Apple Discontinues 'iOS Developer University Program' for Students - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Apple Discontinues 'iOS Developer University Program' for Students

by

Apple has discontinued the iOS Developer University Program as of May 15, according to a notice on its website and an email sent to program members.

apple developer app feature
The program allowed university professors and other eligible instructors to create a development team with up to 200 students, who could create and test apps without needing to pay the usual $99 annual fee for Apple Developer Program membership.

Apple says accredited educational institutions can still enroll in the Apple Developer Program at no cost by submitting a fee waiver request.

Thanks, Nicolás Álvarez!

Popular Stories

iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching in Two Months With These 12 New Features

Friday July 17, 2026 10:39 am PDT by
It is now mid-July, and that means the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are now just two months away. The devices are expected to look similar to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, but there will still be many year-over-year changes, with rumored features including a smaller Dynamic Island, 5G via satellite, and more. Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, ...
Read Full Article • 58 comments
iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max Feature

'Apple Upgrade' Program Reportedly Launching Next Week

Tuesday July 21, 2026 8:30 am PDT by
Apple and Klarna are partnering on a new "Apple Upgrade" leasing program set to launch in the U.S. on Tuesday, July 28, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The program will allow you to finance most iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models, with a 24-month term for iPhones and Apple Watches and a 36-month term for iPads and Macs. Customers will be able to pay off the device early during...
Read Full Article • 196 comments
iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching in Two Months With These 12 New Features

Tuesday July 21, 2026 6:22 am PDT by
It is now mid-July, and that means the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are now just two months away. The devices are expected to look similar to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, but there will still be many year-over-year changes, with rumored features including a smaller Dynamic Island, 5G via satellite, and more. Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, ...
Read Full Article

Top Rated Comments

K
kitkat99333
29 months ago

Poor students, always getting kicked about these days...
No real difference if you read the full thing
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Y
Yujenisis
29 months ago

there is always Android university. and no 30 percent fee to sell your app.
There is no such thing as “Android University” except for its use as a title for a Google Developer blog post from 2008 ('https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22android%20university%22').

Google only offers two types of developer accounts personal or organization/business ('https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/13634885?hl=en'). There are no special accounts for schools or universities.

Literally everything you said is not true or even real.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
U
Unregistered 4U
29 months ago

there is always Android university. and no 30 percent fee to sell your app.
Generally speaking, it’s a bad idea to “sell” an Android app anyway. Developers have found it’s much more viable to just load the app down with ads, far more likelihood to see a return.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
U
Unregistered 4U
29 months ago

If it's still free to universities has this really shifted much?
I think it just switches who’s doing the writing. Initially it was on a professor and it could be multiple professors in one school, I’d imagine. Now, instead of keeping track of all that, they’re moving it to the institution level. Could be that the program has gotten enough notoriety that keeping track of it at a per professor level is no longer efficient.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
laptech Avatar
laptech
29 months ago
It would not surprise me if the program has been cancelled as a result of a lack of take up by universities because of Apple probably setting conditions in the program that anything that is made, coded, designed, thought of, any ideas that came from the professors and the students become the property of Apple because it was done on their premises under their program and that Apple can take such and use them as they see fit and universities were not happy with this.

A huge number of employers have these type of conditions set into company handbooks/contracts basically saying any idea/design that is done on company time becomes the automatic property of the company. Same applies if any company resources were used, computers, pends, paper, calculators, stuff like that.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C
ChrisA
29 months ago

Perhaps this is indicative of Apple retiring iOS in a couple of years?
No. All they did was change the way students can get free accounts. It used to be that the person just had to say "I am a student". Now the university applies, not the student.

Apparently, many people were falsely claiming to be students to save the $99 fee.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments