Exploring Conferences: Preparing for WWDC 2026!
Tomorrow, I will land at the San Francisco International Airport for the fifth time to explore Cupertino and meet developers from around the world.
Every year, WWDC means something a little different to me. I went back in 2019 as a scholar, tagged along with the community in 2023 when I did not get the golden ticket, and spent 2024 and 2025 representing India at the leadership meetup. This year feels like the best one yet because I have something I can proudly scream about from the top of Apple Park:
Also, I am hosting one of the coolest events during WWDC week: the AiOS Meetup!
The goals for this year's iOS dev pilgrimage are:
- Resist (and inevitably fail) the urge to brick a device with the iOS 27 beta on day one
- Go deep on everything Apple Intelligence, the Foundation Models framework, and on-device AI
- Host an AiOS Meetup worth flying across the world for
- Meet new people, and catch up with the old ones. This is always the highlight.
WWDC 2026 runs from June 8 to 12, with the keynote on Monday morning. As always, Apple is holding it online with an in-person special event at Apple Park on keynote day. This is shaping up to be the AI year, the one where Siri and Apple Intelligence finally have to deliver.
This time I am also arriving a couple of days early and staying at a place barely ten minutes from Apple HQ, so I have no excuse to miss the early-morning events or blame the jet lag.
6th June: Happy Hour Across the Street
The official-unofficial start to my WWDC week is the happy hour hosted by Runway.
Like every year, it is across the street from Apple Park around 6:30 PM, this time at the Duke of Edinburgh, the one British pub that has been around almost as long as Apple itself. I plan to reach early to wander around the Visitor Center, then head over for drinks and the first round of familiar faces.
7th June: A Run, Coffee, a Reception, and a Bashcade
Like last year, I will go on a Run & Walk with Ctrl+Alt+Run at 7:30 AM from Philz Coffee in Cupertino. A morning walk with developers is either the best or the worst way to fight jet lag, and I am about to find out.
Run & Walk with Ctrl+Alt+Run – WWDC 2026 Edition
After the run, I will head over to Core Coffee – WWDC Edition at Voyager Craft Coffee in San Jose. No agenda, just coffee, jet lag, and last-minute keynote predictions with the community.
Before the evening kicks off comes the official start: the WWDC Welcome Reception at Apple's Infinite Loop campus. This is where we check in, pick up the special event badge, and mingle with the community ahead of keynote day. I encourage you to reach an hour early, mostly so you can post about the pins and swag a bit earlier and get the clout on socials, ha.
In the evening, the week truly begins. I made it into RevenueCat's Pre-WWDC Bashcade at Miniboss in downtown San Jose, with arcade games, free food and drinks, and a pinball tournament!
Later, I will swing by the #WWDCScholars Meetup over at CommunityKit. Catching up with the scholars and Swift Student Challenge winners is half the reason I keep showing up.
8th June: Keynote Day and Some Stars
DUB DUB DEE CEE.
I still have those words echoing because that is how you are greeted in the morning, registering for the special event at Apple Park. This time, with everyone waiting to see if Apple finally gets Siri right, I am walking in more curious than I have been in years.
Those few hours will set the tone for the rest of my year.
For everyone watching together, iOSDevHappyHour hosts the Keynote Watch Party at CommunityKit, followed by the State of the Union watch party in the afternoon.
At night, Students, Swift, St★rs returns to cheer on the scholarship winners and meet some of the talented individuals behind this year's projects. They always keep me humble to the ground.
9th June: Apple Park and a Mansion
I am confirmed for the Apple developer session at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, a second morning on campus after the keynote. Apple also invited us to an afternoon of food and community at the nearby Apple Developer Center, but the rest of my day already has other plans.
The afternoon and evening belong to RevenueCat's Mansionparty. They have changed (and upgraded) the venue about three times now, which is a very RevenueCat thing to do, and it has finally landed at a private estate in Hillsborough with vineyard views, roughly twenty minutes south of San Francisco.
It runs from 1 to 9 PM, and the format is the whole appeal: no panels, no sponsors, no lanyards, just a chef, a swanky mansion, and the people in it. Here is how I will spend it:
- 1–5 PM: drop-in co-working in the mansion, where I will actually try to ship some cool open-source packages
- 5–6 PM: food and drinks from the on-site chef
- 6–7 PM: lightning talks from fellow attendees
- 7–9 PM: networking until they kick us out
This might be my favourite kind of WWDC event, the small and low-key kind where everyone is actually building something.
RevenueCat Mansionparty: WWDC Edition
10th June: A Community Lunch and a Developer Meetup
This is honestly one of the highlights of my year: the Apple Community Lunch at the Apple Developer Center. It is a small, invite-only session where Apple gets a handful of community folks in a room to hear our feedback, and I am still a bit surprised they asked me.
In the evening, I head back to the Apple Developer Center for the Apple Developer Community Meetup. Doors open at 6 for check-in, community talks run from 7 to 8 PM, and then it is networking until 10. Two trips to the Developer Center in one day, a lunch and a meetup, and I am not complaining.
11th June: AI, AI and AiOS
This is the day. Last year I called it "AI, AI and AI." This year, it finally has a name.
The morning has Swift Small Talks, the Code Crawl, and Vapor @ WWDC for the server-side folks. There is also another round of Core Coffee on the Apple Park Visitor Center patio.
And then, from 4 to 8 PM, the moment I have been looking forward to for a year: the AiOS Meetup – WWDC '26 Edition, which I am hosting with Ronald and Ray at the Residence Inn.
It is a casual evening to talk about the new Apple Intelligence APIs, the Foundation Models framework, Xcode's AI features, MLX, and to gently rant about whatever Apple did or did not ship.
The rough plan for the night:
- Welcome from Ray Fernando
- Short talks where Ronald and I recap the week's AI announcements and dig into what Apple shipped on Monday
- An amazing talk from Peter Friese of Google that you do not want to miss
- A special guest talk from Awni Hannun
- A fireside chat with Ray and the speakers
- Then networking and drinks for the rest of the night
Please come say hi.
AiOS Meetup – WWDC '26 Edition
12th June: Winding Down
On the last day, I head back to San Francisco, finally heads-down with the new SDKs.
CommunityKit
CommunityKit is the multi-day community event running alongside WWDC, from June 7 to 12, at the Residence Inn in Cupertino (19429 Stevens Creek Blvd). Regardless of whether you got a WWDC golden ticket or not, it is a refreshing place for us developers.
The week is built around a large, communal watch party for Apple's keynote and State of the Union, hosted by iOSDevHappyHour, and then unfolds into a "choose your own adventure" of meetups you can freely flow between. Standard tickets are free.
After WWDC: One More Compile
I am not flying home the moment WWDC ends this year. Once the dub-dub dust settles, I am sticking around San Francisco for Compile, Cursor's conference. The opening party is on June 15, and the main day is on June 16.
As I write this post in the Cursor editor, it feels right to close the trip with a different crowd before the long flights back to Delhi.
What's Next
Another year, another chill week in Cupertino, where the agents will be the ones overwhelmed instead of me.
For years I have written about Apple's AI from the outside, mostly hoping. This year, Apple has to deliver, and I get to host the room where everyone argues about whether they pulled it off.
I want to take that energy and do what I always promise myself: build, write, and ship. Quickly. Actually get the ideas to the App Store, set clearer goals, and hold myself accountable.
Here is to an Absolutely Incredible WWDC 2026, where Apple finally makes Siri glow.
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