Apple today released Swift Playgrounds 4, an update to the Swift Playgrounds app that's been in the works for some time. The newest version of the app allows iPhone and iPad apps to be created directly on an iPad without the need for a Mac.
Swift Playgrounds 4 includes App Store Connect integration for uploading a finished app to the App Store, plus there is an App Preview feature that shows live updates as you make changes. Apple's release notes for the update are below:
Swift Playgrounds 4.0 features: - Build iPhone and iPad apps with SwiftUI right on your iPad (requires iPadOS 15.2 or later) - App Store Connect integration lets you upload your finished app to the App Store - App Preview shows live updates as you make changes to your app - Full-screen preview lets you see your app edge-to-edge - Smart, inline code suggestions help you write code quickly and accurately - App Projects make it easy to move projects to Xcode and back - Project-wide search finds results across multiple files - Snippets Library provides hundreds of SwiftUI controls, symbols, and colors - Swift Package support lets you include publicly-available code to enhance your apps
Designing and uploading an app on the iPad requires the iPadOS 15.2 update that was released earlier this week. Swift Playgrounds can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has high expectations for Apple's first foldable iPhone.
In his Power On newsletter today, he said the foldable iPhone will be "the most significant overhaul in the iPhone's history."
"iPhone 4, iPhone 6 and iPhone X were clearly a big deal, but this is a whole new design," he said.
Like Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 7, the foldable iPhone will reportedly open up like ...
iOS 26.5 is now available for developers, and while it doesn't include any new Siri capabilities, there are some major changes for the European Union, and smaller tweaks for features available worldwide.
Suggested Places
In the Maps app, there's a new "Suggested Places" feature that recommends locations to visit based on trending places nearby and recent searches. When Apple launches ads in ...
Tuesday March 31, 2026 10:36 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple today added the MacBook Air (13-inch, 2017) to its "vintage" products list, meaning the device is now only eligible for repairs at Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers if parts remain available.
The MacBook Air (13-inch, 2017) was the final MacBook Air model released before Apple redesigned the laptop and gave it a Retina display in 2018.
Apple also added all iPad...
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has high expectations for Apple's first foldable iPhone.
In his Power On newsletter today, he said the foldable iPhone will be "the most significant overhaul in the iPhone's history."
"iPhone 4, iPhone 6 and iPhone X were clearly a big deal, but this is a whole new design," he said.
Like Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 7, the foldable iPhone will reportedly open up like ...
iOS 26.5 is now available for developers, and while it doesn't include any new Siri capabilities, there are some major changes for the European Union, and smaller tweaks for features available worldwide.
Suggested Places
In the Maps app, there's a new "Suggested Places" feature that recommends locations to visit based on trending places nearby and recent searches. When Apple launches ads in ...
Tuesday March 31, 2026 10:36 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple today added the MacBook Air (13-inch, 2017) to its "vintage" products list, meaning the device is now only eligible for repairs at Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers if parts remain available.
The MacBook Air (13-inch, 2017) was the final MacBook Air model released before Apple redesigned the laptop and gave it a Retina display in 2018.
Apple also added all iPad...
this is amazing. also raises a good question: if something has the tools, environment,means to create apps from scratch, does it finally qualify as a computer?
Nah, expect those people to move the goalposts again.
this is amazing. also raises a good question: if something has the tools, environment,means to create apps from scratch, does it finally qualify as a computer?
this is amazing. also raises a good question: if something has the tools, environment,means to create apps from scratch, does it finally qualify as a computer?
computer: an electronic device for storing and processing data, typically in binary form, according to instructions given to it in a variable program.
this is amazing. also raises a good question: if something has the tools, environment,means to create apps from scratch, does it finally qualify as a computer?
I'd rather use Mac OS or some other desktop OS that isn't in a walled garden which will restrict the use of 3rd party development tools. The experience will be far better - having multiple applications being shown at once, more RAM, no walled garden.
If you are developing something basic, then an iPad will work for you, but much more, iPad will feel like a crippled / poor experience.
This is for XCode only. Developers use more IDEs than just XCode, outside of the Apple World, and XCode makes for a pretty poor IDE, if you need to use something other than Swift / ObjectiveC.
Exactly, also the elephant in the room: ergonomics, but I'm sure there's plenty of devs dying to develop 6hrs per day fingering a tablet with "real" multitasking.
You do know iPads support keyboard and mouse, right?
