Apple acquires award-winning app Play from Rabbit 3 Times

At a glance:

• Apple acquired the award-winning design tool Play from Rabbit 3 Times after notifying the European Commission in February
• Play, a Mac and iPhone app for prototyping iPhone interfaces with SwiftUI, is no longer available in the App Store
• Apple plans to integrate Play's technology, though exact integration plans with Xcode remain unclear

The acquisition details

Apple finalized an acquisition of certain assets and the right to hire employees from Rabbit 3 Times, the company behind Play, a design tool that won an Apple Design Award in 2025. The notification to the European Commission was made in February, following a standard four-month waiting period before the deal was publicly confirmed.

Play was specifically built for designers creating iPhone app interfaces, allowing them to prototype using Apple's SwiftUI frameworks and then send their work directly to Xcode. The app's integration with Apple's development ecosystem made it a natural fit for acquisition, particularly given its recognition with a 2025 Apple Design Award for innovation.

Strategic implications for Xcode

Apple confirmed that Play will no longer be available for purchase in the App Store, suggesting the app's technology will be folded into Apple's broader development tools rather than maintained as a standalone product. The company highlighted Play's capabilities in a statement, describing it as "a sophisticated yet accessible tool that lets users build interactive prototypes with SwiftUI frameworks."

While Apple has not specified how Play's technology will be integrated, the most likely destination is Xcode, Apple's flagship integrated development environment. The acquisition could enhance Xcode's prototyping capabilities, bringing Play's real-time collaboration features and streamlined SwiftUI workflow directly into Apple's core development suite.