Today Apple has expanded the capabilities of CloudKit, the company’s server-side API and component of iCloud, adding support for server-to-server web service request. Interaction with the CloudKit public database has previously been restricted to apps on iPhone and iPad, Mac, and web.
Apple launched CloudKit in 2014 to provide third party app developers with easy to use, secure, scalable iCloud data storage for their users. It used the technology to launch its own new Photos app, which automatically stores users’ photos in an iCloud database that keeps images in sync between devices.
Last summer, the company added support for accessing CloudKit app data via JavaScript and Web Services, enabling developers to build websites that present the same data to users who sign in with their Apple ID. The company used this feature to develop a web client for Notes, presenting a web view of the same content users see when they open the Notes app on their iOS device or on a Mac.
CloudKit provides a number of tools to developers, including authentication services, private and public databases, and asset storage. The new functionality makes CloudKit a more flexible and powerful tool for app and web developers who want to leverage cloud-based storage and processing without rolling their own server-side implementation, enabling them to focus on client app features instead. The addition of the new web service request API will unlock new developer possibilities for the iCloud service.
[via 9to5Mac]
