CUPERTINO, Oct 10 — It’s that time again for student coders to start preparing for Apple’s annual Swift Student Challenge.
Apple just confirmed that it will return next year in February.
What’s the big deal?
Every year, Apple hosts a Swift coding challenge open to students who meet the requirements from all over the world.
It started in 2020 and allowed students to learn Swift the best way – by creating projects via Apple’s Swift Playgrounds.
What happens?
For three weeks in February, participants can send in their submissions to see if they will be one of the 350 selected Swift Student Challenge winners.
From those 350, 50 will be further selected as Distinguished Winners who will get an invite to Apple’s Cupertino headquarters.
Since it’s still October, there’s plenty of time to check out Apple’s free Swift Coding Club resources and starter kit as well as new Develop in Swift tutorials.
What are the requirements?
You’ll need to be 13 years old or older in the US or the equivalent in your country (it is 16 in the EU)Be registered for free as an Apple developer or be a member of the Apple Developer Program Meet one of the following requirements:
- Be enrolled in an Apple Developer Academy or
- Be enrolled in a STEM organisation’s educational curriculum or
- Be enrolled in an accredited academic institution or official homeschool equivalent or
- Have graduated from high school or equivalent within the past 6 months and be awaiting acceptance or have received acceptance to an accredited academic institution.
There is a limit of four times that you can received a Swift Student Challenge award and only once for the Distinguished Winner award.
How do you get started?
Bookmark this page so you’ll know when the submissions officially open
Any tips? Glad you asked. Some previous winners of the challenge shared their own tips on building a successful Swift Challenge submission.
Kai Quan Tay, 16 years old (Singapore)
About his 2024 winning submission: Designed to help visually-impaired people ‘see-more’, Kai's app playground Seymour restores the sense of depth that is lost for people without vision through its built-in “depth map” and a camera feed.
Kai’s tips for aspiring SSC participants
1. Focus on your app’s goals, not its features. It can be extremely tempting to start with, "I want to use XYZ in my app” and paying more attention to your app features, especially with the hype around AI. However, coming up with your implementation details before figuring out what your app’s objectives are can make its story and purpose shallow. Instead, choose an idea that resonates with you and let it lead naturally to what your app uses.
2. Work smart. Swift Student Challenge submissions are judged in under 3 minutes, and you should use that to your advantage. Especially if you're short on time, prioritise parts that judges will interact with first. Select your app's idea wisely - is it something that you could fully demonstrate within a single elevator ride?
3. Be in the mindset to experiment. If you only have a rough idea for your app, start with the mindset that you aren't coding your Swift Student Challenge submission. By approaching ideas in a more casual "I want to find out what I can do" attitude, you allow yourself to experiment with your ideas - without the burden of making them look good. After you know what you want to do, start fresh with the knowledge you've gained through experimenting.
Xuan Han Tan, 17 years old (Singapore)
About his 2024 winning submission: Xuan Han planned, coded and tested his winning app playground Lightspeed in ten days with the humble goal of helping users maximise their tasks efficiently through precise time-tracking and a clean, easy-to-use interface.
Xuan Han's tips for aspiring SSC participants
1. Start early. By starting early, you'll have more time to design, plan, code, test and refine your app, so your app will be more complete. Often, towards the end of development we realise some fundamental issues in the features of our app, and it's important to leave enough time to resolve these issues and show your app's full potential.
2. Start from designing the UX. Approach the problem from the end user's perspective and identify what the user needs, and less of a developer's perspective on what can be programmed. Following that, create mockups using tools such as Sketch or Figma, and show these mockups to the target audience if possible to gather feedback. This lowers the risk of an incorrect product-market fit and makes the app more useful.
3. Plan before coding. After the features and UI have been defined, take some time to plan out the necessary models (main feature logic classes), view models (classes to allow the pages to interact with the model), views (pages) and functions. With a clear plan, you'll reduce the chance of conflicts between different parts of the app along the way and be able to set more accurate targets to meet, keeping the development on track.
Apiphoom Chuenchompoo (Api), 20 years old (Thailand)
About his 2024 winning submission: Inspired by his bedridden grandfather due to stroke, Api designed FitJourney for anyone looking to enhance their fitness journey, whether it's staying fit or helping those in rehabilitation regain strength, encourage movement and help prevent pressure sores.
Api's tips for aspiring SSC participants
1. Design for Simplicity. Simplicity can sometimes be misunderstood. A simple app doesn’t mean it lacks features, but rather that each feature is thoughtfully placed and easy to use. When designing, prioritize clarity and ease of understanding. Focus on a clean layout and straightforward execution. Keep in mind that a user-friendly experience often has a greater impact than an app overloaded with features.
2. Think of Everyone. Your app doesn’t need to solve every problem in the world, but it should be designed so that everyone can use and enjoy it, including people with disabilities or the elderly. This involves making thoughtful design decisions, such as providing accessibility features like high contrast modes for users with visual impairments. Consider how you can make your app inclusive and enjoyable for all age groups and abilities. The goal is to create an experience where no one feels left out, and everyone can benefit from using the app.
Patcharada Tavaditap (Nina), 17 years old (Thailand)
About her 2024 winning submission: Created solely using an iPad from coding, graphics and songwriting, Nina created Homo-Sapiens, an app aims to teach human evolution to kids aged 8-12 and contains five different levels of learning.
Nina's tips for aspiring SSC participants
1. Understanding the target audience is crucial in developing an application that truly meets user needs. This allows us to design functions and interfaces that are user-friendly and effectively respond to the users’ requirements.
2. Spend more time on planning and less on developing the app. Good planning and app design can significantly reduce errors during development, as well as help determine how much time will be needed for the development process.
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