In this issue: my new app is available to preorder, I’m running special livestream workshops in October, there are Everything but the Code updates, and more…

Level up your SwiftUI: October 11th

On October 11th I’m running an interactive online workshop to help you write better SwiftUI code, and I hope you can join!

It's something I’ve run at several conferences worldwide, and the feedback is always very positive: it's clear, practical, and packed with takeaways you can use immediately.

We focus on issues such as:

Smarter code architecture
Clearer Swift and SwiftUI
Updating deprecated code
Internationalizing layouts
Creating consistent designs
Better UI and UX
Solid Xcode project structure

It’s accessible to all levels of SwiftUI developers – you can come and contribute as much as you want, or stay quiet and just watch if you prefer.

The workshop takes place at 10am UK time and then again at 5pm UK time, both on October 11th. Each session will last about three hours.

This workshop is free for all Hacking with Swift+ subscribers. You can attend either workshop or both, or if you can’t attend a transcript will be available a couple of days later. Links to the streams will be published on the HWS+ homepage a few days before the event.

Not a member yet? Join today and unlock this workshop plus the Swift Career Accelerator, book discounts, monthly live streams, and more.

If you want to level up your SwiftUI skills in just a few hours, this is the workshop you can’t afford to miss!

Subscribe to Hacking with Swift+

My new app is available to preorder!

Since June I’ve been working on a new app called Hacktivate, and it’s finally available to preorder.

Hacktivate gives you over 200 cybersecurity challenges that you need to solve using real-world computing skills – things like binary and hex, hashing and encryption, Unix terminals, steganography, and more.

It’s great for developers who want to test their skills, for parents who want to introduce kids to computing in a practical way, and of course for schools that have a computer science curriculum.

It’s all built with SwiftUI, so it’s been cross platform and native from day one.

Previously I made a video showing how some of the special effects were made with SwiftUI, but today I released a second video showing more details on how I brought the whole app down to iPhone size, and also how the Linux terminal challenges work.

You can find those videos here and here.

And if you’d like to preorder Hacktivate, you can do so here. You get the first 12 tutorial challenges free of charge, after which there’s a one-time unlock to get 200+ other challenges.

Let me know what you think!

Preorder Hacktivate

Updates on Everything but the Code

Three more chapters of my new book are out now, including the two most-anticipated: how to make money from your apps effectively, and how to optimize your App Store listing to maximize impressions and conversions. The tips in this book are an absolute gold mine for building your indie career!

There are still five more chapters yet to come, including preparing for launch and building an audience. My goal remains to deliver a new chapter every week, but there might be some delay in the next two weeks because I’ll be out of the country teaching workshops.

I really appreciate everyone who has shared such positive reviews of the book on social media – I’m glad it’s proving so useful! 🙌

Get Everything but the Code

Upcoming Hacking with Swift+ dates

The last two HWS+ live streams have focused on the big new features from iOS 26, with the first project teaching the new WebView API, and the second teaching AlarmKit.

I’m really happy to see folks actively building these stream projects into something that can be shipped on the App Store, and there’s still more to come – the next stream will be about Foundation Models!

The next stream dates are:

Saturday October 18th
Saturday November 15th
Saturday December 13th

News from friends

There’s still time to get tickets to two Swift events coming up soon:

Server-Side Swift takes place in possibly the coolest venue you can imagine: the IMAX theater in the London Science Museum!
Swift Connection takes place in possibly the second coolest venue you can imagine: an opera house in Paris!

Both events have a fantastic speaker line up, so if you’re looking to learn something new and spend time with other community members, go for it!

Discounts on books

Here's a reminder of the supporter's discount codes you can use to save money on all my books:

Pro SwiftUI: https://gum.co/pro-swiftui/hws-thankyou
Pro Swift: https://gum.co/proswift/hws-thankyou
SwiftUI By Example: https://gum.co/swiftui/hws-thankyou
SwiftData By Example: https://gum.co/swiftdata-by-example/hws-thankyou
Swift Concurrency By Example: https://gum.co/concurrency/hws-thankyou
Hacking with iOS: https://gum.co/hws-book-pack/hws-thankyou
Swift Design Patterns: https://gum.co/swift-design-patterns/hws-thankyou
Testing Swift: https://gum.co/testing-swift/hws-thankyou
Swift on Sundays Volume One: https://gum.co/swift-on-sundays-1/hws-thankyou
Swift Interview Challenges: https://gum.co/swiftcc/hws-thankyou
Dive Into SpriteKit: https://gum.co/dive-into-spritekit/hws-thankyou
Hacking with macOS: https://gum.co/hwmacos/hws-thankyou
Hacking with watchOS: https://gum.co/hwwatchos/hws-thankyou
Hacking with tvOS: https://gum.co/hwtvos/hws-thankyou
Hacking with Swift Live Series 1: https://gum.co/hws-live-1/hws-thankyou
Objective-C for Swift Developers: https://gum.co/objcswift/hws-thankyou
Beyond Code: https://gum.co/beyondcode/hws-thankyou

Remember, if you already bought books from either the Swift Power Pack, the Swift Platform Pack, or the Swift Plus Pack and want to upgrade to the full bundle, I can create a custom discount code for you that takes off whatever you already paid – just email me.

One more thing…

Literally every day I write the same email at least once. When people ask what books of mine they should buy to start learning, I reply with the following:

“Hello! Don’t spend any money. Start for free here: https://www.hackingwithswift.com/100/swiftui”

I write it so often I even made a keyboard shortcut for it! I know buying stuff feels good, but learning to code isn’t about owning more books – it’s about writing more code.

It’s so easy to hope there’s a shortcut out there, and certainly I think modern AI tools do a pretty good job of making it look like there are shortcuts to be had, but nothing solves problems more effectively than sitting down, opening Xcode, and using your skills.

This is such an exciting time to be building software, and with iOS 26 bringing another wave of improvements things just aren’t slowing down. But you do need to actually get the work done – writing the code, yes, but also shipping the code, and doing the marketing too.

Go and get it!

Paul

🚀 The Swift AI Playbook is here, with an early access discount!

Hacking with Swift Newsletter: December 2025

Hacking with Swift Newsletter: November 2025

🔥 The Hacking with Swift Black Friday sale is here!

Hacking with Swift Newsletter: October 2025

See all posts from Paul Hudson