June 8, 2026
PRESS RELEASE
Apple accelerates app development with new intelligence frameworks and advanced tools
New APIs for integrating AI models and extended agentic coding in Xcode 27 give developers powerful new ways to build and refine their apps
TORONTO, ONTARIO Apple today introduced new intelligence capabilities, expanded productivity features in Xcode, and platform enhancements that make apps faster, more adaptive, and easier to build.
“Developers are the core of the Apple ecosystem and our goal is to provide them with the best possible tools and technologies to build the future,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. “With new intelligence frameworks and agentic coding in Xcode 27, developers have the tools they need to focus on what they do best: bringing their incredible ideas to life.”
Intelligence frameworks
With the latest improvements to Apple Intelligence and the introduction of Siri AI, developers can make the content and capabilities of their apps more discoverable and accessible across the system. Updates to the App Intents framework enable developers to connect their apps with Siri AI capabilities like personal context insights, app actions, and screen awareness to help their users get more done.
New intelligence frameworks make it easier and more flexible for developers to build AI features into their apps, leveraging powerful models from Apple and others. Building on the Foundation Models framework introduced last year, developers will have new opportunities to integrate AI into their apps. The framework now serves as a single native Swift API that supports more powerful on-device models with image input, server model support, and the ability to build custom skills.
Using this API, developers can leverage next-generation Apple Foundation Models, which are custom-built in partnership with Google and its Gemini Models to deliver integrated experiences across Apple platforms. To ensure that developing with large language models is as accessible as possible for those just getting started in AI, developers enrolled in the App Store Small Business Program with fewer than 2 million total initial App Store downloads have access to next-generation Apple Foundation models running on Private Cloud Compute, with no cloud API fees. Developers can also easily use models of their choice, such as Claude and Gemini, or those from another provider that implements the new language model protocol. To help developers create adaptive AI experiences more easily and flexibly, the framework also introduces capabilities such as dynamic profiles, which allow developers to instantly update the way models interact with their apps.
For developers who want to bring their own custom models into their app, Core AI is a brand new framework designed to be the best way to run models on devices. Core AI provides an architecture optimized for Apple Silicon’s unified memory and Neural Engine, allowing developers to deploy local LLMs at full scale.
Xcode 27 and Agent Coding
Xcode is the best place to build for Apple platforms, and the best place to code with agents. Xcode 27 takes the next big step in agentic coding. This year’s release brings the full power of today’s best models and agents from Anthropic, Google and OpenAI directly into a developer’s workflow. Conversations with coding agents include interactive planning, multi-turn Q&A, and a canvas that can display Markdown and display code changes and previews right next to it.
Xcode 27 also gives coder agents the tools to validate their own work so they can work autonomously for longer, such as writing and running tests, trying out ideas individually with Playgrounds, checking visual changes with previews, and interacting with the simulator in the new Device Hub.
Plugins allow developers to extend Xcode with custom skills, use the tools they use every day through the Model Context Protocol, and connect to any agent that is compatible with the Agent Client Protocol. GitHub and Figma are the first to offer seamless installation between their tools and Xcode.
In addition to coding intelligence, Xcode 27 delivers improvements across the board. The application is now exclusively Apple silicon, 30 percent smaller, and delivers faster performance and an easier installation process. It’s also more customizable than ever, with a fully customizable toolbar and a new theme system that includes colors across the editor.
Xcode Cloud is now up to 2x faster, with new support for apps using Metal and for visionOS builds, all powered by Apple Silicon.
Sophisticated design and UI frameworks
Liquid Glass offers a unified visual design that makes apps more expressive and instantly familiar on Apple platforms. This year the design continues to evolve, with improvements in readability, customizability and consistency. A new transparency slider in Settings lets users personalize their visual experience by tailoring the appearance to their preferences, while the design also seamlessly adapts to a variety of accessibility settings that users can choose.
SwiftUI is designed to handle the complexities of layout, animation, and platform integration, so developers can focus on what makes their app unique. This year, SwiftUI makes apps more responsive without developers having to change their code through more efficient state initialization and faster layout rendering. Developers can now write less custom code using new, reordered containers, and the new Spatial Preview framework allows 3D models from Mac apps to be viewed spatially when streamed to Apple Vision Pro.
Swift unifies full-stack development, delivering the speed, expressiveness, and memory safety developers need to build everything from full-featured mobile apps and embedded firmware to platforms outside the Apple ecosystem. It prioritizes usability and an intuitive syntax, allowing developers to easily iterate on their ideas while the compiler discovers errors along the way. Building on this foundation, Swift 6.4 is designed to make everyday tasks feel effortless. It streamlines the everyday developer experience by introducing targeted alert suppression, simplified availability features such as “anyAppleOS” and improved compiler diagnostics.
Gaming tools and resources
For game and space developers, new tools and resources will make it easier to bring high-quality titles to Apple platforms and provide players with seamless experiences.
- Managed background assets reduce game install size by introducing intelligent, localized delivery. The system now automatically identifies a player’s preferred language and downloads only the specific asset packs needed for that language, falling back to the closest language if necessary. Additionally, a new Steam Asset Converter streamlines the process of customizing PC games for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS and visionOS.
- Game porting toolkit 4 accelerates Mac game development by introducing open source skills for use with agents, equipping them with Apple-specific best practices for Metal development, and dramatically reducing the time it takes to bring games to Apple platforms.
- Official Unity plugins bring native Apple integration to one of the most popular game engines. Developers now have access to Apple-provided plug-ins for StoreKit and Background Assets, allowing them to implement in-app purchases across all Apple platforms within their existing Unity workflow.
- Reality Composer Pro 3 allows developers to build complete spatial experiences in a single tool. With new Live Previews combined with Mac Virtual Display, developers can now see the results of their edits immediately as they make them.
Availability
- Developer betas for iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, tvOS 27, visionOS 27, and Xcode 27 are available at developer.apple.com from today.
- Apple Intelligence features are only available in supported regions.
About Apple
Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the way in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods, Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro. Apple’s six software platforms – iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, visionOS and tvOS – deliver seamless experiences across all Apple devices and provide people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, iCloud and Apple TV. Apple’s more than 150,000 employees are committed to making the world’s best products and leaving the world better than we found it.
Press Contacts
Josh Zeliger
Apple
(647) 537-7244
Cortney Hughes
Apple
(647) 943-4562
