Apple to kick off Swift Student Challenge in February 2026

Students can also sign up to code along with special Meet with Apple sessions on getting started with app development. They can experiment with coding intelligence in Xcode, and improve their chance to get selected by Swift Student Challenge.

Cupertino-based technology major Apple has announced to kick off annual Swift Student Challenge contest early next year.

Apple will open the application window for young student developers to submit the ideas to contest for the Swift Student Challenge from February 6 onwards for three weeks.

Interested children can prepare for the challenge with new Develop in Swift tutorials on the official Apple website (here). It offers expansive details on topics such as Swift UI, spatial computing, app design, and machine learning models.

Also, students can sign up to code along with special Meet with Apple sessions on getting started with app development. They can experiment with coding intelligence in Xcode, and improve their chance to get selected by Swift Student Challenge.

Ahead of last year’s Swift Student Challenge submission deadline, Sofia Sandoval (one of the students win 2025 contest) was feeling burnt out and a bit homesick. And, then out of the blue, an idea came to her-- Cariño, her winning app. It can offer warmth and thoughtfulness of a physical handmade card in a digital form. She designed the app’s card templates in Procreate on iPad using Apple Pencil.

“I wanted to make the user experience feel like writing on a paper card. Using Swift and Swift UI, I created boundaries for the card and made it so you can flip it over, just like the real thing, and added functions for erasing and exporting the final designs,” said Sandoval.

Apple Swift Student Challenge 2025 winner Sofia Sandoval.

Now, she’s currently experimenting with adding even more dimension to the app through the power of spatial computing.

Apple will be picking 100 plus Swift Student Challenge winners. Among them, 50 Distinguished Winners will receive additional recognition and be invited to Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino next summer.

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