Playgrounds app with the latest SDK (OS 26)

I am preparing for Swift Student Challenge, but it seems like the iPad Playground app still not support the latest SDK.

I can't use frameworks like FoundationModel, etc., directly in playground app

My playground for this year would require iPad environment since it uses PencilKit, ARKit, etc., and I also want to use the latest tech + the liquid glass UI

Right now, I develop the project as a normal Xcode project, and I am wondering how do I post it?

  • As Xcode playground, it must run on macOS
  • As Swift Playground project, the iPad version of Playground does not support latest APIs and it can't compile

Yeah, this is tricky. We do hope to ship an update to the Swift Playground app [1] but I don’t have any timeline info to share. I can’t even say whether it’ll happen before or after the Swift Student Challenge submission period [2]. Given that, my only advice is to plan to develop using the tools that are currently available. If things change before the submission period ends, you can then adjust accordingly.

I’m sorry I don’t have better news here.

Share and Enjoy

Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

[1] See here.

[2] Per the main page, that’s 2026-02-06…28.

Oh, I also wanted to do something with ARKit and Foundation models that probably requires an iPad for the Swift Student Challenge and looks like I have run into the same wall.

I just wanted to update this thread to cover two points:

  • This is being discussed internally, but I still don’t have any info to share as to how/when/if it might be resolved. Sorry.
  • I’m going to use this thread as the ‘lead’ thread for this issue. If and when there’s news, I’ll post an update here.

Share and Enjoy

Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

Playgrounds app with the latest SDK (OS 26)
 
 
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