Alongside iOS 10, tvOS 10, and watchOS 3, Apple today officially released Swift Playgrounds, a new app aimed at teaching both children and adults how to code through simple interactive coding exercises. It's meant to make learning to code "easy and fun" for everyone.

First announced in June at WWDC, Swift Playgrounds is meant for beginners who have no experience with coding, and it will be deployed in numerous schools around the world as standard curriculum.
Swift Playgrounds

"Everyone should have the opportunity to learn coding, and we are excited to bring Swift Playgrounds to the next generation of programmers looking for a fun and easy way to explore key coding concepts using real code," said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering. "More than 100 schools around the world have already committed to adding Swift Playgrounds to their fall curriculum, and we can't wait to see what students create with it."

Swift Playgrounds is organized into a series of lessons that introduce new concepts and guide users through challenges and puzzles. It's centered on three characters that need to be guided through a graphical world using coding concepts like issuing commands, creating functions, performing loops, and using conditional code and variables. Apple plans to release new lessons on a regular basis.

The app also includes built-in templates that can be modified to create customized programs that can be shared with friends and family, and Swift Playgrounds code can be exported directly to Xcode to be turned into a full iOS or Mac app.

Swift Playgrounds is compatible with all iPad Air and iPad Pro models, along with the iPad mini 2 and later. iOS 10 is required to download the app, which is available for free from the App Store.

Top Rated Comments

ianKent Avatar
98 months ago
I wish it was available on all apple platforms.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarlJ Avatar
98 months ago
Swift Playgrounds for Apple Watch please. I can dream.
Why not on the iPod shuffle? Do we really need a display to learn?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
firewood Avatar
98 months ago
Wish this was available on my Mac. Coding would be easier on a computer than on a touch surface imo.
It is!

Download Xcode 8 from the Mac App store. It's free and includes being able to run Swift Playgrounds. Tons of online tutorials.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Ben2998 Avatar
98 months ago
Next step: Xcode for iOS. Build and release from your iPad so they can stop selling the MacMini.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jonblatho Avatar
98 months ago
Oh, seriously? The same Swift Playgrounds as on the iPad?
It doesn't include the lessons, so you have to start from scratch, but on the Mac, you get the benefit of live compiling (no need to press "Run My Code" unless you specifically turn automatic running off).
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Amazing Iceman Avatar
98 months ago
iTunes U has good courses from Stanford available for free that cover Xcode and iOS 9, but the basic parts of Swift haven't changed since then so it's still a relevant course. I learned a lot from the "build your own calculator" app. Was amazing to me how quickly I went from installing xcode (and being utterly lost) to writing and installing my own app on my phone. Was about 30-45 minutes. (First app didn't *do* anything except had calculator buttons and a readout display for the buttons pushed. Took a lot longer to get to finished product.) The iBook is great, but when I'm totally new video is more helpful for me.

I'm hoping Swift Playgrounds gets expanded so that it will actually let you build and install apps on the same device it's running on. That would be ground breaking, never seen before functionality in a major mobile os.

In playgrounds, I understand why Apple made the app so flashy with the waterfalls and very animated guy, but I really think it does a disservice to complete newcomers who may not realize that the effort to replicate such from scratch will probably never in their lifetime be within reach. Then again, as we move to higher level languages, "from scratch" will continue to be "soften". Like moving from assembler.
Stanford's iTunes-U course is too slow and doesn't cover much.
Check U-Demy iOS 10 course by Rob Percival.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

reset password request iphone

Warning: Apple Users Targeted in Phishing Attack Involving Rapid Password Reset Requests

Tuesday March 26, 2024 4:34 pm PDT by
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
maxresdefault

Apple to Launch New iPad Pro and iPad Air Models in May

Thursday March 28, 2024 11:07 am PDT by
Apple will introduce new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in early May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman previously suggested the new iPads would come out in March, and then April, but the timeline has been pushed back once again. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple is working on updates to both the iPad Pro and iPad Air models. The iPad Pro models will...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Purple

iOS 18: What to Expect From 'Biggest' Update in iPhone's History

Wednesday March 27, 2024 11:10 am PDT by
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. "The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone's software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade," wrote Gurman, in a r...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2024 Event for June 10 to 14

Tuesday March 26, 2024 10:02 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
apple maps 3d feature

Apple Maps May Gain Custom Routes With iOS 18

Tuesday March 26, 2024 3:10 pm PDT by
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...
General iOS 17 Feature Orange Purple

Apple Releases Revised Versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 With Updated Build Number

Wednesday March 27, 2024 5:59 am PDT by
Apple on late Tuesday released revised versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 with an updated build number of 21E237, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The updates previously had a build number of 21E236. The revised updates are available for all iPhone and iPad models that are compatible with iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, but they can only be installed via the Finder app on macOS...
applephilschiller

Apple's Phil Schiller Works 80 Hours a Week Overseeing App Store

Wednesday March 27, 2024 2:03 pm PDT by
With the App Store and app ecosystem undergoing major changes in the European Union, The Wall Street Journal today shared a profile on App Store chief Phil Schiller, who is responsible for the App Store. Though Schiller transitioned from marketing chief to "Apple Fellow" in 2020 to take a step back from Apple and spend more time on personal projects and friends, he is reportedly working...