iOS Most mature REST service library

Question

If I want to hit REST services from an iOS app what is the most mature library for doing so? What are my best options?

Answer 1

Not so mature but very light weight: JNRestClient

Answer 2

You can use RestKit.

Or you can use NSJSONSerialization which is already in the foundation framework.

Here's an exemple from a project that i made. It fetch an array of drinks from a json webservice:

 NSString *urlString= [NSString stringWithFormat:@"my json webservice URL"];
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:urlString];
NSData *data = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:url];
NSError *error;
NSDictionary *jsonResultSet = (NSDictionary*)[NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data options:kNilOptions error:&error];
if ([jsonResultSet count] !=0){
    NSArray* drinks = [jsonResultSet objectForKey:@"drinks"];
    for (NSDictionary* drinkDictionary in drinks) {
        Drink* drink = [[Drink alloc] initWithDictionary:drinkDictionary];
        [[DrinkList getInstance]addDrinksWithObject:drink];
    }
}

Answer 3

There is also the new swift rest library called Alamofire (https://github.com/Alamofire/Alamofire), it seems really nice, it has already more than 6000 stars on github and it has been created by Mattt Thompson which means you can go for it without worries.

Answer 4

JSONModel is quite simple to use.

Overcoat+Mantle look really good.

RestKit is a bit verbose, IMHO.

Answer 5

I recommend AFNetworking. The following is a sample code taken from its Github page (there is more samples over there):

NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"https://alpha-api.app.net/stream/0/posts/stream/global"];
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
AFJSONRequestOperation *operation = [AFJSONRequestOperation JSONRequestOperationWithRequest:request success:^(NSURLRequest *request, NSHTTPURLResponse *response, id JSON) {
    NSLog(@"App.net Global Stream: %@", JSON);
} failure:nil];
[operation start];

Other alternatives are:

• RestKit
• LRResty
• MKNetworkKit

Of them all, I think both AFNetworking and RestKit are the most popular. I personally have used extensively AFNetworking, thus why I recommend it.