WWDC 2025 Survival Guide
A Special Issue for WWDC25
WWDC is the time of year when iOS developers are most likely to be overwhelmed by information. I'll share my coping strategies in this article.
This article was originally written for iOS Developer+ members, my Patreon column that shares advanced iOS development insights in Chinese. I've translated it into English for the broader community.
Although my paid column is only available in Chinese, I also publish an English version of my Apple Developer Weekly newsletter. Feel free to subscribe for curated updates.
Survival Goal
Whether your role is engineer, developer, or simply a user curious about Apple's new technologies, among the hundreds of new things Apple announces at WWDC, our core question is: "What should we do next?"
Using this perspective to prioritize, you'll find filtering information much easier. It can also reduce information anxiety and FOMO damage.
In the past, when I worked as an iOS engineer at companies, I would prepare key reports for colleagues every year during WWDC from three perspectives:
Available new technologies
Changes in design and user experience
Business impact
As iOS engineers, we understand Apple far more thoroughly than colleagues in other departments. If you can quickly organize key points from the above perspectives and share them, helping colleagues prepare for the arrival of the new iOS version, you should be able to leave a deep impression.
The Value of iOS Engineers
I believe that if you work at a company, during WWDC, there are two things that can highlight your value:
Quickly grasp the impact of Apple policies on the company and report to relevant colleagues to respond to possible business impact. This takes priority over focusing on new technologies
Prepare early for technical problems that can't be solved (especially those you think are likely Apple bugs), and schedule one-on-one Labs during WWDC to request help from Apple engineers
Preparing for Business Impact
Apple usually announces new policies due to user privacy mechanisms or new features and updates App Store Review Guidelines, forcing developers to adjust and respond within a deadline, otherwise updates won't be approved.
Past examples include: Sign In with Apple, IDFA, Privacy Labels, Privacy Manifest, etc. Some of these mechanism changes require backend development, some need PM assistance to clarify, and some may even affect the entire business model. They must be treated with caution.
On the positive side, new features and technologies introduced by Apple may also help develop company business. You should seize opportunities and fight for research time.
In my view, excellent iOS engineers don't just develop apps that meet requirements with elegant performance. More importantly, they can proactively raise issues that affect the company and arrange countermeasures early. This is very helpful for building your professional image.
If you're an independent developer or contract worker, understanding Apple's new policies is also necessary homework. Privacy policies won't only affect enterprise developers.
Apple usually publishes App Store policy updates on the Apple Developer News website with titles like "Updated guidelines now available". Additionally, Upcoming Requirements is also a page to watch frequently.
Changes in Design and User Experience
Every year iOS and various platforms have some visual and user experience changes.
There are rumors that this year all platforms' home screens will change to a glass-like interface similar to visionOS, and enable circular app icons.
Regardless of the truth of these matters (we'll find out soon anyway), we can recall when iOS 18 was released last year, the home screen added dark app icons and tinted coloring modes, which suddenly created two more icon specifications to support.
Launching new icons isn't just about changing background colors - designers need time to research the actual effects on the new iOS version. In such situations, you can inform designer colleagues early to respond.
Although designers also pay attention to WWDC, as the implementer, you usually grasp details earlier. Changes will be made in this year will surely be even more so.
For visual design or user experience related updates, you can see them on the What's New page of HIG.
Technical Aspects: What Problems Are Solved
This will be the core topic of repeated research and discussion with iOS engineer colleagues over the next few months.
I usually organize research priorities by several levels:
New Xcode Beta versions, because they can be downloaded and played with immediately, and subsequent Beta versions are released on average every two weeks. Xcode's Release Notes must be read carefully
New iOS APIs, if there are breaking changes. New version Release Notes must also be read carefully
New Swift syntax and features are usually not urgent. New Swift versions won't have breaking changes - even Swift 6 released last year isn't mandatory (you can modify Language Mode back to v5). If you're interested in new Swift versions, you should have already seen news about Swift 6.1 and 6.2. Swift Evolution is open source, so there's actually no urgency
Updates to individual SDKs or frameworks. This depends on which tools your current project uses
Regardless of the technology, the most critical evaluation criterion is still: "What problems can this solve for our current projects?" (Or, what problems does it cause...)
You can also take this opportunity to discuss with PMs when it's appropriate to stop supporting older iOS versions. This question relates not only to the age of technologies used, but also to the characteristics of the project's users.
(I once worked at a company specializing in IT equipment, where the app was for IT personnel. Users had extremely high software upgrade rates, so the iOS app only needed to support the previous iOS version and above.)
Besides watching Keynote and Platforms State of Union videos, you can also explore through official website documentation. I recommend bookmarking these links:
What's new for Apple Developers is a page I think friends who aren't that familiar with individual Apple SDKs can scan through first
For senior iOS developers, Apple puts all documentation updates in Updates and the next level WWDC24, presumably there will be WWDC25 this year. I think it's a great entry point
There are also Technotes, which are many articles on more independent topics that developers must read
As for Xcode and various platform Release Notes, that's basic skill. As I said before:
If after a new version is released, you find that iOS team colleagues aren't reading release notes at work, then it means... you should go read them😂
Everyone's time is limited, so through this explanation, you should have better learning priorities.
However, I also often say: "The most efficient time for learning is when you're interested." So if there's something you're really interested in, it's okay to let yourself get temporarily lost.
Rumors and Previews
It's said that the next generation iOS, macOS, etc. will all change to start from version 26; or the visual style will change to a glass interface, etc. I usually treat rumors about new iOS versions as just listening and forget, because after they're actually released and we see API documentation, we'll know what really needs to be done.
For known preview information, you can check Swift 6.2 and Swift Evolution.
Also, Apple has always previewed future Accessibility features on Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). For details, see my report in Apple Developer Weekly #230 and the official press release.
WWDC Day 1: Labs Are Most Important
The first day always has the Keynote and Platforms State of Union presentations.
For viewing, besides the Apple website, you can also watch on YouTube.
The morning Keynote is for "outsiders watching the excitement" - content for global audiences interested in Apple.
The moment the Keynote ends, go book one-on-one Labs first, because popular Labs like design-related ones often get booked up immediately.
Even without a specific bug in mind, it’s still worth booking a Lab. Remember, WWDC week is the only week of the year when Apple has many engineers stop their development work to listen to developer feedback. So don't underestimate the value of Labs.
Show your side projects to Apple engineers and hear their feedback!
After booking Labs, you can then download new Xcode and platform SDK beta versions. Whether to install and how to install, we'll discuss later.
The afternoon Platforms State of Union is for "insiders seeing the details" - for developers to know what API and SDK updates there actually are.
Then, Sessions for the following days will open with names and time slots. Since recordings are pre-recorded and can be played repeatedly, there's no rush to watch. Follow your own pace, pick what interests you, or divide and watch with colleagues.
Labs still have the most time urgency.
Leveraging Community Resources for Better Organization Efficiency
No matter how anxious you are to know about Apple's new announcements, there are definitely people more anxious than you. And their time zones might be more friendly than most readers of this article (I'm in Taiwan).
So, welcome to leverage community power, because truly important things always appear repeatedly - don't worry about missing them.
WWDC Notes is Session notes written with community effort. You can reference previous note styles to get an idea.
If you usually maintain a Twitter account and follow some developers, then during WWDC reading tweets should be enough. You can also join iPlayground's Discord or weak self podcast's Discord which are both communities in Taiwan to participate in discussions.
Of course, subscribing to my Apple Developer Weekly ensures you won’t miss the key takeaways, just with a slight delay.
Using AI for Collection and Output, Not Inquiry
The reason I specifically write this WWDC survival guide this year and emphasize "2025 Edition" is because this year we have many practical AI note-taking tools, making strategies for organizing new knowledge and notes very different from before.
I use ChatGPT every week to help collect massive amounts of new information, then export outlines to write Apple Developer Weekly. During the Keynote and Platforms State of Union, you might see 30 messages in one hour. In such situations, it's even more suitable to use AI tools for organization.
I won't introduce various different tools, but will use ChatGPT as an example:
First, download ChatGPT's Mac app
Register an account and log in
Create a new project named WWDC25
Project-level instructions can simply say: "This project is used to collect WWDC news. Unless asked to organize, don't respond too much. When asked to organize, use technology, design (user experience), and business (including mandatory policy changes) as main categories."
Next, whenever you see WWDC-related news, whether it's a line of text, an image, video screenshot, or a tweet, you can throw it into this collection project
You can continue using the same conversation
You can also paste various text and images in Apple Notes, then paste to ChatGPT at once. However, this will mess up the input order of images
If you're not familiar with screenshot functions on macOS, I strongly recommend learning them. The built-in selection screenshot shortcut is Cmd + Shift + 4, and you can use spacebar to select the window where the cursor is located (I personally use Cleanshot X and set the same shortcut). After screenshotting, directly drag to ChatGPT's conversation window for recording
Don't forget you can also use the ChatGPT app on iPhone to continue conversations
This way, you have an information collector that can mindlessly throw in various information and your own thoughts.
When you need to organize, ask ChatGPT to output, and it can categorize by technology, design, and business impact.
You can even discuss priorities and your next work steps with AI tools.
The simplest way is to copy and paste this entire article to ChatGPT for reference!
To learn more about using AI as a planning tool, I wrote an article in the iOS Developer+ column: 🪓Setting Goals, Breaking Down Tasks and Tracking Progress - iOS Development AI Assistance Tool #9, welcome to subscribe (but it's in Chinese).
I don't recommend using AI tools to inquire about WWDC news. AI tools aren't good at crawling Apple's latest official documents and materials. In the first moments when humans are still trying to figure things out, reading human discussions will be faster than asking AI.
These questions can also include problems you encounter in new iOS versions. Let's talk about Beta version installation considerations below.
Installing Beta Versions
All Beta versions will be available after the Keynote ends. At that time, new Xcode versions might not be installable using Xcodes yet, so I recommend downloading from the Apple Developers Download page.
Please note that having multiple Xcode versions on one Mac is very normal. Just use the xcode-select command to switch which version the toolchain uses. To simplify operations, I highly recommend using the Xcodes app.
Why install Beta iOS? There are three main reasons:
Play with new iOS features
Experiment with new APIs
Ensure existing apps don't break
From personal interest perspective, I think 1 > 2 > 3, but from work importance perspective, it should be 3 > 2 > 1.
You may have heard suggestions like: don't install Beta versions on personal devices, better to install on test devices, don't recommend logging into personal iCloud accounts on Beta systems, prepare a separate development iCloud account, etc.
Yes, these are all very rational suggestions. But in reality many people still directly upgrade their iPhones to Beta 1, including myself, haha.
Just remember, installing Betas on your personal devices is always at your own risk 😅
Don't forget while trying new things, still check how your current projects run on new Xcode and iOS versions.
Testing Beta Versions
What exactly should we test to "ensure existing apps don't break"?
A more reasonable approach is to prepare test devices with Beta system installed, compile and install using Beta Xcode, then give to QA colleagues for regression testing.
If resources are insufficient or you're a one-person developer, you'll have to do it yourself.
I wrote an article (in Chinese) years ago: ♟️Xcode and iOS Compatibility Testing Strategy Analysis. Times are different, but strategies remain the same. Welcome to reference.
One more thing to remind: many experienced developers have said that if you don't report bugs around Beta 2, they usually can't be fixed in time for the official .0 release. From this perspective, Beta 1 is most important. If you find problems in Beta 1, you can immediately report them in one-on-one Labs.
Conclusion: Pre-preparation Checklist
At the end of this article, let's confirm what preparation work can be done:
Confirm your developer account can log in normally
To prepare for watching Sessions, download Developer app on Mac and iOS devices, or subscribe to @AppleDeveloper YouTube channel
You can now register for Group labs. I reminded everyone about this in Apple Developer Weekly two weeks ago. It seems similar to Digital Lounge from past years
If you currently have bugs or technical problems to ask about, you need to rush to book one-on-one Labs after the Keynote ends. So don't go to sleep immediately after the Keynote ends, and it's not about downloading Beta versions, but booking! Because popular Labs will be snatched up instantly
If you want to book Labs, submit Feedback first and prepare Feedback IDs, so you can directly give Apple engineers relevant information when you get Labs
If you want to participate in any Labs, download Cisco Webex in advance - this is Apple's officially designated online meeting software. It's best to familiarize yourself with usage and permission settings
Upgrade macOS to the latest official version to welcome new Xcode beta. Because usually new Xcode betas require the latest version of the previous macOS
If there are enough test devices among colleagues, assign which ones to upgrade to new iOS beta (you might also be developing tvOS or visionOS apps, but I'll write iOS for everything)
Set up ChatGPT project specifically for collecting and discussing WWDC impact and subsequent planning
Familiarize yourself with Mac screenshot functions for quickly capturing screens and throwing into AI tools
Confirm the whole week's calendar and arrange rest time, because participating in Labs might require staying up late
I think the key to surviving WWDC is not how much information you absorb, but having clear goals and steady pace to guide your future work direction. Although WWDC is only one week, there's still much preparation work before the official iOS release.
I hope this guide helps you approach WWDC 2025 with more clarity and confidence, and sleep better knowing you're not missing anything crucial.
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And if you know someone overwhelmed by WWDC, send this their way!