Apple today released a Catalyst-based Swift Playgrounds app for the Mac, which was built from the existing Swift Playgrounds app for the iPad.
Like Swift Playgrounds for iPad, Swift Playgrounds for Mac is designed to provide exercises and challenges to help users learn the basics of coding. The app requires no coding knowledge to use and is ideal for students who are just starting out with coding.
Swift Playgrounds is a revolutionary app for Mac and iPad that makes it fun to learn and experiment with code. You solve interactive puzzles in the guided "Learn to Code" lessons to master the basics of coding, or experiment with a wide range of challenges that let you explore many unique coding experiences.
Swift Playgrounds requires no coding knowledge, so it's perfect for students just starting out, from twelve to one-hundred-and-twelve. The whole time you are learning Swift, a powerful programming language created by Apple and used by professionals to build many of today's most popular apps. Code you write works seamlessly as you move between Mac and iPad.
Swift Playgrounds for Mac is available from the Mac App Store as of today, and it is a free download. [Direct Link]
Wednesday September 2, 2026 12:35 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple has added a new "iPhone Handoff" feature to iOS 27 that will allow you to switch between two iPhones while using the same phone number on each device.
This functionality was briefly mentioned during the WWDC 2026 keynote in June, on a slide that listed hundreds of new features coming in iOS 27 and corresponding software updates, but Apple never shared any further details at the time.
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Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today further outlined what to expect from the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 set to be unveiled on September 9.
While it was initially rumored that Touch ID may be coming to the Apple Watch this year, Gurman reiterated that he does not expect the Series 12 or Ultra 4 to have any major design changes compared to the current Series 11 and Ultra 3 models.
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Wednesday September 2, 2026 6:31 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple's former hardware engineering chief John Ternus became its CEO on Tuesday, and the company made a controversial decision on his very first day in charge.
As of Tuesday, Apple Maps users in the U.S. see the name "Lake America" instead of Lake Ontario for the Great Lake that straddles the New York—Ontario border.
Apple made this change after the U.S. Geographic Names Information...
catalyst is native, or at least will be native. AppKit isn’t the future. Also iPad could become a very useful mobile development tool if Xcode and other development tools were allowed to thrive.
No developer is waiting to program on an iPad. You can keep saying the iPad is a pro device, but that doesn’t make it one. It’s suited for very specific niche tasks in a mobile environment or requiring touch like graphics design. But for even basic pro stuff like mail/office/project/file management it’s not suited (yet).
