Building Apps for Education
Learn how to use the latest features on Apple platforms to build and optimize your apps for the classroom.
Development
Reporting Student Progress with ClassKit
With the new ClassKit framework, you can help teachers easily discover specific learning activities in your app, take students directly to the right activity with a single tap, and securely and privately share progress data to help teachers personalize instruction.
Customizing Experiences for Shared iPads
Your app can deliver personalized experiences for each student, even when they share iPads in class. Optimize your app for the Shared iPad feature to save login credentials and states to the keychain, so students can automatically sign in to your app and pick up right where they left off. Find out how to optimize your app and how to let schools know about it.
Creating Coding Experiences with Swift Playgrounds
Education and robotics developers interested in offering text-based coding experiences can create Swift Playground Books for iPad. The Swift Playgrounds app was launched with iOS 10 and is recommended for students 12 years of age or older.
Securing iPads Used for Assessments
Assessment developers can easily lock down an iPad using the Automatic Assessment Configuration entitlement, with no device management required. Find out how to apply for and implement this entitlement.
Mark Your Apps that Support Shared iPad
Show that your app supports Shared iPad by setting NSSupportsPurgeableLocalStorage to “yes” in your app’s info.plist. Schools shopping on the Volume Purchase Program store will see that your app is ready to run on Shared iPad.
Tell Us About Your Playground Subscription
If you’ve created playgrounds and set up a subscription feed, we’d like to hear from you. Submissions will be considered for promotion in Swift Playgrounds.
Management
Making It Easy to Set Preferences
Most schools use Mobile Device Management to manage their iPads. Your app can work with Mobile Device Management services to allow school administrators to easily set preferences for your app across many devices.
Additional Resources
IT and Deployment
It’s never been easier to put Apple products in the hands of students and teachers. We’ve simplified the set up process so you can enroll everyone in your school quickly, configure devices automatically, and seamlessly buy and distribute apps and books.
Distribution
Letting Schools Buy Your App in Volume
The Volume Purchase Program for Education allows schools to purchase apps in volume and distribute them to classes. Visit the Volume Purchase Program store and search for your app to see how customers from educational institutions see your app.
Offering an Education Discount
You can enable a 50% discount for educational institutions that purchase 20 or more copies of your iOS app or Mac app. Opt your apps in or out of special pricing at any time.