Swift Playgrounds

Swift Playgrounds is a revolutionary app for iPad that helps you learn and explore coding in Swift, the same powerful language used to create world-class apps for the App Store. Engaging lessons and challenges help you learn the core concepts of coding by writing real Swift and iOS code in an interactive environment designed for touch.

Downloading and updating

The current release of Swift Playgrounds is available as a free download from the App Store. The App Store will notify you when an update is available or you can have iOS update it automatically. If you have an issue downloading or updating Swift Playgrounds, contact Apple Support.

Using older content after updating Swift Playgrounds

After updating to a new version of Swift Playgrounds, the app may attempt to update your existing playground documents to work seamlessly with this new version. Normally, this happens transparently. For the playground to be updated, it must be on the device when the app launches.

If you have a playground in iCloud, but not on the device, then that playground will not be updated until it's downloaded. A similar situation can arise if you receive an older playground via AirDrop or email. In both cases, these playgrounds will be updated after Swift Playgrounds fully closes and is then relaunched.

To trigger the update manually, force the Swift Playgrounds app to close and then relaunch it. Swift Playgrounds will then update all the playgrounds you have stored on your iPad. Learn how to force an app to close

In rare cases, you'll need to create a new version of the playground using the “New Playground” button. This will retrieve the latest version of the playground that's compatible with your version of Swift Playgrounds.

Providing feedback and reporting bugs

Your feedback goes a long way toward making Swift Playgrounds even better. With Feedback Assistant, you can report issues or request enhancements to Swift Playgrounds. Make sure to attach detailed information about issues, including the system and version information, and any relevant crash logs or console messages.

Note: Swift Playgrounds includes playground documents that don't bear the Apple brand name and are published by third parties. These playgrounds are supported exclusively by their publishers in accordance with their terms and conditions. Please contact the publisher directly for technical support and customer service.

Error loading featured content

When running an older version of Swift Playgrounds, you may encounter the following error message when trying to download new playground documents:

Error — There was an error loading Featured content.

To resolve this issue, update to the latest versions of Swift Playgrounds from the App Store.

Resources and help

View documentation and forums on how to use Swift Playgrounds to teach coding.