Apple's Swift Playgrounds updates with support for five more languages

Coming a day earlier than expected, Apple on Tuesday updated Swift Playgrounds for the iPad with support for five more languages, among them simplified Chinese.

The other new options are Japanese, French, German, and Latin American Spanish. There don't appear to be any other significant changes to the app, which is a free download and runs on iPads with iOS 10 or later.

Apple CEO Tim Cook teased the expanded language support earlier today, but implied it would arrive on Wednesday. The situation is likely attributable to the time difference between the U.S. and China.

Swift Playgrounds is meant to teach people the basics of programming in Apple's Swift language, used mainly for Mac and iOS apps. The app doesn't require any prior programming experience, and in fact guides learners as closely as possible with animations, a glossary, and a 3D world.

It also has hooks into iTunes U, and encourages people to build their own apps with an assortment of templates.

Separate Apple announcements on Tuesday included a (Product)Red iPhone 7, a new "budget" iPad, more Apple Watch bands, and extra storage on the iPhone SE. Its other app announcement was Clips, which will offer more complex video options for iPhone users when it debuts in April.