Overview
- Apple announced the Swift Student Challenge on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, and set the submission window for February 8–28, 2027.
- For the first time entries may target any Apple platform — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, visionOS, tvOS, or watchOS — instead of being limited to playgrounds for iPhone and iPad.
- Apple raised the ZIP upload limit to 500 MB and requires projects to run offline, be explorable within three minutes, and be built with Xcode 27 or Swift Playgrounds 4.7 or later.
- Students must submit individual work (credited open-source or public-domain assets allowed), cannot be full-time professional developers, and need only a free Apple developer registration to enter.
- Winners receive a one‑year Apple Developer Program membership and a special gift, a subset of Distinguished Winners will be invited to Apple Park for WWDC, and Apple will host three free online prep sessions in December, January, and February to help students get ready.