SDK Quickstart (iOS)

Integrate Helium into your iOS app

Background

Get set up with the Helium SDK for iOS. Reach out over your Helium slack channel or email [e-mail] for any questions.

Installation

Helium requires a minimum deployment target of iOS 15 and Xcode 14+. (Latest Xcode is recommended.)

We recommend using Swift Package Manager (SPM), but if your project primarily uses Cocoapods it might make sense to install the Helium Cocoapod instead.

Swift Package Manager (SPM)

1. In Xcode, navigate to your project’s Package Dependencies:

   

2. Click the + button and search for the Helium package URL:

   https://github.com/cloudcaptainai/helium-swift.git
   
   For Dependency Rule we recommend the default Up to Next Major Version to make sure you get non-breaking bug fixes. View the list of releases here.

3. Click Add Package.

4. In the dialog that appears, make sure to add the Helium product to your app’s main target:

   

5. (Optional) If you are using RevenueCat to manage purchases, we recommended you also add HeliumRevenueCat to your target so that you can use our RevenueCatDelegate referenced in the Purchase Handling section of this guide. Otherwise leave as None for the HeliumRevenueCat row.

The HeliumRevenueCat target includes purchases-ios-spm as a dependency, not purchases-ios and you may encounter build issues if are using purchases-ios with SPM. (We recommend just switching to purchases-ios-spm).

6. Select Add Package in the dialog and Helium should now be ready for import.

Cocoapod

Option 1: Core functionality only

Add this to your Podfile:

pod 'Helium', '~> 3.0'

Then run:

pod install

Option 2: Core + RevenueCat

Recommended if you are using RevenueCat to manage purchases.

Add this to your Podfile:

pod 'Helium/RevenueCat', '~> 3.0'

Then run:

pod install

Initialize Helium

Initialize the Helium SDK as early as possible in your app’s lifecycle. Choose the appropriate location based on your app’s architecture:

SwiftUI

@main
struct MyApp: App {
    init() {
        // Call Helium.shared.initialize here (see example below)
    }

    var body: some Scene {
        WindowGroup {
            ContentView()
        }
    }
}

SceneDelegate

class SceneDelegate: UIResponder, UIWindowSceneDelegate {

    var window: UIWindow?

    func scene(_ scene: UIScene, willConnectTo session: UISceneSession, options connectionOptions: UIScene.ConnectionOptions) {
        // Call Helium.shared.initialize here (see example below)
    }
}

AppDelegate

@UIApplicationMain
class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {

    var window: UIWindow?

    func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
        // Call Helium.shared.initialize here (see example below)
        return true
    }
}

Add necessary imports:

import Helium

And initialize Helium in the location referenced above:

// Create fallback configuration with a fallback bundle
// (recommended - see Fallbacks and Loading Budgets section)
let fallbackBundleURL = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "fallback-bundle", withExtension: "json")
let fallbackConfig = HeliumFallbackConfig.withFallbackBundle(fallbackBundleURL)

Helium.shared.initialize(
    apiKey: "<your-helium-api-key>",
    fallbackConfig: fallbackConfig,
    revenueCatAppUserId: Purchases.shared.appUserID // ONLY if using RevenueCat
)

Helium.shared.initialize · method

Show parameters

apiKey · string · required

You can create or retrieve your api key from Account Settings.

heliumPaywallDelegate · HeliumPaywallDelegate · required

Delegate to handle paywall events and callbacks (see next section)

fallbackConfig · HeliumFallbackConfig · required

Fallback configuration with either a view or bundle URL. Required parameter.

customUserId · String?

(Optional) If set, a custom user id to use instead of Helium’s. We’ll use this id when forwarding to third party analytics services, so this can be used for attribution (e.g. an amplitude user id, or a custom user id from your own analytics service)

customUserTraits · HeliumUserTraits?

(Optional) Pass in custom user traits to be used for targeting, personalization, and dynamic content. It can be created with any dictionary, as long as the key is a string and the value is a Codable type.

let customUserTraits = HeliumUserTraits(traits: [
    "testTrait": 1,
    "account_age_in_days": "20",
])

appAttributionToken · UUID?

(Optional) Set this if you use a custom appAccountToken with your StoreKit purchases.

revenueCatAppUserId · String?

(Optional) RevenueCat ONLY. Supply RevenueCat appUserID here (and initialize RevenueCat before Helium initialize). You can also set this value outside of initialize: Helium.shared.setRevenueCatAppUserId(Purchases.shared.appUserID)

No need to set this if you use RevenueCatDelegate (see next section).

Helium’s initialization is ran on a background thread, so you don’t have to worry about it affecting your app’s launch time.

Custom User ID and Custom User Traits

You can provide a custom user ID and custom user traits in the initialize method or by using Helium.shared.overrideUserId. Set the user ID and traits before or during initialize to ensure consistency in analytics events and for the best experimentation results.

Helium.shared.overrideUserId(
    newUserId: "<your-custom-user-id>",
    traits: HeliumUserTraits? = nil
);

Checking Download Status

In most cases there is no need to check download status. Helium will display a loading indication if a paywall is presented before download has completed.

You can check the status of the paywall configuration download using the Helium.shared.getDownloadStatus() method. This method returns a value of type HeliumFetchedConfigStatus, which is defined as follows:

public enum HeliumFetchedConfigStatus: String, Codable, Equatable {
    case notDownloadedYet
    case inProgress
    case downloadSuccess
    case downloadFailure
}

You can also simply check if paywalls have been successfully downloaded with Helium.shared.paywallsLoaded().

Presenting Paywalls

You must have a trigger and workflow configured in the dashboard in order to show a paywall.

You can show a paywall in one of 3 ways:

1. Show it as a full-screen modal (recommended)

Call Helium.shared.presentUpsell(trigger:) when you want to show the paywall. For example:

Button("Try Premium") {
    Helium.shared.presentUpsell(trigger: "post_onboarding")
}

Helium.shared.presentUpsell · method

Show parameters

trigger · String · required

The trigger name configured in your Helium dashboard

from · UIViewController?

(Optional) The view controller to present from. If nil, uses the current top view controller

eventHandlers · PaywallEventHandlers?

(Optional) Event handlers for paywall lifecycle events

customPaywallTraits · [String: Any]?

(Optional) Custom traits to pass to the paywall

dontShowIfAlreadyEntitled · Bool · default: "false"

(Optional) If true, the paywall will not show if the user already has entitlements for any product in the paywall. See the Entitlements section of this guide for more details.

2. Attach it to a SwiftUI view as a ViewModifier

You can use the .triggerUpsell view modifier from any SwiftUI view:

struct ContentView: View {
    @State var isPresented: Bool = false
    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            Button {
                isPresented = true;
            } label: {
                Text("Show paywall")
            }

        }.triggerUpsell(isPresented: $isPresented, trigger: "post_onboarding")
    }
}

3. Explicitly embed the Helium Paywall View

You can also explicitly get the Helium paywall view via Helium.shared.upsellViewForTrigger. This method takes a trigger and returns the paywall as an AnyView.

let heliumView: AnyView? = Helium.shared.upsellViewForTrigger(
    trigger: "post_onboarding"
)

You’ll need to handle presentation and dismissal yourself if you use this way of displaying paywalls. You can handle dismissal with PaywallEventHandlers.

PaywallEventHandlers

When displaying a paywall you can pass in event handlers to listen for relevant Helium Events. You can chain a subset of handlers with builder syntax:

presentUpsell

Helium.shared.presentUpsell(
    trigger: "post_onboarding",
    eventHandlers: PaywallEventHandlers()
        .onOpen { event in
            print("open via trigger \(event.triggerName)")
        }
        .onClose { event in
            print("close for trigger \(event.triggerName)")
        }
        .onDismissed { event in
            print("dismiss for trigger \(event.triggerName)")
        }
        .onPurchaseSucceeded { event in
            print("purchase succeeded for trigger \(event.triggerName)")
        }
        .onOpenFailed {
             print("open failed for trigger \(event.triggerName)")
        }
        .onCustomPaywallAction { event in
            print("Custom action: \(event.actionName) with params: \(event.params)")
        }
)

struct ContentView: View {
    @State var isPresented: Bool = false
    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            Button {
                isPresented = true;
            } label: {
                Text("Show paywall")
            }
        }
        .triggerUpsell(
            isPresented: $isPresented,
            trigger: "post_onboarding",
            eventHandlers: PaywallEventHandlers()
                .onOpen { event in
                    print("open via trigger \(event.triggerName)")
                }
                .onClose { event in
                    print("close for trigger \(event.triggerName)")
                }
                .onDismissed { event in
                    print("dismiss for trigger \(event.triggerName)")
                }
                .onPurchaseSucceeded { event in
                    print("purchase made for trigger \(event.triggerName)")
                }
                .onCustomPaywallAction { event in
                    print("Custom action: \(event.actionName) with params: \(event.params)")
                }
        )
    }
}

  Helium.shared.upsellViewForTrigger(
      trigger: "post_onboarding",
      eventHandlers: PaywallEventHandlers()
          .onOpen { event in
              print("open for trigger \(event.triggerName)")
          }
          .onClose { event in
              print("close for trigger \(event.triggerName)")
          }
          .onDismissed { event in
              // handle user dismissal here (i.e. hide the upsell view)
              print("dismiss for trigger \(event.triggerName)")
          }
          .onPurchaseSucceeded { event in
              print("purchase made for trigger \(event.triggerName)")
          }
          .onCustomPaywallAction { event in
              print("Custom action: \(event.actionName) with params: \(event.params)")
          }
  )

Usage Suggestions:

• Use onDismiss for post-paywall navigation when the paywall is dismissed but a user’s entitlement hasn’t changed
• Use onPurchaseSucceeded for your post purchase flow (e.g., a premium onboarding navigation)
• Use onClose to handle a paywall close, regardless of reason

You should now be able to see Helium paywalls in your app! Well done! 🎉

Purchase Handling

By default, Helium will handle purchases for you! This section is for those who want to delegate purchases to RevenueCat or implement custom purchase logic.

Use (or subclass) one of our pre-built HeliumPaywallDelegate implementations or create a custom delegate. Pass the delegate in to your Helium.shared.initialize call.

StoreKitDelegate

The StoreKitDelegate (default delegate) handles purchases using native StoreKit 2:

import Helium

let delegate = StoreKitDelegate()

RevenueCatDelegate

Make sure you included HeliumRevenueCat (for SPM) or Helium/RevenueCat (for Cocoapod) as noted in the Installation section.

RevenueCatDelegate handle purchases through RevenueCat:

import HeliumRevenueCat // unless using Cocoapod then can just import Helium

let delegate = RevenueCatDelegate(
    revenueCatApiKey: "<revenue-cat-api-id>" // Optional - pass in to have Helium to handle RevenueCat initialization.
)

If you do not supply revenueCatApiKey, make sure to initialize RevenueCat before initializing Helium!

Custom Delegate

You can also create a custom delegate and implement your own purchase logic. You can look at our StoreKitDelegate and RevenueCatDelegate in the SDK for examples (also linked below).

The HeliumPaywallDelegate is defined as follows:

public protocol HeliumPaywallDelegate: AnyObject {

    // Execute the purchase of a product given the product ID.
    func makePurchase(productId: String) async -> HeliumPaywallTransactionStatus

    // (Optional) - Restore any existing subscriptions.
    // Return a boolean indicating whether the restore was successful.
    func restorePurchases() async -> Bool

    // (Optional) - Handle Helium Events
    func onPaywallEvent(_ event: HeliumEvent)
}

HeliumPaywallTransactionStatus is an enum that defines the possible states of a paywall transaction:

public enum HeliumPaywallTransactionStatus {
    case purchased
    case cancelled
    case failed(Error)
    case restored
    case pending
}

Visit Helium Events for details on the different Helium paywall events.

When executing the purchase via StoreKit 2 (recommended over StoreKit 1), please use Product.heliumPurchase() instead of Product.purchase(). For example:

let result = try await product.heliumPurchase()

This will automatically set attribution information for revenue tracking.

StoreKitDelegate example here.

RevenueCatDelegate example here.

Listen for Helium Events

Helium Events are emitted by Helium for various paywall actions, purchase completions, and more. Options to listen for these events include:

1. onPaywallEvent of HeliumPaywallDelegate

Subclass one of the provided HeliumPaywallDelegate implementations (see Purchase Handling section above) and override onPaywallEvent:

class MyStoreKitDelegate: StoreKitDelegate {
    override func onPaywallEvent(_ event: HeliumEvent) {
        switch event {
        case let openEvent as PaywallOpenEvent:
            // handle open event here
            break
        case let closeEvent as PaywallCloseEvent:
            break
        case let dismissEvent as PaywallDismissedEvent:
            break
        case let purchaseEvent as PurchaseSucceededEvent:
            break
        default:
            break
        }
    }
}

Make sure to pass your delegate in to Helium.shared.initialize!

2. Add a HeliumEventListener (coming soon!)

/// Add a listener for all Helium events. Listeners are stored weakly, so if you create a listener inline it may not be retained.
public func addHeliumEventListener(_ listener: HeliumEventListener) {
    HeliumEventListeners.shared.addListener(listener)
}

/// Remove a specific Helium event listener.
public func removeHeliumEventListener(_ listener: HeliumEventListener) {
    HeliumEventListeners.shared.removeListener(listener)
}

3. Use PaywallEventHandlers for paywall-specific events

See the section titled PaywallEventHandlers on this page.

Checking Subscription Status & Entitlements

The Helium SDK provides several ways to check user entitlements and subscription status.

Entitlement Helper Methods

hasAnyEntitlement() Checks if the user has purchased any subscription or non-consumable product.

hasAnyActiveSubscription(includeNonRenewing: Bool = true) Checks if the user has any active subscription. Set includeNonRenewing to false to check only auto-renewing subscriptions.

hasEntitlementForPaywall(trigger: String, considerAssociatedSubscriptions: Bool = false) Checks if the user has entitlements for any product in a specific paywall. Returns nil if paywall configuration hasn’t been downloaded yet.

hasActiveEntitlementFor(productId: String) Checks if the user has entitlement to a specific product.

hasActiveSubscriptionFor(productId: String) Checks if the user has an active subscription for a specific product.

hasActiveSubscriptionFor(subscriptionGroupID: String) Checks if the user has an active subscription in a specific subscription group.

purchasedProductIds() Retrieves a list of all product IDs the user currently has access to.

activeSubscriptions() Returns detailed information about all active auto-renewing subscriptions.

subscriptionStatusFor(productId: String) Gets detailed subscription status for a specific product, including state information like subscribed, expired, or in grace period.

subscriptionStatusFor(subscriptionGroupID: String) Gets detailed subscription status for a specific subscription group.

Example Usage

Check entitlements before showing paywalls to avoid showing a paywall to a user who should not see it.

Use dontShowIfAlreadyEntitled with presentUpsell

Helium.shared.presentUpsell(trigger: "my_paywall", dontShowIfAlreadyEntitled: true)

let heliumTrigger = "my_paywall"
let hasPurchased = await Helium.shared.hasEntitlementForPaywall(trigger: heliumTrigger)
if hasPurchased {
    // access premium content
} else {
    // show paywall
    Helium.shared.presentUpsell(
        trigger: heliumTrigger,
        eventHandlers: PaywallEventHandlers()
            .onPurchaseSucceeded { _ in
                // access premium content
            }
        )
}

Fallbacks and Loading Budgets

If a paywall has not completed downloading when you attempt to present it, a loading state can show.

By default, Helium will show this loading state as needed (a shimmer view for up to 7 seconds). You can configure, turn off, or set trigger-specific loading budgets.

If the budget expires before the paywall is ready, a fallback paywall will show if available otherwise the loading state will hide and a PaywallOpenFailed event will be dispatched.

The iOS sdk has 3 options for fallbacks:

1. Fallback bundles
2. Default fallback view
3. Fallback view per trigger

All of this is configured via the HeliumFallbackConfig object passed in to initialize. Here are some examples:

// Just provide a fallback bundle
let fallbackBundleURL = Bundle.main.url(
    forResource: "fallback-bundle-xxxx-xx-xx",
    withExtension: "json"
)
let fallbackConfig = HeliumFallbackConfig.withFallbackBundle(fallbackBundleURL)

// Provide fallback view and configure loading budgets
let fallbackConfig = HeliumFallbackConfig(
    fallbackView: YourFallbackView(),
    // Global loading budget (in seconds)
    loadingBudget: 5.0,
    // Per-trigger loading budgets
    perTriggerLoadingConfig: [
        "onboarding": TriggerLoadingConfig(loadingBudget: 4),
        "quick_upgrade": TriggerLoadingConfig(useLoadingState: false),
    ]
)

Helium.shared.initialize(
    apiKey: "your-api-key",
    fallbackConfig: fallbackConfig
)

Advanced

Get Paywall Info By Trigger

Retrieve basic information about the paywall for a specific trigger with Helium.shared.getPaywallInfo(trigger: String) which returns:

public struct PaywallInfo {
    public let paywallTemplateName: String
    // shouldShow only false if the paywall should not be shown due to targeting or workflow configuration (Helium handles this for you in presentUpsell)
    public let shouldShow: Bool
}

This method can be used if you want to be certain that a paywall is ready for display before displaying.

Set a custom light mode/dark mode setting for paywalls

By default, paywalls follow your device’s appearance setting (light or dark mode), if you’ve configured it in the editor. You can override this behavior to force a specific mode (e.g., if your app has its own dark mode/light mode scheme):

// Force light mode for all paywalls
Helium.shared.setLightDarkModeOverride(.light)

// Force dark mode for all paywalls
Helium.shared.setLightDarkModeOverride(.dark)

// Reset to system default (respects device setting)
Helium.shared.setLightDarkModeOverride(.system)

The override persists until changed and applies to all paywalls. Call this during app initialization or before presenting paywalls.

Reset Helium

Reset Helium entirely so you can call initialize again. Only for advanced use cases.

Helium.resetHelium()