W.W.D.C. 2026: The Pregame Quiz

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Tern up for what! They’ll never Ternus against each other! Okay. Sorry. I’m done now. But it is that time…

The 12th annual Swiftjective-C pregame quiz is here!

This year, I’m rolling with (mostly) 2026 news, updates, and shenanigans. No ā€œObjective-C without the Cā€ questions, or Steve Notes, or other Swiftjective-C staples of year’s past. This edition is all about stuff Cupertino & Friendsā„¢ļø have shipped, announced, clarified, regulated, re-org’d or otherwise made us all read release notes about this year.

If you want to warm up first, you’ve got eleven years of quiz backlog to spelunk through:

Ground Rules

There are three rounds, and the point break down is as follows:

  • Round 1 - 1 point each answer
  • Round 2 - 2 points each answer
  • Round 3 - 3 points each answer

The last question of each round is an optional wildcard question. Get it right, and your team gets 4 points, but miss it and the team will be deducted 2 points.

Round 1 - App Store Paperwork Speedrun

Nothing says pre-W.W.D.C. vibes quite like reading support docs, release notes and regulatory compliance copy. With that, let’s emotionally process App Store Connect together.

Question 1

In 2026, Apple detailed changes to iOS in Japan that created new options for developers, including alternative marketplaces and payment options. Which law are those changes designed to comply with?

Question 2

The App Review Guidelines got a February 2026 clarification that apps with random or anonymous chat are subject to which guideline?

Question 3

Before February 17, 2026, an App Store bundle had a very hall-monitor rule: every included app had to support the same platform as the primary app. For new bundles, what did Apple stop requiring?

Question 4

Apple's new monthly subscription with a 12-month commitment is basically an annual plan masquerading as a monthly sub. But, to me, that's not the oddest bit, it's the availability. Developers can offer it almost everywhere, but not in two storefronts. Which two are left out?

Wildcard

In March 2026, Apple quietly retired a tiny App Store Connect lever that developers used when they wanted to hand out a free in-app thing without creating a whole campaign around it. What went away?

Round 2 - Hardware and Tooling Side Quests

This year’s spring product and tooling cycle was inspired by…The Matrix? Let’s see who read the footnotes!

Question 1

iPhone 17e starts at the same $599 price as its predecessor, but Apple doubled the entry storage. What storage capacity does it start with?

Question 2

Apple's March 2026 retail update says the new fanless MacBook Neo starts at $599 and, somehow, runs on an iPhone chip. Which chip powers it?

Question 3

Hardware nerd alert question. The 2026 iPad Air with M4 brought two Apple-designed connectivity chips to the Air line. Which pair was it?

Question 4

MacBook Neo's color lineup looks like Apple put an iMac G3, some Starburst and a $599 price point in the same room. iPhone 5c vibes! Which of these is not one of the official colors?

Wildcard

Still on the Neo, Apple's marketing went fully TikTok fever dream for it: fruit, FaceTime and a laptop color called Citrus doing a lot of emotional work. And, I kinda dig it? In the clip that made r/apple take notice, which two fruits FaceTimed each other?

Round 3 - Coming Bright Up

The conference page is glowing, Apple Park attendees are afoot, and Tim Cook has a new title on deck.

Question 1

As we all converge for dub dub, there is a central rally point in San Jose where the Apple developer diaspora seems to materialize before the week kicks off. Where are the hallowed grounds where everyone first meets on Saturday, and sometimes Sunday, before W.W.D.C.?

Question 2

The last fully in-person San Jose dub dub before everything became a browser tab was W.W.D.C. 2019. At the Thursday night Bash in Discovery Meadow, which band took the stage and turned a field of badge-wearing developers into the world's most type-safe alt-rock crowd?

Question 3

Before John Ternus was demoing titanium and starring in everyone's Apple succession takes, his Penn senior project already had very Apple-coded hardware-meets-human-need feel. What did he build?

Question 4

This year's pre-W.W.D.C. tea-leaf reading has not been subtle: glowing Swift birds, Siri rings and now Apple DNS archaeology. A few weeks before the keynote, which dormant Apple subdomain kicked off another round of "oh, so it is AI season" chatter?

Wildcard

The Apple Design Awards are basically Cupertino's annual "yes, we noticed your pixels" ceremony. This year's finalists span six categories, but one of these is not on the 2026 list. Which one is the beautiful impostor?

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Answer Key

Round 1:

  1. B. The Mobile Software Competition Act. Apple says iOS 26.2 introduced the Japan changes to comply with the MSCA. 1
  2. B. Guideline 1.2, User-Generated Content. Random or anonymous chat now gets pulled under that umbrella. 2
  3. D. Apps in a bundle no longer need to support the same platform as the primary app for bundles created on February 17, 2026 or later. 3
  4. A. The United States and Singapore. Outside those two storefronts, monthly subscriptions can now have a 12-month commitment. 3
  5. Wildcard: C. Promo codes for In-App Purchases are no longer supported. Pour one out for the old tiny-code economy. 3

Round 2:

  1. C. 256GB. The 17e starts with double the previous generation’s entry storage. 4
  2. C. A18 Pro. Yes, the footnote really does say preproduction MacBook Neo systems with Apple A18 Pro. 5
  3. D. N1 and C1X. Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, Thread and cellular modem trivia all in one tidy pair. 6
  4. C. Sage. Apple lists MacBook Neo in silver, blush, citrus and indigo, which means Sage is the very tasteful impostor. 5
  5. Wildcard: A. A lime and a lemon. Sometimes product marketing is just a tiny citrus FaceTime call on main. 7, 8

Round 3:

  1. A. San Pedro Square Market. The 2026 pre-W.W.D.C. community gathering listing puts the ritual right at 87 N San Pedro St, patio and all. 13
  2. B. Weezer. W.W.D.C. 2019’s Bash at Discovery Meadow featured the multi-platinum alt-rock heroes themselves. 9
  3. A. A mechanical feeding arm controlled with head movements. Ternus’s Penn senior project was built for people with quadriplegia, which is vastly more interesting than another succession answer. 10
  4. C. genai.apple.com. A dormant Apple subdomain with ā€œgenaiā€ in the name is exactly the kind of nothing that becomes pre-W.W.D.C. something. 11
  5. Wildcard: C. Spatial Computing. It sounds like it should be a category, but the 2026 list is Delight and Fun, Inclusivity, Innovation, Interaction, Social Impact, and Visuals and Graphics. 12
Ā·Ā·Ā·

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