Is it possible to implement a smooth transition when the app loads, from the launch image to the first view?
The default behavior is on/off, with an immediate change
There's no framework support, but you can get that result if you do it yourself, manually. Depending on what your launch image is, and what your UI looks like, you can do it in different ways, but basically: make your first view controller load and display your default.png image in an image view when it loads up. Then animate a fade out of that image to reveal your actual UI.