We typically develop against the latest stable version of Xcode.
Clone the repo to a working directory:
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-iOS
Since we make use of sub-modules, you must use git clone, rather than
downloading a prepared zip file from Github.
We recommend you fork the repo on GitHub, then clone your fork:
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/<USERNAME>/Signal-iOS.git
You can then add the Signal repo to sync with upstream changes:
git remote add upstream https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-iOS
To build and configure the libraries Signal uses, just run:
make dependencies
Open the Signal.xcworkspace in Xcode.
open Signal.xcworkspace
In the TARGETS area of the General tab, change the Team drop down to your own. You will need to do that for all the listed targets, for ex. Signal, SignalShareExtension, and SignalNSE. You will need an Apple Developer account for this.
On the Capabilities tab, turn off Push Notifications, Apple Pay,
Communication Notifications, and Data Protection, while keeping Background Modes
on. The App Groups capability will need to remain on in order to access the
shared data storage. The best way to change the bundle ID for the app groups is
setting SIGNAL_BUNDLEID_PREFIX in the project's settings.
If you wish to test the Documents API, the iCloud capability will need to be on with the iCloud Documents option selected.
Build and Run and you are ready to go!
Features related to push notifications are known to be not working for third-party contributors since Apple's Push Notification service pushes will only work with Open Whisper Systems production code signing certificate.
Turn on Push Notifications on the Capabilities tab if you want to register a new Signal account using the application installed via XCode.
If you have any other issues, please ask on the community forum.