Apple (AAPL -2.40%) announced today that it plans to host its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) as a virtual event this year beginning on June 22. Developers can access the event, which will be free to all developers, via the Apple Developer app or on the Apple Developer website.

"WWDC20 will be our biggest yet, bringing together our global developer community of more than 23 million in an unprecedented way for a week in June to learn about the future of Apple platforms," said Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

A animated scene with three people peering over the top of laptops, with the words, "Ready. Set. Code."

Image source: Apple.

Historically, the event has been held live over five days. It has become a springboard for Apple to announce major software updates to the operating systems for a host of its products, including iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, and Apple TV.

The iPhone maker also announced the Swift Student Challenge, which will give student developers an opportunity to showcase their coding talents. Apple is encouraging young developers to create and submit a three-minute interactive scene using Swift Playground. Winners will receive an exclusive WWDC20 jacket and pin set.

Swift Playground is an educational app that helps students learn the Swift programming language. Apple pointed out that more than 350 student developers from 37 countries attended WWDC last year and is hosting the event to "recognize and celebrate the creative contributions of our young developers from around the world."

Apple also said that additional details about its popular developer conference, including keynote events, platform updates, and schedules would be shared closer to the start of the event.