Catching Up with the Apple Community before WWDC25

We had a good mix of people from all across the Apple community attend my Pre-WWDC25 Gathering in downtown San Jose. Like last year, I provided name tags and stickers, but this time I added a guide to help people self-identify:

🟢 Indie Developer / Freelance
🔵 Corporate Developer
🟡 Designer
🟠 Student
🩷 Educator¹
🔴 Apple
Press²

I’ve been hosting this gathering for the past two years, but I’ve been attending events in the Apple community for much longer—everything from Deep Dish Swift (the past two years) to iOSDevHappyHour, Core Coffee, Live near WWDC, and of course, WWDC itself, which I’ve been going to for many years. At this point, it’s getting hard to remember where I first met some folks—was it at Deep Dish Swift in Chicago, a Core Coffee meetup during WWDC, an online Zoom session for iOSDevHappyHour, or in the dim light at a Breakpoints concert? Regardless, it’s always great to reconnect with my cohort in the Apple community.

I overheard conversations about indie app projects, new job prospects, hopes and fears around what Apple will (or won’t) announce at WWDC, who scored a golden ticket to attend the event on Monday, and everyone’s plans for the rest of the week. From my vantage point as the host, everyone seemed to be having a great time at the event.

Photos

I only managed to snap a few photos during the event, as I spent most of the evening manning the sign-in table and welcoming people to the event. Next year I need to get a photographer to capture more action and group shots. Additional photos in my SmugMug gallery from the event here.

Looking ahead to WWDC26

Even though WWDC25 hasn’t started yet, I’m already thinking about next year’s Pre-WWDC26 Gathering. The patio outside the San Pedro Square Market along W. St. John Street has been a great venue these past four years (two of which I’ve hosted), so I plan to keep it there.

Based on this year’s crowd, I’ll likely add some new sticker categories next year for:

⭐ Apple Design Award winners
🎟️ WWDC lottery recipients

I’ll also include a reminder in next year’s invite encouraging attendees to dress for both warm and cool weather. It was toasty at the start of the event but got downright chilly by the end. A jacket, hoodie, and long pants are good choices if you plan to stay for the entire duration of the event.

It was especially windy at the beginning of the evening—most of which I spent at the sign-in table. I’ll definitely need to build a sturdier sign-in setup for next year!

Time to enjoy WWDC25

With the Pre-WWDC25 Gathering behind me, I’m looking forward to the rest of the week at WWDC25. I’ve read most of the rumors and I’m especially curious about the new design direction—and how it might affect the apps I currently have on the App Store. Automation is near and dear to my heart, so I’ll be keeping a close eye on any updates to Shortcuts and App Intents. I’m also hoping to build a day-one app for the new operating systems, so I’ll be watching the keynotes and session videos closely to see if there’s something worth building alongside updates to my existing apps.

Paul Hudson from Hacking with Swift has compiled a fantastic list of events happening this WWDC25 week. If you’re in town, maybe I’ll see you at one of them, such as the RevenueCat Barcade party this evening, the keynote streams at CommunityKit on Monday, the iOSDevHappyHour event on Tuesday, and the Breakpoints concert on Wednesday.