Sticker apps are nice, but they're not particularly useful for every use case. We can build far more interesting and interactive applications for iMessage through the Messages framework. Some of the larger, well-known apps on iOS have been able to implement iMessage applications that make sharing content from their apps easier. There are people that have built games in iMessage already. The Messages framework enables developers to build a wide range of extensions straight into the Messages app.
We've just seen how you can build sticker packs and how you can create a somewhat customized sticker pack by picking the app template instead of the sticker pack template in Xcode. We haven't gone in-depth into the different life cycle methods that Xcode generates for us when we create a new iMessage app.
Let's do this while we build an iMessage app for The Daily Quote, the app you've already built a notification extension and a widget for. First, we'll look at the life cycle of an iMessage app. Then we'll implement the compact view for our app. Finally, we'll implement the expanded view for our app. Exactly what the compact and expanded views are will be made clear when we cover the life cycle of iMessage apps.