Apple releases Xcode 13.2, new features hint toward Swift Playgrounds 4

A new update to Apple's Xcode integrated development environment suggests that Swift Playgrounds 4 may soon be on its way.

Today Apple released Xcode 13.2, providing SDKs for iOS 15.2, iPadOS 15.2, tvOS 15.2, WatchOS 8.3, and macOS Monterey 12.1 The new release features on-device debugging for iOS 9 and later, tvOS 9 and later, and watchOS 2 and later.

Additionally, under the New Features header, Apple has pointed out that the new Xcode update supports app projects created with Swift Playgrounds 4, which is not currently released.

Swift Playgrounds is Apple's development environment that teaches novice coders to write in Swift, Apple's custom coding language. Swift Playgrounds 3 was initially launched for the iPad in May 2019, while Swift Playgrounds 3.3 brought support for macOS in 2020.

Apple announced Swift Playgrounds 4 at WWDC 2021, showcasing features that would allow users to publish an app directly to the App Store from within Swift Playgrounds.

Xcode 13.2 also updates the Xcode Organizer feature, adding support for smart insights and notifications showing apps' power and performance metrics.

Metal gained new features, and TextureConverter 1.1 adds support for decompressing textures during build time, error metrics, and skipping compression when output textures are up to date.

The update also includes the expected bug fixes for known issues. To download the update, you'll need to make sure you're working on a Mac running macOS 13.3 Big Sur or later.