First time SSC contestant here. Need some advice.

Question

Created 1w

Replies 4

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Participants 3

I hope you’re having a fantastic New Year and that your apps are doing great! This is my first time entering SSC , and I’m excited to share that I’m developing a screen timer app. The idea is to encourage you to take breaks by suggesting a run or workout instead of spending too much time on your screens.

I was wondering, have anyone else included short videos or animations in their entries before?

Also, could my screen time timer be running in the background? I know there are some limitations with integrations like HealthKit and Screen Time, which is why I’m using a regular countdown timer on the App Store as a prototype.

I’m just trying to clarify the rules below to make sure that it’s all good to go :

“If your submission includes any open source software, music, photos, artwork, or any other content that you do not have ownership rights in, you agree to (a) comply with all applicable licensing terms and copyright obligations and (b) provide an explanation of why it was used.”

And regarding any tracking stuff in the disqualification section, whereas nothing in the app should include: “You track and/or insert analytics code in your App Store meant to identify or track judges’ activity while they review your App Store.” But my app will only have a simple timer in it.

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Answer 1

Noah______ OP

1w

Hello! This sounds like an awesome idea. One of my previous submissions was a study app that tracked screen time while someone was studying. I looked into the Screen Time API, but it’s pretty limited in Swift Playgrounds, so I simulated the behaviour in the app to show judges what it was intended to do. You don’t need everything working 100%. Clearly explaining the idea is a great first step.

On the video/animation side, that’s a great addition. I included some in my submission that won last year. Just make sure you’re not using any copyrighted material you don’t have rights to in your video or infographic. They’re not just looking at the app and code, they care about your creative process. In my case, I mentioned that I hand‑drew the artwork in Procreate and animated it in Procreate Dreams. You want to emphasize the care and consideration you put into the submission.

Regarding tracking: the rules are about not tracking judges on their devices without their knowledge or sending that data to a server. Using native Apple APIs to inform users about their habits should be fine.

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Answer 2

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

1w

Before we get too far down the screen time rabbit hole, I wanted to ask you whether you’ve read this titbit from the Developer > Swift Student Challenge > Eligibility and requirements page:

Create an interactive scene in an app playground that can be experienced within three minutes.

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

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Answer 3

mlgiPhone7plus OP

1w

@Noah______ Hey, I’m supportive of your idea to create an app about screen time! My app will also keep track of screen time in the background, but it will have a continuous counter timer that doesn’t need to be integrated with any frameworks. How did you put it together? Also, I sent an email to the Apple Swift student challenge email line and the WWDR (worldwide developer relations) told me that I need to ask companies like Nike Training Club and Headspace if it’s okay to use their videos and media locally in my Xcode assets. Is that true y’all?

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Answer 4

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

1w

It’s better to reply as a reply, rather than in the comments; see Quinn’s Top Ten DevForums Tips for this and other titbits.

I am aware of this requirement

Cool.

Is it ok if I just demo it with the countdown timer in one part

I’m not deeply involved in how entries are judged, so I can’t give you a definitive answer to this. Rather, I want to address the technical side of it.

iOS has strict rules for both security and background execution:

On the security front, the general rule is that app A can’t see what app B is doing [1].
On the background execution front, the general rule is that an app can’t run indefinitely in the background.

A naïve implementation of your app might run something like this:

User launches and configures your app.
Your app runs in the background looking at user activity.
If your app sees that the user has been continuously using apps for a long time, it posts a notification reminding them to take a break.

This approach would work on the Mac [2], but it will not work on iOS.

Now, that doesn’t mean that this task is impossible. As explained in iOS Background Execution Limits, iOS has numerous special-purpose mechanisms for accomplishing specific background execution tasks. That posts lists some of those special-purposes mechanisms, some of which might be useful to you. However, there are more, and most relevant for your case is the various Screen Time APIs [3]. However, it’s not clear whether these would be viable in the context of a Swift Student Challenge submission.

Finally, I want to point you at Background Tasks Resources, and specifically the Testing and Debugging Code Running in the Background post that it links to. This explains some of the challenges of debugging code that’s executing in the background, and how the act of running in the debugger is a common source of confusion. For example, if you run your app in the debugger you’ll see that timers fire as expected in the background, but that doesn’t happen if you run your app from the Home Screen.

You’ll see a similar effect with the Swift Playground app.

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

[1] Unless app A and app B are from the same development team and they actively coöperate.

[2] Indeed, back in the day I wrote this for myself. It was called Workin’ Too Hard (-:

[3] That is:

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