This repository has a pre-built version of OpenCV for iOS builds. Only iOS 11+ supported.

OpenCV is only available in C++ and Python. Moreover OpenCV needs to be built specifically for iOS development in C++. Luckily for us, I have already built the Xcode library, so we don’t need to repeat it!

For those of you who are interested in the build process, there is a step-by-step tutorial for that in OpenCV for iOS Development Tutorial.pdf in this repository.

1. Extract the zip file as opencv2.framework
   NOTE - If the standard zip extractor does not work, please install 7zip on your machine to expand the zip file.

2. You can add the OpenCV library in Xcode with a simple drag-and-drop action on the opencv2.framework folder. It will give you a pop-up when you do so, keep the settings given below: \

• Destination: ✅ Copy items if needed
• Added folders: ✅ Create groups
• Add to targets: ✅ <project name>

3. OpenCV is now added in the project modules.

• For you to use OpenCV in C++, you need to run it through Objective-C.
• Apple documentation gives detailed instructions on how to import Objective-C code in Swift.
• Using "Bridging Headers", you can directly expose the Objective-C functions to be accessible in Swift.
• Make sure to #include the headers of the individual Objective-C files in the Bridging Header.

• Standard Objective-C (.m) still cannot directly run C++ code, as it is compiled differently.
• You can add C++ compatibility by simply changing the file name from .m to .mm. In a way, it becomes an an Objective-C++ file!

• You may be able to run C++ through the Objective-C code, but you cannot access it directly in your Swift project.
• This is why you should keep your computation in C++, convert your data to Objective-C compatible data types and return those.
• Similarly, your Objective-C header should also have only standard Objective-C compatible declarations.