Developer stories

Developer stories explore best practices and philosophies from some of the most inventive developers in the Apple community. In each story, we go behind the screens with developers, designers, and engineers to find out how they brought their remarkable creations to life.

Latest stories
Spreading joy with PBJ

Go behind the scenes with PBJ – The Musical, a charming Apple Design Award winner with impressive production values.

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The appealing design of CapWords

The Apple Design Award winner leverages a lot of cutting-edge technology for an app that was partly invented by a 3-year-old.

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Hello Kitty is always in style

Meet the team behind Hello Kitty Island Adventure to learn how they designed their wholesome open world and faced the big challenges of reviving a long-lost character named … Big Challenges.

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2025

“Way more with less code”

Learn why the Tiimo team decided to rewrite their entire app in SwiftUI.

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How Things came to server-side Swift

Find out how the Cultured Code team gave its engines a tune-up.

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It’s always sunny for Flipping Hues and Sunlitt

A luminous discussion with the Italy-based team behind Sunlitt about SwiftUI, 3D components, and beehives.

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Air time

Learn how Kyle Bashour's Apple Watch app Paku uses Swift Charts, widgets, and server-side Swift to help users breathe easy.

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Play it again

Find out how the musical marvel Moises leverages machine learning to separate out vocals, guitar, bass, drums, and more.

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“Breaking barriers and building bridges”

Find out how the Lingvano team grew their audience and brought American Sign Language lessons to everyone.

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The long history of Goodnotes

The note-taking app has been maximizing the power of iPadOS since Day 1.

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Going global

Three international developers — Oskar Larsson, Espen Janson, and Hanna Grevelius — share their experiences about expanding their apps to a worldwide audience.

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Swift Charts pay off for Copilot Money

Discover how the team behind this personal finance app developed an interest in Swift Charts.

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Starting small and coding big

Being a solo developer can be highly rewarding, but it can also be a huge undertaking. Frederik Riedel, Leo Mehlig, and Kai Koch discuss the lessons they’ve learned along the way.

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Random access memories: Inside the time-shifting narrative of The Wreck

The Wreck is filed under games, but it’s also been called a visual novel, an interactive experience, and a playable movie. Florent Maurin is OK with all of it.

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Rooms at the top: Inside a title that defies description

Ask Jason Toff whether his Apple Design Award winner is a game or an app, and his answer is yes.

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Assassin’s Creed Shadows comes to Mac

With new characters, gorgeous environments, and incredible technical power, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, is an evolution for the franchise in nearly every detail.

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The good news bears: Inside the adorably unorthodox design of Bears Gratitude

Here’s the story of how a few little bears led the husband-and-wife team of Isuru Wanasinghe and Nayomi Hettiarachchi right to an Apple Design Award.

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ML meets accessibility

Find out how the Apple Design Award-winning Oko makes street crossings more accessible to everyone.

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2024

Coding in the kitchen: How Devin Davies whipped up the tasty recipe app Crouton

Find out how Davies went from Swift newbie to seasoned developer.

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Masters of puppets

Learn how the ROUND8 Studio carved out a niche for Lies of P.

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The rhythms of Rytmos

Learn how Floppy Club designed a rhythm game that sounds as good as it looks.

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The make-believe magic of Lost in Play

Explore a beautifully designed world of forbidden forests, dark caverns, friendly frogs, and numerous pizzas.

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A gentler approach

Learn how the Gentler Streak team took advantage of iOS features to approach fitness with “humanity.”

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“I taught myself”: Tucker MacDonald and the rise of Tide Guide

Find out how the solo dev went deep with SwiftUI to build a world-class tide tracker for Mac.

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Knotwords: Gage and Schlesinger at the crossroads

Learn how longtime design partners Zach Gage and Jack Schlesinger rebooted the crossword puzzle.

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Uncovering the hidden joys of Finding Hannah

Learn how Fein Games created a hidden object game with big aspirations.

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“The best version we’ve ever made”: Fantastical on Apple Vision Pro

Flexibits CEO Michael Simmons discusses bringing the calendar app to visionOS.

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Blackbox: Rebooting an inventive puzzle game for visionOS

Here’s the story of how Ryan McLeod reinvented his genre-breaking puzzle game for the infinite canvas.

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“The full impact of fruit destruction”

Learn how Halfbrick Studios cultivated Super Fruit Ninja for the infinite canvas.

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Realizing their vision: How djay designed for visionOS

The team behind djay reveals why Apple Vision Pro represents “the culmination of everything” for their app.

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2023

“We’re trying to drive change"

Meet the incredible teams behind the App Store Award winners Finding Hannah, Photomator, and Unpacking.

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Klemens Strasser goes back in time

With Ancient Board Game Collection, the indie developer blends the new and the (very) old.

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PTC is uniting the makers

Apple Vision Pro offers PTC an opportunity to bring together components of the company’s engineering and manufacturing processes like never before.

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The “sweet, creative” world of Kimono Cats

How Greg Johnson and team created a cute cartoon adventure.

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JigSpace is in the driver’s seat

Learn how the company is leaning on visionOS to create new avenues of creativity and collaboration.

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“Small but mighty”

Find out how the team behind Plex serves its global community.

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The gorgeous gadgets of Automatoys

Discover the wild inspirations behind Steffan Glynn’s perfectly perplexing puzzler.

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Inside the Apple Vision Pro labs

Developers share their experiences going hands-on with Apple Vision Pro.

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Spotlight on: Developer tools for visionOS

Learn how developers are using Xcode, Reality Composer Pro, and the visionOS simulator to start building apps for Apple Vision Pro.

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A website builder with universal appeal

Discover how Universe makes creating a website as easy as building with blocks.

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How SwingVision is holding court

How SwingVision harnessed machine learning and the power of Apple Watch to create a tennis app people love.

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Stitch: A game that anyone can play

For its gorgeous embroidery-themed puzzle game, the Lykke Studios team prioritized accessibility.

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It takes an evil village

Learn how the beautiful horror adventure Resident Evil Village came to life on Mac.

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How Railbound got on track.

The Afterburn studio built its tricky track puzzle game by leaning into design limitations.

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The first steps of MARVEL SNAP

How Second Dinner created a card battler that’s as simple as it is revolutionary.

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How Headspace demystifies mindfulness and mental health

Few apps have made mindfulness as accessible as Headspace.

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Learning to fly

Find out how Ryan Jones leveraged Apple technologies to build the all-in-one travel companion Flighty.

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Finding the balance in Endling

The game is all about survival in a changed world — and it’s a powerful mix of medium and message.

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Designing Duolingo

Learn the design strategies (owl-based and otherwise) behind the language app's incredible success.

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Spotlight on: Developing for visionOS

Learn how the teams behind djay, Blackbox, JigSpace, and XRHealth started designing and building apps for Apple Vision Pro.

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Any Distance: A workout tracker for everyone

Explore a design-forward fitness tracker and social network that prioritizes participation.

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The retro wonder of Afterplace

Find out how Evan Kice created a retro adventure full of friendly rabbits, sarcastic vending machines, and vintage villains.

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Spotlight on: Passkeys

Instacart, Robinhood, and Kayak are helping unlock a password-free future.

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Spotlight on: Spatial Audio

Endel and Odio are turning heads with immersive surround sound experiences.

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Celebrate women in app development

Meet the founders, creators, developers, and designers behind some of our favorite apps and games.

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2022

Spotlight on: Apple Pencil hover

Discover how Procreate brought a new dimension of creativity to their canvas.

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Spotlight on: The Dynamic Island

Discover how the developers behind Citymapper, Apollo for Reddit, SmartGym, Flighty, and Wakeout took full advantage of Live Activities.

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Rebel rebel

Find out how the groundbreaking book Rebel Girls evolved into an Apple Design Award-winning app.

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Going Overboard!

How Inkle designed and built an upside-down murder mystery in just 100 days.

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A (Not Boring) story

Find out how the Andy Works studio brings “richness, texture, and fun” to its apps.

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Behind the Design: Lego Star Wars: Castaways

Discover how Gameloft made this ADA-winning game “Lego legit.”

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Hitting the Slopes

Find out how Apple Watch powers this all-in-one ski tracker, straight from the “Slopes guy” himself.

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Marvel Future Revolution starts now

The origin story of the biggest MMORPG in the multiverse.

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The 3D soundscapes of Odio

Max Frimout is an audio engineer for Odio, and it’s his job to transport you and your ears to a different world.

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Everyone belongs in Wylde Flowers

Lots of games defy easy explanation, but Wylde Flowers is a particularly rare bloom.

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Procreate: “Art is for everyone“

The world-class design app has prioritized accessibility on its way to a second Apple Design Award.

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Designing “A Musical Story”

Press play on Charles Bardin’s rhythm game, and you might find yourself traveling back in time.

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A photo finish

Here’s how the Halide Mark II team brought the power of DSLR to iOS.

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The swing of things

Felix Bohatsch’s ADA-winning game took advantage of a novel approach to gameplay (and monkey movement).

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Meet the prototypers

Apple's prototyping team discusses useful prototypes, the value of outside feedback, and design best practices.

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2021

Developer spotlight: Watch Face by Facer

Ariel Vardi talks about bringing watch design to everyone and how to tell if an idea is truly original.

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Developer spotlight: Coral

Isharna Walsh chats about the advantages of being a first-time app creator and the challenges of being a groundbreaker.

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Developer spotlight: Rootd

Ania Wysocka discusses her own history, the power of perseverance, and building an app from scratch.

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Developer spotlight: Halide Mark II

Ben Sandofsky, Sebastiaan de With, and Rebecca Slatkin on bringing the power of DSLR to iOS.

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Developer spotlight: S’moresUp

Priya Rajendran and Reeves Xavier discuss the story behind S’MoresUp — and why things seem to go wrong on birthdays.

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Developer spotlight: Copilot Money

Andres Ugarte on when he knew Copilot Money was an idea he could bank on and why a CEO should always code.

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Developer spotlight: OK Play

Russo Johnson and Travis Chen talk about the importance of emotional learning — and helping families through difficult times.

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Developer spotlight: Caribu

Maxeme Tuchman talks about how Caribu has thrived, and why every founder should build a diverse team from day one.

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Developer spotlight: Bunpo Learn Japanese

How a request from a friend led Yuki Yamamoto to create a language-learning app.

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Developer spotlight: Prêt-à-Template

Roberta Weiand discusses her inspirations and how her app helps users find their creativity.

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Developer spotlight: Puppr

Michael Gao and Alice Mongkongllite on the power of cold-calling and taking things one step at a time.

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Developer spotlight: The Dyrt

Sarah Smith chats about transitioning from education to technology, the importance of starting slow, and why it pays to learn on the fly.

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Developer spotlight: Revry

Damian Pelliccione talks about the power of street marketing and what true representation looks like.

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Behind the Design: Pok Pok Playroom

Pok Pok Playroom offers switches to flip, gears to grind, blobs to plop together, and bells to ring — and those are just a handful of the animations designed to make the app feel like a tactile, handmade toy.

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Developer spotlight: SmartGym

Matt Abras on what drew him to Apple Watch, his Smart Trainer, and why you need to dream big.

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The reign of Carrot Weather

Learn how Brian Mueller harnessed the power of iPadOS to make a weather app for “meatbags” everywhere.

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Developer spotlight: Ladder

Don Le discusses the benefits of bugs, the virtues of journaling, and diversity in the self-care space.

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Developer spotlight: Noted

Terenze Yuen on his app’s growth and the challenge of getting artificial intelligence to understand with silence.

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Developer spotlight: CHANI

Chani Nicholas and Sonya Passi discuss the importance of creating a dialogue with your chart, and how all Geminis aren’t the same.

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Developer spotlight: Cone

Kushagra Agarwal on color temperatures, the design world, and picking ripe mangoes.

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Developer spotlight: SwingVision

Swupnil Sahai on the ease of Swift, the weirdness of tennis scoring, and the time he helped Andy Roddick find his iPhone.

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Developer spotlight: Apollo for Reddit

Christian Selig discusses finding his calling, what he’d do if he won the lottery, and the joy of coding in SwiftUI.

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Developer spotlight: Primer

When Adam Debreczeni needed to pick a new color for his office walls, he had an elegant solution. In fact, he’d invented it.

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Developer spotlight: Tangerine

Raphael Cruzeiro and Pedro Marques have been working together for eight years. The last time they saw each other in person was—well, eight years ago.

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Developer spotlight: Learn Math Facts

When Ran Flasterstein and Jody McLain started developing together, apps weren’t called apps yet.

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Developer spotlight: Fiftytwo

Three is a magic number.

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Developer spotlight: Tempo for Runners

An interview with Rahul Matta, as he prepped to run the Boston Marathon.

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Developer spotlight: Curio

Making sense of the news is more challenging than ever these days. Curio can help.

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Developer spotlight: 24me

Liat Mordechay Hertanu and her husband, Gilad, talk about the importance of asking for help and the power of “oops moments.”

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Developer spotlight: Ground News

Harleen Kaur on the inspiration for her app and the advantages of being an outsider.

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Developer spotlight: WakeOut!

Pedro Wunderlich on creating the App Store’s 2020 App of the Year.

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Developer spotlight: WaterMinder

Staying hydrated is like eating your vegetables: You know it’s a good idea, and you probably don’t do it enough. Kriss Smolka found a way to help.

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Developer spotlight: Streaks

If you’re a productivity-minded person, there’s only one thing better than crossing something off your to-do list: Crossing everything off your to-do list.

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Developer spotlight: MySwimPro

Sometimes a good idea hits you like a splash of cold water.

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2020

The evolution of the Duolingo owl

The meme-worthy green mascot has been with the company since its 2012 launch.

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“User experience in its truest form”

How Philipp Stollenmayer thought (way) outside the box for his Apple Design Award-winning game Song of Bloom.

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How Sky: Children of the Light took flight

Jenova Chen wants thatgamecompany to enhance human connection by expanding the range of emotional experiences possible in video games.

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House of cards

Sam Rosenthal’s Where Cards Fall began in a series of late-night coffee shop sessions and became a 2020 Apple Design Award winner.

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The music of WWDC

Developers have long found connection with music. Sam Rosenthal, Federico Viticci, and more talk about the sounds that move them.

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