How does Apptimize \ Optimizely work on iOS?

Question

I\'m trying to figure out a few things about the implementation going on \"behind the scene\" for manipulating UI elements on the fly, straight from the web console on Apptimize

Answer 1

The company Leanplum offers a Visual Interface Editor for iOS and Android: This requires no coding, and Leanplum will automatically detect the elements and allow you to change them. No engineers or app store resubmissions required.

Regarding your questions:

1. With installing the iOS or Android SDK in your app, you enable a feature called Visual Editor. While in development mode and with the Website Dashboard open, the SDK sends information about the view hierarchy in real-time to your Browser. The view hierarchy is scanned in a similar way a DOM is built on a regular website.
2. You can choose any UI element on your app and change the appearance of it in real-time. This works by identifying the exact element in the view tree and sending the changes to the SDK.
3. This can be achieved by adding custom hooks or a technique called "swizzling". Take a look at this blog post, how it works.

To learn more about the Leanplum Visual Interface Editor, check out leanplum.com. They offer a free 30-day trial.

(Disclaimer: I am an Engineer at Leanplum.)