XOR encryption and decryption with Swift

In most iOS apps we might have API key constants. Instead of keeping them as plain text, we can use XOR encrypted value and decrypt on app launch.

/// XOR encrypt plain text with a key.
/// - Parameters:
///     - plainText: A plain text for encryption.
///     - withKey: Encryption key.
/// - Returns: An array containing encrypted bytes
func xorEncrypt(_ plainText: String, withKey: String) -> [UInt8] {
    var encrypted: [UInt8] = []
    if plainText.isEmpty {
        return []
    }
    let text: [UInt8] = Array(plainText.utf8)
    let key: [UInt8] = Array(withKey.utf8)
    let len = key.count
    text.enumerated().forEach { idx, elem in
        encrypted.append(elem ^ key[idx % len])
    }
    return encrypted
}

/// XOR decrypt cipher text with a key.
/// - Parameters:
///     - cipherText: A cipher text for decryption.
///     - withKey: Decryption key.
/// - Returns: The decrypted string.
func xorDecrypt(_ cipherText: [UInt8], withKey: String) -> String {
    var decrypted: [UInt8] = []
    if cipherText.count == 0 {
        return ""
    }
    let key: [UInt8] = Array(withKey.utf8)
    let len = key.count
    cipherText.enumerated().forEach { idx, elem in
        decrypted.append(elem ^ key[idx % len])
    }
    return String(bytes: decrypted, encoding: .utf8)!
}

Using the above xorEncrypt function will give an array of numbers which we can add as a constant. On app launch, use the xorDecrypt function with the array value and the same key to get the plain text back.

Change the default prompt in Terminal

The latest version of macOS uses zsh as the shell. To change the prompt in the Terminal we can do the following.

1. Install oh-my-zsh which provides many enhancements to the zsh.
2. Install spaceship theme.

npm install -g spaceship-prompt

3. Set the theme to spaceship and the prompt symbol to λ from the default % by add the below in the .zshrc file

ZSH_THEME="spaceship"
SPACESHIP_CHAR_SYMBOL='λ '
# Set Spaceship ZSH as a prompt
autoload -U promptinit; promptinit
prompt spaceship

4. Source the configuration source ~/.zshrc or relaunch the terminal. We will have our updated prompt in the Terminal.