Hello, is it allowed to use Foundation Model in the app? Will it work when launched on the jury's device, or will it not work because the jury will not enable Apple Intelligence?

I'm preparing my submission for the Swift Student Challenge, and I have a couple of questions regarding the development environment. Is it allowed to use Xcode to program my scene, or do I have to use Swift Playgrounds? Can I use iPadOS 18 for development? I noticed that Swift Playgrounds currently only supports up to iPadOS 17.5, but I would like to use RealityView, which is only available starting from iPadOS 18. I appreciate any clarification on this. Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone, I'm currently working on a Swift Playgrounds project where I need to incorporate a Metal shader file. However, when I tried to include my shader file (PincushionShader.metal), I encountered the following error: Is it possible to use Metal shader files within Swift Playgrounds, it is really important for my swift student challenge scene? If not, are there any workarounds or recommended approaches for testing Metal shaders in a similar environment? Any guidance or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

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!

Hey, I am looking to participate in the upcoming SSC 2026. I am confused whether I am allowed to submit an idea which is for watchOS. I know the fact that submission would be xcode project and playground correct me if I am wrong but as far as I know, we can develop prototypes for watch on playground. If anyone of you knows about this, please let me know!

👋Hi, I want to ask what equipment the auditors in SSC will use to evaluate students' playground, whether it is iPad pro and mac with camera, or something else. And what system will they use, iPadOS/macOS 26 or something else? Looking forward to your reply. Thank you

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!

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.

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?

To whoever is bothered enough to help (trust me, I get the feeling if you're not), I want to enter the swift student challenge either this year or next year, depending on how things play out. Anyway, I just wanted to know two things: 1) how long on average it takes to build a project which won distinguished winner and 2) whether any distinguished winners could send me the playgrounds they built. To be clear, I do not want the code, I just want to know what you did, what you called the playground, a list of some features it had, how long it took, just to help me prepare, because YouTube doesn't have much of that. Thanks :)

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

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. I won't give too much away, but I believe it's a really helpful concept. It uses a mini on-device LLM (built with simple if this word typed then do this logic) 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. Hopefully I can get some feedback from the community, and/or ex-winners! Thanks all! And good luck! :) - Luke

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 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!

Hey there! I have a few questions about the Swift Student Challenge: Is it acceptable to include placeholders for features that aren’t supported by Swift Playgrounds, or features I planned but didn’t have time to fully implement (as long as the core experience works)? My app relies a lot on user inputs. Is it okay to include a button that loads sample data for reviewers, or is there a preferred approach for this? Besides the known constraints (< 25 MB, experienceable within ~3 minutes), are there any other limits, e.g. lines of code or overall app complexity Can AI-generated assets (e.g. images) be used if they’re clearly labeled as such inside the app? Do we need to explicitly document where AI was used (assets, code, etc.) as part of the submission? My app uses the Foundation Model: On what device is the submission evaluated and should the usage of the Foundation Model be explicitly marked for reviewers? Thanks a lot, and sorry for the many questions!

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?

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?

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...

I hope you’re having a fantastic New Year and that your apps are doing great! This is my first time entering SSC , and I’m excited to share that I’m developing a screen timer app. The idea is to encourage you to take breaks by suggesting a run or workout instead of spending too much time on your screens. I was wondering, have anyone else included short videos or animations in their entries before? Also, could my screen time timer be running in the background? I know there are some limitations with integrations like HealthKit and Screen Time, which is why I’m using a regular countdown timer on the App Store as a prototype. I’m just trying to clarify the rules below to make sure that it’s all good to go : “If your submission includes any open source software, music, photos, artwork, or any other content that you do not have ownership rights in, you agree to (a) comply with all applicable licensing terms and copyright obligations and (b) provide an explanation of why it was used.” And regarding any tracking stuff in the disqualification section, whereas nothing in the app should include: “You track and/or insert analytics code in your App Store meant to identify or track judges’ activity while they review your App Store.” But my app will only have a simple timer in it.