Apple's Swift Student Challenge to open in Feb 2024, new initiatives announced

50 Distinguished Winners will get invites to Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, next summer. There, they’ll have the opportunity to connect with each other and the Apple team.

Apple has announced that the annual Swift Student Challenge will take off in February 2024.

Since the advent of smartphones in the late 2010s, there has been an increased interest among youth to develop applications. Several people at a very young age have gone on to build big technology companies around the world.

In a recent study, 92 per cent of students believe it is important to learn coding. And, 96 per cent of the respondents said app development is an important skill for future job aspects.

"At Apple, we believe that everyone can learn to code and build apps, and we’re proud to support and recognise aspiring student developers with the Swift Student Challenge each year,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations and Education & Enterprise Marketing. “We know that students are eager to learn coding skills to solve challenges they care about — whether it’s building an app to help peers identify mental health resources or supporting sustainability efforts on campus — and want to know how to get started. Apple is releasing new coding resources for students and educators, working with our community partners on dedicated Swift programming, and sharing advance notice of the Swift Student Challenge timeline for 2024. We can’t wait to see the app playgrounds students submit next year."

This year, Apple is offering tools to registered educators to help youth in their endevour of developing apps. So, it will be starting four new Everyone Can Code Projects that provide step-by-step resources to guide students in developing essential skills while creating apps that solve problems they care about.

With the 'Design a Simple App' project, students can conceptualize the app idea and turn it into real. They first will have to create an app prototype in Keynote to learn the fundamentals of app design, practice rapid prototyping, and collect feedback.

Next, with the 'Build with Stacks and Shapes' project, students learn the basics of building an app in Swift Playgrounds and code a self-

portrait or a work of art using SwiftUI to learn the fundamentals of user interface design.

Everyone Can Code Projects with Swift Playgrounds can be integrated into any subject area, and make it easier than ever to teach and learn coding, app design, and app development.

It will be followed by the 'Build Custom Shapes' project, which will allow students to go deeper to learn about app interface, the next level by designing a shape, learning how to plot the coordinates, and writing code for their custom shape using SwiftUI and the About Me sample app within Swift Playgrounds.

And, with 'Design an App Icon', students can learn and apply app design principles to create a unique and memorable app icon that communicates an idea. Here, it helps users practice rapid prototyping and collect feedback. And, upload the icon to Swift Playgrounds to become part of an app.

This year, Apple has included a new category where 50 Distinguished Winners (among 350 overall) will be named for standout submissions.

Those lucky winners will get an exclusive entry pass to Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, next summer. There, they’ll have the opportunity to connect with each other and the Apple team.

Also, all winners will receive a one-year membership in the Apple Developer Program, which enables them to submit apps to the App Store and receive support from Apple.