigation in iOS
Article Summary
Bohdan Orlov from Bumble Tech tackles one of iOS development's messiest problems: navigation architecture that doesn't turn into spaghetti code. Most apps handle screen transitions the same way Apple demos them—which breaks down fast at scale.
This deep dive from the Bumble engineering team walks through iOS navigation patterns from basic UIViewController presentations to sophisticated coordinator-based architectures. Orlov shows how to make navigation testable, decoupled, and ready for complex scenarios like deep links and push notifications.
Key Takeaways
- Protocol-oriented navigation enables unit testing of screen transitions without OCMock hacks
- Flow Coordinators decouple modules but require parallel hierarchy maintenance alongside UIKit
- Deep link handling needs centralized navigation with tree diffing algorithms for scalability
- Dependency injection through factory closures prevents tight coupling between view controllers
Critical Insight
Moving from Apple's basic presentation patterns to testable, protocol-based navigation architectures prevents the coupling nightmares that plague large iOS codebases.
