The AV Foundation framework provides an Objective-C interface for managing and playing audio-visual media in iOS and OS X applications.

Core Foundation is a framework that provides fundamental software services useful to application services, application environments, and to applications themselves. Core Foundation also provides abstractions for common data types, facilitates internationalization with Unicode string storage, and offers a suite of utilities such as plug-in support, XML property lists, URL resource access, and preferences.

The Core Graphics framework is based on the Quartz advanced drawing engine. It provides low-level, lightweight 2D rendering with unmatched output fidelity. You use this framework to handle path-based drawing, transformations, color management, offscreen rendering, patterns, gradients and shadings, image data management, image creation, and image masking, as well as PDF document creation, display, and parsing.

Core Video provides a pipeline model for digital video. Partitioning the processing into discrete steps makes it simpler for developers to access and manipulate individual frames without having to worry about translating between data types (QuickTime, OpenGL, and so on) or display synchronization issues. Applications that do not need to manipulate individual video frames should never need to use Core Video directly.

The Foundation framework provides a base layer of functionality for apps and frameworks, including data storage and persistence, text processing, date and time calculations, sorting and filtering, and networking. The classes, protocols, and data types defined by Foundation are used throughout the macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS SDKs.

macOS Launch Services is an API that enables a running app to open other apps or their document files, similar to the Finder or the Dock.Launch Services eliminates apps having to query the Finder to open an app, document, or URL for them. The macOS Finder itself uses Launch Services to perform such tasks. Because the Finder performs no additional processing beyond calling Launch Services, any client using Launch Services for these purposes behaves identically to the Finder.

Use uniform type identifier (UTI) information to create and manipulate data that can be exchanged between your app and other apps and services using MobileCoreServices.

Secure the data your app manages. Protect information and control access to your app.

This collection of documents describes the programming interfaces of the System Configuration framework. The System Configuration framework provides functions that determine the reachability of target hosts in both a synchronous and an asynchronous manner. It also provides error detection facilities.

The UIKit framework (UIKit.framework) provides the crucial infrastructure needed to construct and manage iOS apps. This framework provides the window and view architecture needed to manage an app’s user interface, the event handling infrastructure needed to respond to user input, and the app model needed to drive the main run loop and interact with the system.