How do I declare class-level properties in Objective-C?

properties have a specific meaning in Objective-C, but I think you mean something that's equivalent to a static variable? E.g. only one instance for all types of Foo?

To declare class functions in Objective-C you use the + prefix instead of - so your implementation would look something like:

// Foo.h
@interface Foo {
}

+ (NSDictionary *)dictionary;

// Foo.m
+ (NSDictionary *)dictionary {
  static NSDictionary *fooDict = nil;
  if (fooDict == nil) {
    // create dict
  }
  return fooDict;
}

If you're looking for the class-level equivalent of @property, then the answer is "there's no such thing". But remember, @property is only syntactic sugar, anyway; it just creates appropriately-named object methods.

You want to create class methods that access static variables which, as others have said, have only a slightly different syntax.

Properties have values only in objects, not classes.

If you need to store something for all objects of a class, you have to use a global variable. You can hide it by declaring it static in the implementation file.

You may also consider using specific relations between your objects: you attribute a role of master to a specific object of your class and link others objects to this master. The master will hold the dictionary as a simple property. I think of a tree like the one used for the view hierarchy in Cocoa applications.

Another option is to create an object of a dedicated class that is composed of both your 'class' dictionary and a set of all the objects related to this dictionary. This is something like NSAutoreleasePool in Cocoa.

Starting from Xcode 8, you can use the class property attribute as answered by Berbie.

However, in the implementation, you need to define both class getter and setter for the class property using a static variable in lieu of an iVar.

Sample.h

@interface Sample: NSObject
@property (class, retain) Sample *sharedSample;
@end

Sample.m

@implementation Sample
static Sample *_sharedSample;
+ ( Sample *)sharedSample {
   if (_sharedSample==nil) {
      [Sample setSharedSample:_sharedSample];
   }
   return _sharedSample;
}

+ (void)setSharedSample:(Sample *)sample {
   _sharedSample = [[Sample alloc]init];
}
@end