Apple’s next Swift Student Challenge will open for submissions from February 6 to 28, 2026, giving students a chance to show off their coding skills and creativity through interactive app playgrounds.
The annual competition invites students from around the world to design apps that tackle meaningful issues or highlight creative ideas using Apple’s Swift programming language. Entries are judged on innovation, creativity, social impact, and inclusivity.
A select group of participants will be named Distinguished Winners, earning a trip to Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino for three days of activities during WWDC 2026. That’s when Apple will likely reveal iOS 27 and more.
Students can take part in Apple’s free online prep sessions ahead of the contest, including a code-along workshop on November 14, 2025, a challenge prep event on January 15, 2026, and an Xcode 26 session on February 5, 2026.
Apple highlighted three past Swift Student Challenge winners—Brayden Gogis, Adrit Rao, and Sofia Sandoval—are proving how coding can blend creativity with human connection. Gogis, a game enthusiast from Indiana, won the 2019 challenge with Solisquare, a modern spin on classic card games, and later launched Joybox, a social app for sharing memories and music.
California’s Adrit Rao, a three-time winner now studying premed at UC Berkeley, built Signer, which turns sign language gestures into speech using Apple’s Core ML, and EyeSee, an app that simulates eye conditions to build empathy.
Mexico-based developer Sofia Sandoval created Cariño, a digital card-making app inspired by the warmth of handmade notes, now available on the App Store and adapted for Apple Vision Pro. Each winner says the competition helped spark their curiosity and push their creativity further, showing how Swift can power apps with both technical depth and personal meaning.
Eligible students can win up to three times over their academic career, says Apple.
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