Mixing OpenGL and UIKit

Question

My current iPhone app uses UIKit. Now I want some small effects in the app, for example a text looking like it's blowing up. My idea is to use OpenGL for these effects. Is it a good idea to mix UIKit and OpenGL like this or should I avoid it? I have read some posts saying it's not a good idea and other saying it works just fine. What is your opinion and is it okey with Apple?

Answer 1

Depends on your target audience. If you care about older iPhone users, then mixing UIKit and OpenGL might not be good as older iPhones don't handle this very well. Newer ones handle it just fine.

I saw a session by Noel Llopis earlier this year where he demonstrated exactly how cool OpenGL and UIKit mixed can be. See/hear it here: http://www.slideshare.net/llopis/the-best-of-both-worlds-mixing-uikit-with-opengl (hm, I don't get any audio on that one, but maybe that's Chrome acting up)