Apple Acquires One of the Best App Design Tools Ever Made

Regulatory filings published by the European Union have revealed that Apple has acquired the key assets and talented team behind the highly acclaimed prototyping application known as Play, which also won an Apple Design Award last year.

This secret deal actually started back in February 2026, when Apple quietly notified the European Commission about its intentions. Because of new rules under the EU Digital Markets Act, large technology corporations must report acquisitions that impact the European software landscape. Following a mandatory four-month waiting period, the regulatory body finally published the public listing this week.

According to the official paperwork, Apple will acquire certain assets from and have the right to offer employment to and hire certain employees of Rabbit 3 Times.

For those unfamiliar with the software, Play was a powerful mobile and desktop program designed for creators who build user interfaces. The software allowed creators to build interactive prototypes directly on their iPhone or Mac using native Apple frameworks, including SwiftUI and Core Animation. Once a designer finished mapping out how their app should look and feel, they could easily export the projects straight into Xcode to finish coding.

In June 2025, the application won a prestigious Apple Design Award in the coveted Innovation category. During the awards ceremony, Apple praised the software directly, stating: “Play is a sophisticated yet accessible tool that lets users build interactive prototypes with SwiftUI frameworks. Its thoughtfully crafted user interface is both powerful and easy to navigate, helping designers create interactive prototypes and collaborate across Mac and iPhone, all synced in real time for seamless creativity.”

The app has already been pulled from the App Store. Rabbit 3 Times stopped supporting its applications for iPhone and Mac back on April 20, 2026. To make the transition easier for its existing user base, the company briefly made its paid export feature to Xcode free before pulling down its official website entirely.