Apple released the long-awaited Swift Playgrounds 4 last year, which let developers submit their projects directly from the iPad to the App Store for the first time. Now, Apple is inviting developers to try out the new Swift Playgrounds 4.1 Beta, which brings new features to iPad apps, especially Mac apps.
Swift Playgrounds is an Apple app that helps developers and students learn the company’s Swift programming language. With the iPad app, developers can also easily write code and submit their projects to Xcode or the App Store.
Swift Playgrounds is a revolutionary app for iPad and Mac that makes learning and experimenting with Swift fun – a powerful programming language created by Apple and used by professionals to build today’s most popular apps. Swift Playgrounds doesn’t require any coding knowledge, so it’s perfect for students just getting started.
With Swift Playgrounds 4, the iPad version of the app gains a host of new features, such as the ability to upload projects to App Store Connect, live app previews, and more. These features are now coming to the Mac in version 4.1, which will also allow developers to use the tool to create applications from scratch.
According to Apple, here are the main new features for the Mac version:
- Preview your app and see changes in real-time as you type (App items require macOS 12.4 Beta 2 or later).
- Run your application in its own window and install to the Applications folder Learn to build applications using the walkthroughs and examples provided by Apple.
- Submit your app to App Store Connect and distribute it using TestFlight.
- Enter quick inline code suggestions.
- Browse the library of SwiftUI controls, symbols, and colors.
- Use publicly available Swift packages.
- Search all files in the project.
- Open your new app project in Xcode.
As for the iPad version, Swift Playgrounds 4.1 beta adds a “Keep Going with Apps” tutorial to help developers who are learning SwiftUI. Developers can request access to the Swift Playground Beta via the Apple Developer website. Just go to the download page, click the Beta menu, and select the Apps tab. If the request is accepted, you will receive an invitation to TestFlight in an email.