Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is Back in its All-Online Format

Submissions for the Swift Student Challenge are open now through April 18

CUPERTINO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Apple® today announced it will host its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) June 7 through 11, in an all-online format. Free for all developers, WWDC21 will offer unique insight into the future of iOS, iPadOS®, macOS®, watchOS®, and tvOS®. Building on the record-breaking participation and learnings from last year’s online conference, WWDC21 is an opportunity for developers to learn about the new technologies, tools, and frameworks they rely on to build innovative and platform-differentiating apps and games. Apple also announced that this year’s Swift® Student Challenge, an opportunity for young developers to demonstrate their coding skills by creating a Swift playground, is now accepting submissions.

“We love bringing our developers together each year at WWDC to learn about our latest technologies and to connect them with Apple engineers,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations and Enterprise and Education Marketing. “We are working to make WWDC21 our biggest and best yet, and are excited to offer Apple developers new tools to support them as they create apps that change the way we live, work, and play.”

As customers rely on Apple products more than ever to work, learn, express their creativity, entertain, and be entertained, WWDC21 will provide Apple’s worldwide community of more than 28 million developers, as well as the next generation of app developers, with the information and tools needed to turn their ideas into reality. This year’s conference will include announcements from the keynote and State of the Union stages, online sessions, 1:1 labs offering technical guidance, and new ways for developers to interact with Apple engineers and designers to learn about the latest frameworks and technologies.

Apple will continue its long-standing tradition of supporting students who love to code with this year’s Swift Student Challenge, inviting them to create an interactive scene in a Swift playground that can be experienced within three minutes. Swift Playgrounds® is a revolutionary app for iPad® and Mac® that makes learning the Swift programming language interactive and fun. Now through April 18, students can submit their Swift playground to the Swift Student Challenge. Winners will receive exclusive WWDC21 outerwear and a customized pin set. For more information, visit the Swift Student Challenge website.

To support the local economy, even while WWDC21 is hosted online and as part of its $100 million Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, Apple is also committing $1 million to SJ Aspires, an education and equity initiative launched by the City of San José. Focused on enabling youth in underserved neighborhoods to set goals and chart a path toward receiving a college education, SJ Aspires offers a performance-based scholarship program that educates students about their college and career choices, and provides individual mentorship and advising as well as online tools to help reduce the barriers Black and Brown students face in accessing academic opportunities. This builds on Apple’s multiyear partnership with the City of San José and the San José Public Library Foundation in support of technology programming.

Apple will share additional program information in advance of WWDC21 through the Apple Developer app, on the Apple Developer website, and via email.

Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Apple’s five software platforms — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and iCloud. Apple’s more than 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it.

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© 2021 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, Swift, Swift Playgrounds, iPad, and Mac are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Contacts

Alex Kirschner

Apple

alexkirschner@apple.com
408-974-2479