Apple has quietly purchased the small team behind Play, the app that took home the Innovation prize at the 2025 Apple Design Awards. The deal, disclosed through European Union filings, brings assets and key employees from Rabbit 3 Times, Inc. into the fold. And just like that, one of the most promising developer tools on the market vanished from the App Store.
Play let designers and developers build interactive prototypes using real SwiftUI code. No more static mockups. Changes made on a Mac appeared instantly on an iPhone, or vice versa. Real-time sync. Live collaboration. The kind of workflow that made complex interface work feel almost conversational. A sophisticated yet accessible tool that lets users build interactive prototypes with SwiftUI frameworks. Those were Apple’s own words when they awarded it last year.
The official citation from Apple’s 2025 newsroom announcement praised its thoughtfully crafted user interface. Both powerful and easy to navigate, it helped teams create prototypes that didn’t just look right. They behaved right, right from the start. Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations, noted at the time that developers push boundaries to create apps that are beautifully designed and deeply impactful. Play fit that bill perfectly.
Reports surfaced Monday that the acquisition had taken place. 9to5Mac first highlighted the move, pointing to the EU’s digital markets disclosures. Apple will acquire certain assets from and have the right to offer employment to certain employees of Rabbit 3 Times, Inc. d/b/a Play. The app itself no longer appears for download. Its export-to-Xcode service, once paid, turned free in recent months as the transition began.
Rabbit 3 Times had signaled the end was near. The company’s website came down with a short note. It had been an incredible journey. Support for Play apps would cease after April 20, 2026. Founded in 2021 and based primarily in New York with Delaware incorporation, the team built something that sat at the intersection of design and code. Some called it a cross between Shortcuts and Xcode. The description from AppleInsider’s coverage today captured the tool’s appeal. It enabled designing, prototyping, and generating SwiftUI code in real time across iOS and macOS.
But why buy it now? Apple already pours resources into Xcode and SwiftUI. The platform’s visual editor has improved over years. Yet many developers still reach for third-party tools when they want faster iteration or better handoff between designers and engineers. Play solved that gap with live previews that actually compiled to real code. No placeholder rectangles. No guesswork about how a layout would adapt.
Industry watchers see this as another step in Apple’s effort to tighten its grip on the developer experience. The company has bought several smaller outfits in recent quarters. Each one seems aimed at specific pain points. Some fill holes in productivity. Others bring fresh ideas into core tools. Play stands out because it won an official award first. Apple doesn’t hand those out lightly.
Developers who relied on Play face a transition. The free export period gives them time to move projects. Many expect the core concepts to surface inside future Xcode updates. Perhaps a new Design Mode or enhanced canvas. Speculation runs high on forums and social feeds. No one at Apple has confirmed details. They rarely do on matters like this.
The timing feels deliberate. WWDC wrapped up weeks ago. Apple showcased new Swift features and improvements to its development stack. Acquiring a proven innovation winner lets the company absorb battle-tested ideas without starting from scratch. The team at Rabbit 3 Times had already done the hard work of making SwiftUI prototyping approachable for non-coders while staying powerful enough for professionals.
Play wasn’t just another design app. It generated production-ready code. That distinction mattered. Designers could tweak parameters and see immediate results in a live simulator. Teams could iterate together without version control headaches. The real-time sync between devices removed friction that has frustrated Apple developers for years.
Small teams often produce the most interesting tools. Rabbit 3 Times operated with focus. No sprawling feature list. Just a tight experience built around one powerful idea. Apple has shown appreciation for that approach before. Acquiring the company after awarding it sends a signal. Great work on the platform can lead to bigger things.
Of course, acquisitions like this always spark questions about independence. Independent developers lose a beloved app. The broader community gains if Apple integrates the best parts. History suggests mixed outcomes. Some purchased tools flourish inside Apple products. Others fade. The next 12 months will tell which path Play follows.
One thing looks clear. Apple wants its development environment to feel more fluid. Visual tools that bridge design and code fit that vision. SwiftUI already changed how apps get built. Tools like Play could accelerate that shift further. By bringing the expertise in-house, Apple gains talent familiar with the platform’s edges and limitations.
Observers on X reacted quickly to the news. Some expressed disappointment that Play disappeared so abruptly. Others saw validation. An award-winning app caught Apple’s attention enough to buy the whole operation. That doesn’t happen every day. The EU disclosure requirement made the deal public. Without it, this might have stayed under wraps longer.
Rabbit 3 Times launched Play as a free app with optional paid features for advanced exports. That model helped it gain traction fast. Designers downloaded it to experiment. Many stayed for production work. The Innovation award in 2025 amplified visibility. It wasn’t just popular. Apple itself called it state-of-the-art in its use of their technologies.
Now those technologies may evolve with Play’s DNA inside them. The exact form remains unknown. Will it become a built-in Xcode canvas? A separate free developer utility? Or something entirely new? Apple tends to reveal such changes on its own schedule, often at the next major conference.
For now, the acquisition marks another chapter in the company’s long relationship with its developer community. It rewards innovation. It absorbs promising ideas. And it keeps the focus squarely on making Apple platforms the best place to build software. Play proved a concept. Apple apparently liked it enough to own it outright.
The move also highlights how quickly the tools landscape changes. What felt fresh in 2025 already integrates into bigger plans by mid-2026. Developers who adopt new workflows early sometimes find their favorite apps bought out from under them. Yet the underlying technology rarely disappears. It just moves behind the curtain at Infinite Loop.
Whether this leads to faster prototyping features in the next Xcode release or a reimagined set of SwiftUI tools, one fact stands out. Apple noticed. They awarded it. Then they bought it. That sequence says more than any press release could.
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