Hi, I have a question related to eligibility. If we consider the eligibility rules and the submission window doesn't change for next year and if the challenge is still happening, would I be eligible in the following scenario - I graduated from an American University for my undergraduate in December 2025, and the submission is in February 2026, according to "Be enrolled in, or have graduated within the last 90 days from, an accredited academic institution or official homeschool equivalent, or an Apple Developer Academy", am I eligible. I am not sure if it applies to university or just high school. If you don't want to answer the hypothetical answer for next year. Take this scanerio, would I have been eligible for this year's challenge if I had graduated from university in December 2024. Thank you

Hello, I was wondering what simulator device is the Xcode Playground tested on? Is it better to support all screen sizes (e.g. IPads, IPhones..etc) and different orientations? Thanks!

Hello everyone, I am currently developing an app for my Swift Student Challenge submission that focuses on human motion analysis using the Vision framework. To effectively demonstrate the app's technical capabilities during the review process, I need to include a sample video showing a person performing specific movements. However, I want to ensure that my submission strictly adheres to all intellectual property guidelines. Instead of using existing copyrighted videos or public social media clips, I am considering using Generative AI to create an original, royalty-free sample video. This video would feature a character performing movements designed specifically to test my app's pose estimation and feedback logic. I have a few questions regarding this approach: Is it acceptable to use AI-generated sample assets (like video clips) to demonstrate technical features when it's difficult to record high-quality personal footage due to environmental constraints? If I clearly disclose the tools used and the reason for using AI-generated content in my written response, would this be considered a professional approach to asset management? Are there any specific guidelines I should follow to ensure that the use of AI-generated samples doesn't overshadow the original coding and design work of the project? My goal is to showcase a polished and technically sound implementation using Xcode 26 while respecting all copyright requirements. Thank you for your time and advice!

Hi everyone, I have two questions that I hope someone from the community (or Apple team) could help clarify: Use of real Apple Executives in a creative scene In a short introductory scene of my app playground, I included the names and emojis representing Apple executives in a respectful and creative way. There are: No official logos No copyrighted assets No branding elements It is purely fictional and made for storytelling purposes. Would this be acceptable under the submission guidelines, or should all characters be entirely unrelated to real individuals? Submission file concern After submitting my application, I realized I may have accidentally uploaded the wrong ZIP file (I mean I'm not sure tbh). Is there any way to review the exact file that was submitted? Would it be possible to withdraw and resubmit again? If so, would that count as multiple submissions (since only one submission is allowed)? I’d really appreciate any clarification from those who may have experienced something similar or from the Apple team. Many thanks!

Hi, I submitted my Swift Student Challenge 2026 app and I'm worried about a build error I got when testing. I have both PlateClassifier_2.mlmodel and PlateClassifier_2.mlmodelc in my Sources folder. Only the .mlmodelc is listed in my Package.swift resources. When building I got: PlateClassifier_2.mlmodel: No predominant language detected. Set COREML_CODEGEN_LANGUAGE to preferred language. Build failed — 1 error Will judges hit this same error? Does having an unlisted .mlmodel alongside the .mlmodelc cause a hard build failure on other machines too, or is this specific to my setup (Xcode 26.2 beta, building to physical device)? Will this get me instantly disqualified? Any help appreciated.

With AI getting so powerful, do you think Swift Student Challenge will change a lot next year? Will Apple update the rules or change what they're judging? Would love to hear thoughts from anyone who's followed SSC for a while.

Do you have some advice for me to learn Swift?SwiftUI first or Swift?

Please help me! I don't know how to write this.I tried many times, and I think it's right, but it always wrong.PLEASE!!

i am trying to build some projects please check out my project

what is that makes the TLS be the TLS/SErver ?

Hi there! I was planning on using a data set of summer college programs for my swift app submission and I'm currently working to get the best data possible, but its proving rather difficult. I was wondering if its acceptable to use mock data or just a smaller set of around 150 entries if i cant get a large enough quality data set in time. Also, i figure it is, but im not sure if its acceptable to use a python web scraper even though its a swift challenge. Thanks!

My project requires the on-device apple intelligence models (FoundationModels) which are only available for iPad on iPad Pro M1 and later, iPad Air M1 and later, iPad mini A17 Pro. If they don't judge on one of these devices, my project might not work properly as FoundationModels is a pretty big part of my project. For this reason I really need to know what devices the Swift Student Challenge will be judged on.

Hi everyone, I am currently developing an app for my Swift Student Challenge submission. One of the key features of my app is visualizing user progress over time using SwiftData and Swift Charts. I have a concern regarding the first-time experience for the reviewer. Since the app relies on accumulated data to display meaningful trends, the dashboard/charts will appear empty on the very first launch, which might not fully showcase the visualization logic I’ve implemented. To ensure the reviewer can immediately grasp the app's potential within their limited review window, I am considering generating pre-populated sample data (mock data) only on the initial launch. Does Apple generally recommend including sample data in a challenge submission to better demonstrate UI/UX and data visualization capabilities? Or is it strictly preferred to present a "fresh" empty state, as a real first-time user would see it? I want to make sure I am following the best practices for the challenge while highlighting my technical implementation of the SwiftData and Charts frameworks. Thank you in advance for your advice!

Hello Apple Developer community! While reading the SSC Full Terms and Conditions, I noticed that "Your app playground requires sign in" is a term for disqualification. If our app idea requires sign in for personalization and security, can we submit a prototype without the sign in feature and add it later before publishing the app? Or should we steer clear of app ideas that require sign in altogether?

Hi everyone, I am working on my submission for the Swift Student Challenge 2026 using a Swift App Playground (.swiftpm). The default project was set to iOS 16, but I manually edited the Package.swift file to change the minimum version to iOS 18.0 so I can use the latest APIs. I also modified the supportedInterfaceOrientations to lock the app to Portrait mode only. I know the file contains a warning saying "Do not edit it by hand," so I am worried about two things: Disqualification: Will manually changing the iOS version from the default 16.0 to 18.0 cause any issues with the submission validator or the judging environment? Orientation: Is it acceptable to strictly force .portrait mode for the challenge, or are we required to support landscape/responsive layouts for the judges' iPads? I want to make sure these manual changes won't technically invalidate my playground. Thanks for your help!

Hello all! My name is Luke, and I'm a 14 year old with a idea for SSC. This is my first SSC submission ever. I would like some feedback concerning a question. My app is an AI powered academic planner that helps you and your life. It uses a mini on-device LLM to help organize assignments. This is a real business I am building, and I put inside of my app simulated features such as the app saying "scanning your Google Classroom..", would this go against any terms and make the app less likely to win? I also have my app fully polished, and feels like an actual app and finished product, with demo assignments pre-loaded, and most stuff is placeholders. Should the app be more like a guided simulator? Such as "click here to see how this will be simulated in a final release" or again should it be polished? I just want some feedback, since I only have 3 minutes, and the app needs to be offline, I just want to improvise. You can check out the basis of my app at my website. https://whiteb0x.me Hopefully I can get some feedback from the community, and/or ex winners! Thanks all! - Luke

Hi, I am planning to apply for the Apple Swift Student Challenge. Is it acceptable to use Vietnamese names (proper nouns) within the app, provided all other text, code, and UI elements are in English? Will this still be considered valid?

Hey guys! I am planning on join this year's SSC. I only have a iPad to do so. With that Apple says we can use Swift Playground. I am 14. And have the experience to code Swift since some years ago. I cant wait to... Make stuff!! ^•^. I don't know what else to say...

The app idea I had in mind for my swift student chalange submission relies on data on the users phone(e.g. photos, contacts or files) How would I simulate that data in the swiftpm package? is it enough to just have a class with dummydata?

Hello, I want to use the Speech framework in my app. However, I found that if I want it to work offline, it must be downloaded separately on the device. Do I understand correctly that it is not allowed to use it in a Swift Student Challenge submission if English (as the speech language) must be downloaded by the tester on their device using the internet beforehand?