What is new with Swift 6

Asked on 03/14/2025

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Swift 6 introduces several new features and improvements that enhance the language's capabilities and developer experience. Here are some of the key updates:

  1. Non-Copyable Types: Swift 6 introduces non-copyable types, which suppress the default copyability of Swift types. This is useful for scenarios requiring unique ownership, such as managing system resources like files. Non-copyable types help prevent runtime issues like multiple writers to the same file and resource leaks. What’s new in Swift

  2. Data Race Safety: A significant feature in Swift 6 is the new language mode that provides compile-time data race safety. This mode is opt-in and helps diagnose concurrent access to memory, allowing developers to fix data race issues with minimal code changes. This feature is part of Swift's ongoing effort to improve concurrency safety. Platforms State of the Union

  3. Embedded Swift: Swift 6 introduces a new language subset called Embedded Swift, designed to run on highly constrained systems, expanding Swift's applicability to more environments. What’s new in Swift

  4. GitHub Organization: Swift is moving to a new organization on GitHub, which will include the Swift Compiler foundation and other ecosystem packages. This move aims to foster community growth and collaboration. What’s new in Swift

  5. Concurrency Improvements: Swift 6 builds on previous concurrency features like async/await and actors, providing full data race safety. This makes concurrent programming easier and safer by diagnosing potential issues at compile time. What’s new in Xcode 16

These updates make Swift 6 a more robust and versatile language, particularly in terms of safety and performance in concurrent programming.