Apple’s Swift Student Challenge emblem
Those participating in Apple’s 2025 Swift Student Challenge can start submitting their app playground project on February 3, where 350 winners will be chosen — 50 of whom get to visit Apple Park.
Apple started the Swift Student Challenge in 2020 as a way to encourage up-and-coming developers to learn and get involved in the development community. Eligible challengers submit an interactive scene in an app playground and are judged based on demonstrations of excellence, innovation, creativity, social impact, or inclusivity.
The 2025 Swift Student Challenge submission window was previously revealed to open in February, but now an official start date of February 3 has been shared. Challengers have three weeks to submit their project, and winners are announced sometime before WWDC, usually in May.
Apple will select 350 winners total, and from that, Apple will name 50 Distinguished winners who will be invited to Apple Park for three days. While the announcement isn’t specific, those three days usually coincide with WWDC in June.
There are several eligibility requirements, chiefly that challengers can’t be employed as professional developers and must be over 13 years old in the United States or older in select countries. They must be registered with a developer account and fit one of the requirements to be defined as a student.
One of the following must be true:
- Be enrolled in an accredited academic institution or official homeschool equivalent
- Be enrolled in a STEM organization’s educational curriculum
- Be enrolled in an Apple Developer Academy
- Have graduated from high school or equivalent within the past 6 months and be awaiting acceptance or have received acceptance to an accredited academic institution
The submitted app playground will be an interactive scene that can be experienced within three minutes. It must not need a network connection and not exceed 25 MB.
Apple will reveal the full Terms and Conditions as well as any updated eligibility criteria when submissions open on February 3. All winners receive one year of membership in the Apple Developer Program, a special gift like AirPods, pins, swag, and more.
