A wrapper around kqueue to monitor changes to files. Works on iOS.

gistfile1.m

#import "FileChangeObserver.h"

#undef Assert
#define Assert(COND) { if (!(COND)) { raise( SIGINT ) ; } }

@interface FileChangeObserver ()
@property ( nonatomic, readonly )	int kqueue ;
@property ( nonatomic )				enum FileChangeNotificationType typeMask ;
@end

@implementation FileChangeObserver
@synthesize kqueue = _kqueue ;

+(instancetype)observerForURL:(NSURL*)url types:(enum FileChangeNotificationType)types delegate:(id<FileChangeObserverDelegate>)delegate
{
	if ( !url ) { return nil ; }
	
	FileChangeObserver * result = [ [ [ self class ] alloc ] init ] ;
	result.url = url ;
	result.delegate = delegate ;
	result.typeMask = types ;
	
	[ result startObserving ] ;
	return result ;
}

-(void)dealloc
{
	printf("%s\n", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__);
	[ self stopObserving ] ;
}


//
// kqueue_main
//

static void (^kqueue_main)(FileChangeObserver *) = ^(__unsafe_unretained FileChangeObserver * self) {
	int fd = open( [ [ self.url path ] fileSystemRepresentation ], O_EVTONLY ) ;
	Assert( fd >= 0 );
	
	int q = self.kqueue ;
	
	{
		struct kevent event = {
			.ident  = fd,
			.filter = EVFILT_VNODE,
			.flags  = EV_ADD | EV_CLEAR,
			.fflags = self.typeMask,
		} ;
		
		int error = kevent( q, &event, 1, NULL, 0, NULL);
		Assert(error == 0);
	}
	
	struct kevent event = {0} ;
	for(;;)
	{
		int nEvents = kevent( q, NULL, 0, &event, 1, NULL ) ;
		if ( nEvents != 1 ) { break ; }
		
		[[ NSThread mainThread ] perform:^{
			[ self.delegate fileChanged:self typeMask:(enum FileChangeNotificationType)event.fflags ] ;
		}];
	}
} ;


-(void)stopObserving
{
	@synchronized( self )
	{
		close( self.kqueue ) ;
	}
}

-(void)invalidate
{
	[ self stopObserving ] ;
}

-(void)startObserving
{
	@synchronized( self )
	{
		printf("%s\n", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__);
		static dispatch_queue_t __q ;
		{
			static dispatch_once_t onceToken;
			dispatch_once(&onceToken, ^{
				__q = dispatch_queue_create( "file observer queue", DISPATCH_QUEUE_CONCURRENT ) ;
			});
		}
		
		// this is __unsafe_unretained to avoid retaining 'self'.
		// using __weak isn't a strong enough to prevent ARC from retaining 'self'.
		// This allows the observer to be torn down simply be releasing it,
		// instead of requiring the client to invoke -invalidate.
		__unsafe_unretained id unsafe_self = self ;
		dispatch_async( __q, ^{
			kqueue_main( unsafe_self ) ;
		}) ;
	}
}

-(int)kqueue
{
	if ( !_kqueue ) { _kqueue = kqueue() ; }
	return _kqueue ;
}

@end

gistfile2.m

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

enum FileChangeNotificationType
{
  kFileChangeType_Delete = NOTE_DELETE
	, kFileChangeType_Write = NOTE_WRITE
	
	, kFileChangeType_DirectoryContentsChanged = kFileChangeType_Write
//#define	NOTE_WRITE	0x00000002		/* data contents changed */
//#define	NOTE_EXTEND	0x00000004		/* size increased */
//#define	NOTE_ATTRIB	0x00000008		/* attributes changed */
//#define	NOTE_LINK	0x00000010		/* link count changed */
//#define	NOTE_RENAME	0x00000020		/* vnode was renamed */
//#define	NOTE_REVOKE	0x00000040		/* vnode access was revoked */
//#define NOTE_NONE	0x00000080		/* No specific vnode event: to test for EVFILT_READ activation*/

} ;

@class FileChangeObserver ;

@protocol FileChangeObserverDelegate<NSObject>
@required
-(void)fileChanged:(FileChangeObserver*)observer typeMask:(enum FileChangeNotificationType)type ;
@end

@interface FileChangeObserver : NSObject

@property ( nonatomic, copy ) NSURL * url ;
@property ( nonatomic, weak ) id<FileChangeObserverDelegate> delegate ;

+(instancetype)observerForURL:(NSURL*)url types:(enum FileChangeNotificationType)types delegate:(id<FileChangeObserverDelegate>)delegate ;
-(void)invalidate ;
@end

gistfile3.m

// category for NSString to print kqueue event flags

@implementation NSString (FileChangeObserver)

+(NSString*)stringWithKEventFFlags:(int)flags
{
  NSMutableArray * array = [ NSMutableArray array ] ;
	struct
	{
		__unsafe_unretained NSString * name;
	} bitNames[] = {
		{ @"NOTE_DELETE" }
		, { @"NOTE_WRITE" }
		, { @"NOTE_EXTEND" }
		, { @"NOTE_ATTRIB" }
		, { @"NOTE_LINK" }
		, { @"NOTE_RENAME" }
		, { @"NOTE_REVOKE" }
		, { @"NOTE_NONE" }
	} ;
	
	for( int index = 0, count = COUNTOF( bitNames ); index < count; ++index )
	{
		if ( ( flags & ( 1 << index )) != 0 )
		{
			[ array addObject:bitNames[ index ].name ] ;
		}
	}
	
	NSString * result = [ array componentsJoinedByString:@" " ] ;
	return result ;
}

@end