Hello! I’m building my Swift Student Challenge project in Swift Playgrounds, and I’ve run into an issue with app orientation. Since this is a game, the layout and interactions only work correctly in landscape, but Playgrounds doesn’t offer the usual orientation settings you’d configure in Xcode. Is there a recommended way to force a landscape-only experience in Swift Playgrounds using SwiftUI? Any workarounds or guidance would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

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!

Moving the cursor left and right becomes extremely sluggish, though up-down movement and mouse clicks are normal. The Apple Store Genius checked the hardware and even reinstalled the OS, but the issue remains.

I have installed the latest beta on my iPad , iPadOS 16.1 (20B5050f) On running in app in Playgrounds that has a TextField, external keyboard input do not seem to be working. Tapping on the Text field inserts the cursor but no text can be entered on my external keyboard. (TextEditor field also do not work) Tested with both a Smart Keyboard and a Magic Keyboard. The keyboard works to enter the code in playgrounds, so it is not a keyboard connection issue. Disconnecting the keyboard, the onscreen keyboard is displayed and works correctly. Is this a Playgrounds issue or an iPadOS 16.1 issue or a compatibility issue with Playgrounds & iPadOS 16.1 ? import SwiftUI struct ContentView: View {     @State var field: String = "Test input"          var body: some View {         VStack {             Image(systemName: "globe")                 .imageScale(.large)                 .foregroundColor(.accentColor)             Text("Hello, world!")             TextField("", text: $field)                 .frame(height: 100)         }     } }

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!

I’m seeing what looks like a change or possible bug in Xcode when creating a new Swift Playground. When I create a Swift Playground using Xcode (File → New → Playground), the project is generated without an Assets folder. I’ve reproduced this multiple times with fresh Playgrounds to rule out user error and the folder is consistently missing. Previously, new Playgrounds included an Assets catalog by default, which makes this behavior surprising.

Sorry if this is a dumb question. I’m still a beginner. I created an Xcode Playground app with Microphone and Speech Recognition capabilities enabled, along with a backup Info.plist. However, when running the app on Mac Catalyst, a real device, or the iOS and iPadOS simulators, it crashes right after the Speech Recognition permission popup and again after the Microphone permission popup. For extra context, the app initially worked fine in the Swift Playgrounds app, but that environment uses an outdated SDK, so it no longer supports some of the features I’ve implemented. I’m also struggling to find clear, beginner-friendly documentation that explains how AVAudioEngine works, which is making it hard to understand what’s going wrong and how to debug it.

👋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

Hello! I'm trying to upload images to Swift Playground on XCode, and it's not working. When I created my playground, there is no Resources folder or an assets file. If I simply drag an image file to the sidebar, the image is not showing up when used in the app. This may be a simple fix, but as a beginner, I am struggling to find the solution. Any help would be much appreciated! Thank you!

Hello, I’m encountering an issue where an alert dialog keeps appearing repeatedly in my swift playground project. I pressed "Allow" button but it keeps appearing again. Does anyone can help me about it?

Hello, Is it possible to integrate a database into Swift Playground on iPad? Otherwise, what can be done? Thank you.

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!

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!

I have some really straight forward code in a sample project. For some reason when the app launches the title is blurred obscured by scrolledgeeffect blur. If I scroll down the title goes small as it should do and all looks fine. If I scroll back to the top, just before it reaches the top the title goes large and it looks correct, but once it actually reaches/snaps to the top, is then incorrectly blurs again. Is there anything obvious I'm doing wrong? Is this a bug? struct ContentView: View { var body: some View { NavigationStack { ScrollView { VStack { Rectangle().fill(Color.red.opacity(0.2)).frame(height: 200) Rectangle().frame(height: 200) Rectangle().frame(height: 200) Rectangle().frame(height: 200) Rectangle().frame(height: 200) } } .safeAreaBar(edge: .top) { Text("Test") } .navigationTitle(Title") } } }

Hi, I’m working on my Swift Student Challenge submission using iOS 26 APIs (FoundationModels) along with AVFoundation + Vision to capture user input and generate feedback. Since Swift Playgrounds doesn’t support FoundationModels framework, I’m using an Xcode App Playground, but I heared that submissions are reviewed in the Simulator, which doesn’t support live camera feed. I’m unsure how to handle this. Looking for guidance on the recommended approach. Thanks!

👋Hi This problem is related to SSC. I remember that the form submitted last year needed to be filled in with Xcode or Playground test, and it seems that it was also mentioned: • If you use Xcode, the judges may use Simulator to run. • If you use Playground, it's a real machine. But my work this time will encounter two limitations: It will use the framework/API only available in iPadOS 26 (so if it is a Playground environment, it may not run, playground can't use iPadOS 26 SDK) It will also use some content that must be real to run (such as ARKit), which means that Xcode Simulator is not good. So I would like to ask: Does this year's review allow you to compile and connect the iPad to the real machine? Or did I misremember last year's regulations? If the judge's environment is fixed (for example, only Playground or only Simulator), how should I adjust the submission method or implement the scheme? Looking forward to your reply, thank you.

What OS will a Swift Student Challenge submission run on? I want to use iOS 26 features but the version history for Swift Playground doesn’t show it being updated past the iOS 17.5 SDK. So, can I still use features from the iOS 26 SDK?

Hello developers, i have a project for SSC that includes metal shader code. The project runs fine when I build and run it in Xcode, but it does not run in the Swift Playground app. The reason is that Swift Playgrounds doesn’t compile/build source files with the .metal extension the same way Xcode does (so the shader never gets built/loaded in Playgrounds). The requirements say: “Your app playground must be built with and run on Swift Playgrounds 4.6 or Xcode 26, or later.” Since it says “or” (not “and”), does that mean it’s acceptable if the project only builds/runs in Xcode?

Hi, I recently built an app and I’m planning to publish it on the App Store. Since the Swift Student Challenge (SSC) is coming up, I’m also considering submitting the same project by converting it into a Swift Playground (with some content trimmed to meet the rules). I believe both I and the project are eligible. My question: if I publish the app on the App Store first and then submit it to SSC, could that violate the rules or lead to rejection? I also have a concern: because I’m a minor, Apple requires the App Store developer name to be my mother’s. However, the app was entirely developed by me. my mother and anyone else did not participate(My mother can't even use a computer.). I’m worried this might create confusion and make judges think I copied someone else’s work, which I did not. Would you recommend publishing on the App Store now, waiting until after SSC, or taking a different approach? Thank you.

My playground may require that the device has downloaded some resources in advance, such as Apple's advanced voice, translation language... But this is not necessary. It is just an incidental function. If it is not downloaded, the app will prompt that this function is not available and most of the other functions can continue to be used. But I want to know whether the judge's device will download these things in advance, and if not, will the judges think that there is a problem with my app that can't be used normally, which will cause my work to be rejected directly? Because my app uses the API of iOS 26, it needs to run in Xcode, and the competition allows the Apple intelligent function, but it is stipulated that if it runs with Xcode, the app will be tested on the simulator. However, my app involves image playground and cannot run on the simulator. Does anyone have a good solution? Thank you!