Helios: a server side for your iOS app

Today, the always-impressive Mattt released a new project: Helios.

Helios is an open-source framework that provides essential backend services for iOS apps, from data synchronization and user accounts to push notifications, in-app purchases, and passbook integration. It allows developers to get a client-server app up-and-running in just a few minutes, and seamlessly incorporate functionality as necessary.

Getting started is easy:

$ gem install helios
$ helios new myapp
$ cd myapp; helios server
$ open http://localhost:5000/admin

Helios is broken down into useful components, too. If you check out the .gemspec, you’ll notice a few other gems that would be useful for anyone trying to build a backend service.

There’s a lot of startups that do “Backend as a Service,” such as Parse, so it’s nice to see an OSS competitor pop up.