Ethereum

Ethereum

Swift

web3.swift, from the Argent team, is the go-to native library for reaching Ethereum from Apple platforms. It targets iOS 13+ and macOS 10.15+ — the same versions that introduced Combine and modern Swift concurrency — so it slots into a current SwiftUI app without back-deployment headaches. Add it through Swift Package Manager by pointing Xcode at https://github.com/argentlabs/web3.swift, and you get a Swift-native client for querying balances and signing transactions on chain 1, no Objective-C bridging or web view in sight.

web3.swift supports iOS 13+ and macOS 10.15+, covering the bulk of devices in the field. Add it in Xcode through Swift Package Manager using the argentlabs/web3.swift repository — no CocoaPods or manual framework wrangling needed to start calling Ethereum.

Web3.swift

Create the client with Web3(rpcURL: "https://ethereum.therpc.io/YOUR_API_KEY") and it's ready to talk to Ethereum. The API is built on Swift's async throws, so calls like web3.eth.getBalance both suspend and can fail — you await the result and the call site trys it. From SwiftUI that means calling these inside a Task { } or a .task modifier, never from a synchronous body, and letting the throws carry a network or address error up to where you can show it.

import Web3
import BigInt
 
class EthereumClient {
    private let web3 = Web3(rpcURL: "https://ethereum.therpc.io/YOUR_API_KEY")
 
    func getBalance(address: String) async throws -> Double {
        let address = try EthereumAddress(hex: address, eip55: true)
        let balance = try await web3.eth.getBalance(address: address)
        return balance.converted(to: .ether).value
    }
 
    func sendTransaction(
        from: EthereumPrivateKey,
        to: String,
        amount: Double
    ) async throws -> String {
        let toAddress = try EthereumAddress(hex: to, eip55: true)
        let amount = EthereumAmount(value: amount, unit: .ether)
 
        let transaction = try await web3.eth.prepareTransaction(
            to: toAddress,
            value: amount,
            from: from.address
        )
 
        let signed = try transaction.sign(with: from)
        return try await web3.eth.send(transaction: signed)
    }
}

• GitHub: https://github.com/argentlabs/web3.swift
• A fully native Swift implementation — no web view or JS bridge
• iOS and macOS support from a single package
• Built on async/await for clean SwiftUI integration
• Type-safe contract interaction from Solidity ABIs
• Wallet management — key handling and transaction signing
• ENS resolution for .eth names

SwiftUI Integration

For reactive UI, put the client and the balance in an ObservableObject view model and hold it with @StateObject so SwiftUI keeps the instance alive across redraws. Mark the displayed balance @Published and the view repaints the moment a fresh ETH value lands. Kick the work off from a Button action or a .task modifier by opening a Task { await viewModel.updateBalance() } — that bridges the synchronous SwiftUI body to the async Ethereum call without blocking the main actor.

import SwiftUI
import Web3
 
struct WalletView: View {
    @StateObject private var viewModel = WalletViewModel()
 
    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            Text("Balance: \(viewModel.balance) ETH")
 
            Button("Refresh") {
                Task {
                    await viewModel.updateBalance()
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
 
class WalletViewModel: ObservableObject {
    private let client = EthereumClient()
    @Published var balance: Double = 0
 
    func updateBalance() async {
        do {
            balance = try await client.getBalance(address: "YOUR_ADDRESS")
        } catch {
            print("Error: \(error)")
        }
    }
}

Smart Contract Integration

To work with a deployed contract on Ethereum, load its ABI JSON and the address into web3.eth.Contract, then invoke functions by name through .method(...).call(). A read like an ERC-20 balanceOf runs as a gas-free eth_call and returns the decoded value; the same pattern reaches any view function on a contract your app cares about, from a token to a DeFi pool.

struct Contract {
    let web3 = Web3(rpcURL: "https://ethereum.therpc.io/YOUR_API_KEY")
    let contractAddress: EthereumAddress
 
    func callMethod() async throws -> String {
        let contract = try await web3.eth.Contract(
            json: contractABI,
            address: contractAddress
        )
 
        return try await contract.method(
            "methodName",
            parameters: [param1, param2],
            extraData: Data()
        ).call()
    }
}

Error Handling

A typed EthereumError enum lets the UI react to causes, not just a generic failure: separate cases for an invalid address, insufficient funds, and a network error each map to a different message or recovery. Validate the address shape locally first — a simple 0x prefix check, or better, the EIP-55 checksum that EthereumAddress(hex:eip55:) enforces — before spending a round-trip on Ethereum. Catching a malformed address on-device saves the call and gives the user instant feedback instead of an opaque RPC rejection.

enum EthereumError: Error {
    case invalidAddress
    case insufficientFunds
    case networkError(String)
}
 
extension EthereumClient {
    func safeGetBalance(address: String) async throws -> Double {
        guard address.hasPrefix("0x") else {
            throw EthereumError.invalidAddress
        }
 
        do {
            return try await getBalance(address: address)
        } catch {
            throw EthereumError.networkError(error.localizedDescription)
        }
    }
}