Did Apple announce something new about Swift on iOS 26 that would actually brake old code?
Asked on 2025-08-29
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Apple announced several updates to Swift at WWDC, particularly with the release of Swift 6.2. One of the notable changes is the introduction of a feature called Strict Memory Safety, which requires explicit acknowledgment of unsafe APIs in the source code. This change is aimed at improving security by helping developers identify parts of their code that need extra attention from a security perspective.
Additionally, Swift 6.2 introduces a new language mode that provides data race safety guarantees, which may involve changes to your code. However, this new language mode is opt-in, meaning you can choose to adopt it when you're ready, and it allows for incremental migration. This means that while there are new features that could potentially affect existing code, they are not forced upon developers, allowing for a smoother transition.
For more details, you can refer to the session What’s new in Swift (30:28) where concurrency and language evolution are discussed.
What’s new in Swift
Join us for an update on Swift. We’ll talk about workflow improvements that make you more productive, and new and modernized library APIs for fundamental programming tasks. We’ll show examples of Swift adoption throughout more layers of the software stack. Finally, we’ll explore new language features for both improving approachability of concurrency, and achieving peak performance when you need it.
What’s new in UIKit
Modernize your app with the latest APIs in UIKit, including enhanced menu bar support, automatic observation tracking, a new UI update method, and improvements to animations. We’ll also cover how you can include SwiftUI scenes in your UIKit app and explore SF Symbols, HDR color pickers, and more.
Platforms State of the Union
Discover the newest advancements on Apple platforms.