Language struggles in school, a need for a better gym companion and the urge to capture dreams.

Personal challenges were the catalyst for Swift Student Challenge winners Nils Bernschneider (maker of language learning tool Lengo), Joseph Mambwe (maker of AI workout creator and tracker GymStreak) and Adélaïde Humez (maker of soothing dream journal Egretta) to develop apps that are now helping many others.

We sat down with Nils, Joseph and Adélaïde to hear how they turned their student experiments into professional careers.

App Store: Could you talk about what inspired you to develop your apps and what it was like starting out?

Nils: “I had trouble focusing on grammar and reading Spanish in school, so I had the idea to bring the textbook onto iPad to make it more fun. I started experimenting on my mum’s iPad, and I used my school holidays to learn how to code and basically teach myself Swift.”

Adélaïde: ”I came up with my dream-journal app because I couldn’t find anything personal enough. I realised that even when I forgot my dreams, the emotion remained – so I built my app around that. Honestly, all you need is an internet connection and a notebook. Writing down ideas and sketching concepts is as important as coding itself.”

Joseph: ”I used to be really into the gym, but fitness apps back then were like extensions of spreadsheets. They weren’t aesthetically pleasing. So I tried to make an app that suited me. The first impetus in terms of me trying to learn how to code was because I couldn’t find an app.”

App Store: Were you all naturals at coding or was there a steep learning curve?

Joseph: “At first, I tried to learn coding, and it was very boring. Then I shifted to a problem-solving mentality, and it started to become exciting. Users became the focus, and I learned the technical details along the way. Problems are the best opportunities to learn.”

Nils: “I don’t have a coding background, so my first code was horrible. I had to rewrite the entire app multiple times. But for me, this project was very important, so that obsession with solving the app’s problems is what kept me learning and coding.”

Adélaïde: ”Coding can be very hard, so you need something that you are passionate about to stay motivated. Loving the problem makes you push through. It doesn’t need to be the idea of the century. Start with something meaningful to you and share it with the world.”

App Store: What’s your advice to people starting out who are passionate about their idea but also want to make it a viable business.

Joseph: ”When picking an idea or the problem you want to solve, don’t ask yourself if it’s a good business decision or not. If it’s something that you’re passionate about, there’s a very high likelihood that there’s going to be a sizeable number of people who have a similar problem who’ll be willing to pay for a solution. And sometimes the more niche the problem is, the more beneficial it can be because nothing like that will exist out there.”

Nils: “What caught my attention on the App Store in the beginning was seeing so many individual developers solving unique problems. For users, that means they can find something they really want – a product that feels like it was made just for them. That’s very powerful, because most of us started by building an app to solve our own problem, and then realised other people might have the same one.”

Adélaïde: “If you want to monetise from the beginning, you might have to make compromises on your vision. So it’s way better to start with something you believe in and just want to share with the world and then afterwards start thinking about the best way to tackle the business part.”

App Store: What were your learnings from your participation in the Swift Student Challenge? How did it shape your path as a developer?

Joseph: ”When I was part of it, it was still called the scholarship. I came across it almost by accident: I was at a hackathon and someone associated with Apple was there too. That connection led me to the scholarship. It taught me that sometimes just focusing on solving problems and doing good work can open doors, even if you don’t come from a traditional software background.”

Adélaïde: ”For me, there was a before and after the Swift Student Challenge. I had doubts about whether coding was really for me, but Apple sent me to WWDC and put me in the same room as passionate developers. That experience really strengthened my motivation to code and showed me I belonged in that world.”

Nils: ”That was the first time I met other developers. I had been working for years on my app without knowing anyone else doing Swift. The Challenge introduced me to the Apple community, gave me a support network and motivated me by hearing others’ stories.”

App Store: Only a small amount of coding students are women or from minority groups. In your opinion how can diversity help to build better apps?

Adélaïde: ”I didn’t want to pursue computer science studies at first because I knew it was a harsh world for women and minorities. That perception almost kept me away, but the community I found through Apple helped me realise I did belong.”

Joseph: ”The breadth of problems that the apps help to solve in the real world demands diversity. Sometimes, only a specific set of people can truly understand and solve a certain problem – that’s why diverse perspectives are essential.”

Nils: ”We need to embrace diversity more, and highlight female founders by telling more stories about them. Most of the well-known figures in tech are still men, and that affects role models and representation.”