Former iOS Chief Scott Forstall to Attend Virtual Coding Event This Week [Updated]

Former Apple executive and iOS chief Scott Forstall will make a rare public appearance this week at Code.org's Code Break event. He will appear alongside Grammy Award winning rapper and songwriter Macklemore.

scott forstall original iphone

Forstall was Apple's Vice President of iOS from 2007 until 2012

Described as the "world's largest live interactive classroom," Code Break aims to engage with computer science students during the ongoing stay-at-home measures, and features weekly computer science challenges for students of all abilities, even those without computers.

Forstall was reportedly ousted from Apple in October 2012, following the botched launch of Apple Maps. Forstall has maintained a quiet presence since then, although he did sit down with journalist John Markoff for an interview at the Computer History Museum in June 2017. Otherwise his main focus has been Broadway production.


Anyone interested can sign up at the Code.org website, which has more information about the event. The Code Break stream is live every Wednesday at 10.00 a.m. Pacific Time / 1.00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Update: The full video is now available to watch.

Popular Stories

iphone 17 models

No iPhone 18 Launch This Year, Reports Suggest

Thursday January 1, 2026 8:43 am PST by
Apple is not expected to release a standard iPhone 18 model this year, according to a growing number of reports that suggest the company is planning a significant change to its long-standing annual iPhone launch cycle. Despite the immense success of the iPhone 17 in 2025, the iPhone 18 is not expected to arrive until the spring of 2027, leaving the iPhone 17 in the lineup as the latest...
duolingo ad live activity

Duolingo Used iPhone's Dynamic Island to Display Ads, Violating Apple Design Guidelines

Friday January 2, 2026 1:36 pm PST by
Language learning app Duolingo has apparently been using the iPhone's Live Activity feature to display ads on the Lock Screen and the Dynamic Island, which violates Apple's design guidelines. According to multiple reports on Reddit, the Duolingo app has been displaying an ad for a "Super offer," which is Duolingo's paid subscription option. Apple's guidelines for Live Activity state that...
samsung crease less foldable display ces 2026%402x

Foldable iPhone's Crease-Free Display Tech Spotted at CES 2026

Tuesday January 6, 2026 3:04 am PST by
CES 2026 has just provided a first glimpse of the folding display technology that Apple is expected to use in its upcoming foldable iPhone. At the event, Samsung Display briefly showcased its new crease-less foldable OLED panel beside a Galaxy Z Fold 7, and according to SamMobile, which saw the test booth before it was abruptly removed, the new panel "has no crease at all" in comparison. The ...
Low Cost A18 Pro MacBook Feature Pink

Apple's 2026 Low-Cost A18 Pro MacBook: What We Know So Far

Friday January 2, 2026 4:33 pm PST by
Apple is planning to release a low-cost MacBook in 2026, which will apparently compete with more affordable Chromebooks and Windows PCs. Apple's most affordable Mac right now is the $999 MacBook Air, and the upcoming low-cost MacBook is expected to be cheaper. Here's what we know about the low-cost MacBook so far. Size Rumors suggest the low-cost MacBook will have a display that's around 13 ...
govee floor lamp

CES 2026: Govee Announces New Matter-Connected Ceiling and Floor Lights

Sunday January 4, 2026 5:00 am PST by
Govee today introduced three new HomeKit-compatible lighting products, including the Govee Floor Lamp 3, the Govee Ceiling Light Ultra, and the Govee Sky Ceiling Light. The Govee Floor Lamp 3 is the successor to the Floor Lamp 2, and it offers Matter integration with the option to connect to HomeKit. The Floor Lamp 3 offers an upgraded LuminBlend+ lighting system that can reproduce 281...
airpods pro 3 glitter

AirPods New Year's Deals Include Up to $99 Off AirPods Max, AirPods Pro 3, and AirPods 4

Sunday January 4, 2026 8:04 am PST by
Now that the calendar has flipped over into January, steep discounts on popular Apple products have become more rare after the holidays. However, if you didn't get a new pair of AirPods recently and are looking for a model on sale, Amazon does have a few solid second-best prices this week. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a...
AirPods Pro 3 Year of the Horse Feature

Apple Launches Year of the Horse AirPods Pro 3 for Lunar New Year

Monday January 5, 2026 11:28 am PST by
Apple has designed a limited edition version of the AirPods Pro 3 to celebrate Lunar New Year, and customers in select countries can purchase them starting today. The Year of the Horse Special Edition AirPods Pro 3 feature a unique horse emoji character that's otherwise unavailable. Customers in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore are able to buy the AirPods, and they'll be...
Belkin 25W Battery magnetic

CES 2026: Belkin Announces Magnetic Ring Power Bank, Modular Dock, and More

Sunday January 4, 2026 3:02 pm PST by
Belkin today announced a range of new charging and connectivity accessories at CES 2026, expanding its portfolio of products aimed at Apple device users. UltraCharge Pro Power Bank 10K with Magnetic Ring The lineup includes new Qi2 and Qi2.2 wireless chargers, magnetic power banks, a high-capacity laptop battery, and USB-C productivity accessories, with an emphasis on higher charging...

Top Rated Comments

Aluminum213 Avatar
74 months ago
The king returns...
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
insomniac86 Avatar
74 months ago

Forstall's fetish for skeuomorphism went too far...



At least it was creative. I still prefer it over the mess of UI inconsistency today. Each to their own though.


...Of what? Didn’t he singly almost destroy Apple Maps?
It was ****** TomTom data that was the issue, he was kicked for not publicly saying sorry. But like why should he? It wasn't his call to ditch Google Maps.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
miniyou64 Avatar
74 months ago

Forstall's fetish for skeuomorphism went too far...
No. It was perfect.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kemal Avatar
74 months ago
I would take an overdose of skeuomorphism just to get iOS 6 look and feel back. F- this flat no contrast crap.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
diego.caraballo Avatar
74 months ago
You can love skeuomorphism or you can hate it, that's perfectly fine with me. One thing is very clear, iOS on Scott leadership was ROCK SOLID...it was extremely rare the need to reset the iPhone/iPad...today, well, it's a weekly thing. Sometimes you don't need to, because a seven-days-apart "fixes" that you need to install do the restarting thing for you.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
57004 Avatar
74 months ago

At least it was creative. I still prefer it over the mess of UI inconsistency today. Each to their own though.

I agree... The flat design is boring and less interesting. The skeuomorphism should have been toned down a bit but I think it was essentially a good thing and it made iOS special. I've never really taken to it since.

I wonder what iOS would have been like now if they had kept Scott in charge of UX and left Jony to do only hardware design. I bet it would have been a lot more interesting.

The flat design worked really well for Android because before Material Design that was basically a cluster**** of different design paradigms. It was simply better because it had a design direction at all :) But iOS before version 7 was more human and more engaging IMO.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)