Announcing the Swift Student Challenge 2026 Every year, Apple’s Swift Student Challenge celebrates the creativity and ingenuity of student developers from around the world, inviting them to use Swift and Xcode to solve real-world problems in their own communities and beyond. Learn more → https://developer.apple.com/swift-student-challenge/ Submissions for the 2026 challenge will open February 6 for three weeks, and students can prepare with new Develop in Swift tutorials and Meet with Apple code-along sessions. The Apple Developer team is here is to help you along the way - from idea to app, post your questions at any stage of your development here in this forum board or be sure to add the Swift Student Challenge tag to your technology-specific forum question. Your designs. Your apps. Your moment.

Can I use agentic coding entirely for my app development?

How can I remove device management please

Hello Apple Developer Community, I’m seeking guidance regarding a critical issue with our organization’s Apple Developer Program account. The Apple ID belonging to our Account Holder is currently inaccessible, which has effectively blocked us from managing the account. We urgently need either to restore access to that Apple ID or have the Account Holder role reassigned so we can continue maintaining and updating our apps. I’ve already contacted Apple Developer Support but have not yet received a actionable response, and the matter is time-sensitive because our clients depend on our ability to manage these applications. Relevant details: Our enrollment type supposed to be converted to Organization/Company. The Account Holder’s Apple ID is locked and cannot be used. I have Admin/Manager-level access via a separate Apple ID. Based on the official documentation, transferring the Account Holder role requires initiation by the current Account Holder, which isn’t possible under these circumstances. If anyone has dealt with a similar situation or knows the most effective way to escalate this with Apple, I would greatly appreciate your advice.

Hi, Is anybody else having this problem with iPads? Not sure its the cable or the latest update. The flickering makes it impossible to use.

I am trying to develop a Watch and iOS app as companion. It is beyond stupid how I can not keep the watch connected to Xcode to develop. I have tried all the so-called tricks. Why is this so fragile? The phone is USB connected to my Mac I have tried turning off the wifi on my Mac and have the phone and watch on the same network. Nada I have tried just having everything on the same network. The watch is connected maybe 20% of the time. I have tried creating a hotspot network with my phone. The watch is connected maybe 50% of the time. This is truly an awful experience. Am I doing something wrong? Any advice would be grateful.

Hello, I need help with iCloud Activation Lock on my device. Device: iPhone 16 Pro 256GB Serial Number: HCJD73C0MJ IMEI: 350766435041555 / 350766435124831 I cannot access the original Apple ID, so the device is stuck on Activation Lock. I am the legitimate owner and I have proof of purchase and ID for verification. Please advise on the proper steps to resolve this issue. Thank you.

Hello. I just got my developer account and my legal entity on my account has a mistake. My last name is spelled wrong. I have sent 3 emails to support about this and for the past week i have zero response to this issue. Can someone advise me on this? The ability to reach anybody from support is ridiculous for something that we can access only after payment especially. I even called apple business program with this and person on the phone said they will try to take to the supervisor but its not their department which i of course know but it was worth a shot to call. What more can i do? I didnt make a mistake when creating my account it was the system that didn’t recognize the letter. Such a stupid and frustrating issue and no response from apple, nada. how long am i suppose to wait?

Hi everyone, I have a question about showcasing my Swift Student Challenge submission. My app includes layouts optimized for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and I’d like to highlight that it works well across all three device sizes. Would it be acceptable to upload one combined screenshot that shows the same screen displayed on iPhone, iPad, and Mac side-by-side, to demonstrate the responsive design? Thanks in advance for any 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!

Hello, according to pkware, the latest zip standard is 6.3.10, what standard does ios 26 use to make zip files in the files app ?

У меня проблема с часами Apple Watch Series 10. После обновления до IOS 26 часы перестали грузить приложения. просто чёрный экран с кодом сайта сверху. уже перезагружала, сбрасывала. к интернету подключен

The latest zip specification, according to pkware is 6.3.10. In the latest ios 26, what is the latest zip specification ?

After recent upgrade to 17Pro, CarPlay no longer lists any audio streaming services-Sirrius XM, Pandora, etc. Did Apple recently drop them from CarPlay approval? They all showed prior to upgrade to 17 and iOS26. If not any recs to get them to show again? Thx Jim

When testing the same warning comes up (sign in failed network error) for the apple and demo sign in I created. The google one works fine. I am confused because when I test in Xcode on multiple devices it works perfect. The tester has got the same error repeatedly? Most recently as a fix have updated the production backend. Does anyone have any insight why the xcode testing works for me but not the tester (I understand they are on a live device- I have even connected my phone and tested on that).

Can I use external Swift Package Dependencies for the challenge, or will my app just not run as the testing environment is offline? I have a couple dependencies which are crucial to the running of my submission

Hello🙏, I’m a new indie developer and I’m trying to understand review timing behavior. Context: App type: Game built with Unreal Engine 5 Initial submission: Entered “In Review” within 48 hrs. Result: Rejected due to icon similarity (icon too similar to an existing App Store icon) What I did next: I updated the icon to ensure it is clearly distinguishable and resubmitted. After 30 (?)hrs, I removed/rejected that submission myself while it was still in "Waiting For Review" because I suspected the icon asset might still contain a transparency issue (this was my own precaution before Apple flagged anything). I then corrected the icon asset and submitted again (current submission: Build 7). Current status: Status: Waiting for Review Duration: 9 days Calendar days ( Mon, 09 Feb and today is 17th Feb 26) in this state for Build 7 Additional notes: The app runs without crashes on my iPhone and iPad. During the earlier review, Apple only raised the icon similarity issue (no functional issues were mentioned). I contacted App Store Connect support; they couldn’t provide a queue timeline, but nothing appears flagged on their side. Question: Is it normal for a resubmitted build (after correcting an icon-related rejection, and after a developer-cancelled submission) to remain in “Waiting for Review” for an extended period before switching to “In Review”? I’m trying to understand if this is typical queue variability or if removing a submission and resubmitting can affect how long it stays in “Waiting for Review.” Thank you for any insights.

Hello🙏, I’m a new indie developer and I’m trying to understand review timing behavior. Context: App type: Game built with Unreal Engine 5 Initial submission: Entered “In Review” within 41 (?) hrs. Result: Rejected due to icon similarity (icon too similar to an existing App Store icon) What I did next: I updated the icon to ensure it is clearly distinguishable and resubmitted. A day later that, I removed/rejected that submission myself while it was "Waiting for Review" because I suspected the icon asset might still contain a transparency issue (this was my own precaution before Apple flagged anything). I then corrected the icon asset and submitted again (current submission: Build 7). Current status: Status: Waiting for Review Duration: 8 Calendar days in this state (09 Feb 1208 hrs and today is 17th Feb 26, 1044 hrs) for Build 7 Additional notes: The app runs without crashes on my iPhone and iPad. During the earlier review, Apple only raised the icon similarity issue (no functional issues were mentioned). I contacted App Store Connect support; they couldn’t provide a queue timeline, but nothing appears flagged on their side. Question: Is it normal for a resubmitted build (after correcting an icon-related rejection, and after a developer-cancelled submission) to remain in “Waiting for Review” for an extended period before switching to “In Review”? I’m trying to understand if this is typical queue variability or if removing a submission and resubmitting can affect how long it stays in “Waiting for Review.” Thank you for any insights.

following the update of the system of my MBP 16" M1 to beta 26.4 none of my external drives work anymore

I was working on my challenge submission but when I created a iOS swift playground through Xcode, the playground generated get's defaulted to iOS 18, and I can't use latest features like the new glass design seemlessely without using #if available macro's everywhere so I manually changed iOS 18.0 to iOS 26.0 in the package.swift file. So far there have been no problems but as the package.swift file recommends not to change it manually so am I in any problem can someone give me advice of whether it's a legit option ??