Apple aids app development with new intelligence frameworks and advanced tools

CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA — Apple today introduced new intelligence capabilities, expanded productivity features in Xcode, and platform improvements that make apps faster, more adaptive, and easier to build.

“Developers are at the heart of the Apple ecosystem, and our goal is to provide them with the best possible tools and technologies to build the future,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. “With new intelligence frameworks and agentic coding in Xcode 27, developers have the tools they need to focus on what they do best: bringing their incredible ideas to life.”

Intelligence Frameworks

With the latest enhancements to Apple Intelligence and the introduction of Siri AI, developers can make their apps’ content and capabilities more discoverable and accessible across the system. Updates to the App Intents framework enable developers to connect their apps to Siri AI capabilities like personal context understanding, app actions, and onscreen awareness.

New intelligence frameworks allow developers to build AI features into their apps more easily and flexibly, tapping into powerful models from Apple and others. Building on the Foundation Models framework introduced last year, developers gain new options to integrate AI into their apps. The framework now serves as a single native Swift API that supports more powerful on-device models with image input, support for server models, and the ability to build custom skills.

Using this API, developers can tap into the next generation of Apple Foundation Models, which were custom-built in collaboration with Google and its Gemini models to deliver integrated experiences across Apple platforms. Developers enrolled in the App Store Small Business Program with fewer than 2 million total first-time App Store downloads can access the next generation of Apple Foundation Models running on Private Cloud Compute at no cloud API cost. Developers can also easily leverage models of their choice, like Claude and Gemini, or those from any other provider that implements the new LanguageModel protocol. The framework also introduces Dynamic Profiles, enabling developers to update how models interact with their apps on the fly.

For developers who want to bring their own custom models into their app, Core AI is a brand-new framework designed to be the best way to run models on device. Core AI provides an architecture optimized for the unified memory and Neural Engine of Apple silicon, allowing developers to deploy full-scale LLMs locally.

Xcode 27 and Agentic Coding

Xcode is the best place to build for Apple platforms, and the best place to code with agents. Xcode 27 takes the next big step in agentic coding. This year’s release brings the full power of today’s best models and agents from Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI directly into a developer’s workflow. Conversations with coding agents feature interactive planning, multiturn Q&A, and a canvas that can render Markdown and display code changes and previews right alongside.

Xcode 27 also gives coding agents the tools to validate their own work, so they can run autonomously for longer, such as writing and running tests, trying ideas in isolation with Playgrounds, checking visual changes with previews, and interacting with the simulator in the new Device Hub.

With plug-ins, developers can extend Xcode with custom skills, bring in the tools they use every day through the Model Context Protocol, and connect any agent compatible with the Agent Client Protocol. GitHub and Figma are the first to offer seamless installation between their tools and Xcode.

In addition to coding intelligence, Xcode 27 delivers improvements across the board. The application is now Apple silicon only, 30 percent smaller, and delivers faster performance and a simpler setup process. Xcode Cloud is now up to 2x faster, with new support for apps that use Metal and for visionOS builds, all powered by Apple silicon.

Availability

Developer betas for iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, tvOS 27, visionOS 27, and Xcode 27 are available at developer.apple.com starting today. Apple Intelligence features are available only in supported regions.