Apple’s annual Swift Student Challenge recognises the best in student coding, and this year, it has added a new category to its ranks. Out of 350 winning submissions, 50 students have been named Distinguished Winners for building app playgrounds that stand out for their innovation, creativity, social impact or inclusivity.
The winning app playgrounds in 2024 represent more than 35 countries and regions, and cover topics as varied as healthcare, sports, entertainment and the environment. And all the winners have one thing in common: they are using coding to share their passions with the world.
Here, five winners from Southeast Asia – Thach Ho, Nadya Tyandra, Tongyu Jiang, Patcharada Tawaditap and Apiphoom Chuenchompoo – share the inspiration behind their projects.
Thach Ho
Age: 22
Country: Vietnam
Award: Challenge Winner
Winning Swift playground: Mindful Eating encourages users to savour their food and eat with purpose using a gamified approach.
Inspiration: His own tendency to rush through meals. Incorporating elements of meditation, Ho uses thoughtful prompts to help users focus on each bite and record personal reflections after eating.
How he learned to code: Through Harvard University’s CS50: Introduction to Computer Science online course, during the pandemic.
Focusing techniques: Find a distraction-free environment, set clear goals and break up your tasks into smaller steps. Apply the Pomodoro technique and take a five-minute break after every 25 mintues of work. And minimise digital distractions by setting up a Focus on your device.
Advice for beginners: Stay curious and be open to learning new languages, tools and frameworks.
Nadya Tyandra
Age: 21
Country: Indonesia
Award: Distinguished Winner
Winning Swift playground: Circuit Craze helps users gain a deeper understanding of series and parallel electricity circuits, as well as the concept of total resistance, through interactive visual simulations.
Inspiration: Her childhood memories of tackling electrical issues with her father.
How she learned to code: As a Computer Science major in university.
Focusing techniques: List all your tasks, prioritise them, find a quiet place and implement the Pomodoro technique.
Advice for beginners: Be curious, observe more and avoid making assumptions. Don’t forget that execution matters when it comes to creating apps. Try to adopt the user’s perspective, pay close attention to details and choose your ideas wisely.
Tongyu Jiang
Age: 18
Country: Singapore
Award: Distinguished Winner
Winning Swift playground: Tambourine Story turns your iPad into a musical instrument. Shake it to make jingling sounds – just like you would with a real tambourine.
Inspiration: Her music and collaborations with her bandmates. This app captures her band rehearsal experiences, when sounds come together to make her feel like she is part of something special and bigger than herself.
How she learned to code: Through online courses since the age of nine.
Focusing techniques: Set up a cosy and comfortable environment; music helps. Adopt the Pomodoro technique and try to break your to-dos down to smaller tasks. Don’t feel guilty about taking a nap if your body needs it.
Advice for beginners: Try to get feedback throughout the app’s development process. Accepting the minimum viable product if deadline is approaching. Don’t forget to have fun.
Patcharada Tawaditap
Age: 17
Country: Thailand
Award: Distinguished Winner
Winning Swift playground: Homo-Sapiens teaches children about human evolution through experiences such as cave painting and starting a fire with rocks. The app’s coding, graphic design and songwriting were all done on iPad.
Inspiration: Her struggles with rote memorisation when studying history and social studies. Homo-Sapiens combines education and entertainment, helping users learn by doing.
How she learned to code: By block coding, starting in primary school.
Focusing techniques: Plan well within the limited time frame.
Advice for beginners: Make ideas come to live. Focus on observing user experiences; different groups of users have different ways of interacting with the app.
Apiphoom Chuenchompoom
Age: 20
Country: Thailand
Award: Distinguished Winner
Winning Swift playground: FitJourney uses movement tracking to guide users through personalised workouts and rehabilitation exercises.
Inspiration: His wish to help his grandfather rehabilitate with exercises that can prevent pressure sores.
How he learned to code: Self-taught using Apple Developer resources.
Focusing techniques: Split each task into smaller pieces. Listening to lo-fi music helps too.
Advice for beginners: Find what it is that drives you, whether it’s your passion or a problem you’re trying to solve. If you get stuck while coding, ask for help from the community. Coding is all about lifelong learning, so don’t give up.