The Swift Package Index is no longer independent as Apple has taken control, but it will remain an open source search engine for third-party code.
It's now a startling 12 years since Apple launched its Swift programming language for apps, and key to it from 2015 has been that it is open source. The aim was to build a community of developers, and one group that helped this was behind the Swift Package Index.
The Swift Package Index gave developers one trusted location to look for third-party code for use in their own apps. The idea has always been that developers can find code that works with Xcode's Swift Package Manager, be reassured that it works, and see immediately just how new or established it is.
Now the Swift Package Index managers have announced that they have "joined Apple." There are no further details of the acquisition, but there are claims that this will mean the Swift Package Index can do more for developers.
"Swift Package Index will remain open source... the community's source code contributions have been invaluable, and we want that to continue," says the announcement. "Apple engineers will be contributing alongside the community as we build new features and improvements."
So this should mean more testing is possible because there will be more engineers working on the project. Already, Swift Package Index says that earlier in 2026, it had tested and indexed over 10,000 Swift packages.
Developers also get documentation generated by the group, covering which platforms each package supports and how to integrate it. It can also explain how developers can use those specific packages.
"[Our] goal is to accelerate development and introduce new features that make discovering and evaluating packages even better," continues the group.
The announcement does say that the Swift Package Index will now evolve with Apple's backing. There are no details yet of what changes there will be, however.
This follows a move by Apple in February 2025, when the company added its Swift Build code to GitHub. This was again part of the long-standing plan to make Swift more widely adopted through being made open source.
