What files/folders should I ignore in a git repository of an iOS app?

Question

I have found questions about what to ignore in an Android app and questions regarding ignoring of cocoapods. However, I am asking about an iOS project generally.

I have an iOS app that displays ads provided by AdMob and uses Firebase to see the analytics of my app. And it uses a few cocoapods.

From one of my previous questions, I learnt that my ad unit id is a private thing. Therefore, I put my ad unit id in a separate file and ignored it:

// Secret Stuff.swift
let adUnitId = "dianfkebsfiubugb"

I think this way people will never know my ad unit ID.

But what about other stuff? Do the files generated by cocoapods contain some of my private information? Does info.plist file contain my private stuff as well? Also, when I was putting Firebase into my app, I downloaded a GoogleService-Info.plist. Should I ignore it as well? What things should I ignore?

Private information includes

• My email
• Home address
• My phone number
• Ad Unit ID
• My passwords
• Other things that, when disclosed, will cause adverse effect on my life, such as a loss of money/income or being in danger. For example, if I disclose my Ad Unit ID, people will spam ads and my account will be banned.

Private Information does not include :

• My real name
• My age

Answer 1

I'd suggest you take a look at what GitHub uses for when people create repos. You can find all their examples here . These ones will be of particular interest to you:

• Xcode template
• Objective-C template
• Swift template

Adding the templates below incase the links break in the future.

For Xcode Projects in General:

# Xcode
#
# gitignore contributors: remember to update Global/Xcode.gitignore, Objective-C.gitignore & Swift.gitignore

## Build generated
build/
DerivedData/

## Various settings
*.pbxuser
!default.pbxuser
*.mode1v3
!default.mode1v3
*.mode2v3
!default.mode2v3
*.perspectivev3
!default.perspectivev3
xcuserdata/

## Other
*.moved-aside
*.xccheckout
*.xcscmblueprint

For Objective-C Projects:

# Xcode
#
# gitignore contributors: remember to update Global/Xcode.gitignore, Objective-C.gitignore & Swift.gitignore

## Build generated
build/
DerivedData/

## Various settings
*.pbxuser
!default.pbxuser
*.mode1v3
!default.mode1v3
*.mode2v3
!default.mode2v3
*.perspectivev3
!default.perspectivev3
xcuserdata/

## Other
*.moved-aside
*.xcuserstate

## Obj-C/Swift specific
*.hmap
*.ipa
*.dSYM.zip
*.dSYM

# CocoaPods
#
# We recommend against adding the Pods directory to your .gitignore. However
# you should judge for yourself, the pros and cons are mentioned at:
# https://guides.cocoapods.org/using/using-cocoapods.html#should-i-check-the-pods-directory-into-source-control
#
# Pods/

# Carthage
#
# Add this line if you want to avoid checking in source code from Carthage dependencies.
# Carthage/Checkouts

Carthage/Build

# fastlane
#
# It is recommended to not store the screenshots in the git repo. Instead, use fastlane to re-generate the 
# screenshots whenever they are needed.
# For more information about the recommended setup visit:
# https://github.com/fastlane/fastlane/blob/master/fastlane/docs/Gitignore.md

fastlane/report.xml
fastlane/screenshots

#Code Injection
#
# After new code Injection tools there's a generated folder /iOSInjectionProject
# https://github.com/johnno1962/injectionforxcode

iOSInjectionProject/

For Swift Projects:

# Xcode
#
# gitignore contributors: remember to update Global/Xcode.gitignore, Objective-C.gitignore & Swift.gitignore

## Build generated
build/
DerivedData/

## Various settings
*.pbxuser
!default.pbxuser
*.mode1v3
!default.mode1v3
*.mode2v3
!default.mode2v3
*.perspectivev3
!default.perspectivev3
xcuserdata/

## Other
*.moved-aside
*.xcuserstate

## Obj-C/Swift specific
*.hmap
*.ipa
*.dSYM.zip
*.dSYM

## Playgrounds
timeline.xctimeline
playground.xcworkspace

# Swift Package Manager
#
# Add this line if you want to avoid checking in source code from Swift Package Manager dependencies.
# Packages/
.build/

# CocoaPods
#
# We recommend against adding the Pods directory to your .gitignore. However
# you should judge for yourself, the pros and cons are mentioned at:
# https://guides.cocoapods.org/using/using-cocoapods.html#should-i-check-the-pods-directory-into-source-control
#
# Pods/

# Carthage
#
# Add this line if you want to avoid checking in source code from Carthage dependencies.
# Carthage/Checkouts

Carthage/Build

# fastlane
#
# It is recommended to not store the screenshots in the git repo. Instead, use fastlane to re-generate the
# screenshots whenever they are needed.
# For more information about the recommended setup visit:
# https://github.com/fastlane/fastlane/blob/master/fastlane/docs/Gitignore.md

fastlane/report.xml
fastlane/Preview.html
fastlane/screenshots
fastlane/test_output