About this hackathon
ABOUT THE CHALLENGE Shipaton is back — and we're going bigger. Shipaton 2026 is RevenueCat's global mobile hackathon for builders who actually ship. Across August and September 2026, thousands of developers around the world will spend two months turning ideas into real apps in real app stores. Last year, the community blew us away: hundreds of new apps launched, thousands of #BuildInPublic posts, in-person events from Tokyo to Seoul to London, and winning teams celebrating on stage in New York with their apps lighting up a Times Square billboard. In 2026, we want to do all of that and more. Your mission is simple: Ship a brand-new app to the iOS, Android, or Mac App Store between August 1st and September 30th, 2026. Integrate the RevenueCat SDK to power at least one in-app or web purchase. Our goal is to give you that final push to ship that project you’ve had in the back of your mind but never took the time to get started. Note: Updates to previously released apps won’t qualify - it’s all about bringing something new to life! WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU Huge cash prizes across multiple award categories Your app on a giant Times Square billboard for top winners. A trip to RevenueCat's App Growth Annual conference in New York City. A custom Shippy trophy, accepted live on stage. A worldwide community of builders cheering you on while you build in public. Final prize amounts, the full category lineup, and complete judging criteria will be announced soon. Keep an eye on this Devpost page and shipaton.com for updates. NEW FOR 2026: THE NEXT GEN AWARD We're opening Shipaton up to students this year. The new Next Gen Award is a dedicated prize category for student builders — high school, university, bootcamp, campus dev club, anyone learning the craft. Students submit a video and source code instead of a published store listing, which means no paid Apple or Google developer account is required to compete. Learn more on the Next Gen page. SHIPATON IRL Shipaton is online-first, but the in-person side is huge. Last year, builders gathered in Tokyo, Seoul, London, St. Louis, Barcelona, Delhi, Vancouver, Warsaw, Skopje, and dozens of cities in between. We're already lining up Shipaton IRL events around the world for 2026: kickoff parties, co-working days, weekend build sprints, launch-day meetups, and campus hackathons. Want to host one in your city or on your campus? Approved hosts get a Shipaton swag box from RevenueCat, organizer resources, and a spot on the official events page. Get started Pre-register on this Devpost page to be first in line when submissions open and the full rules drop. Join the Shipaton Discord. Find teammates, share progress, get paywall feedback, and hang out with thousands of fellow shippers. Pick the idea you've been sitting on. Shipaton is the push you've been waiting for to actually ship it. Follow shipaton.com, @RevenueCat, and the RevenueCat YouTube for prize announcements, sponsor reveals, livestream schedules, and IRL events near you. Want to sponsor or host? Head to the sponsors page, the events page, or reach out at shipaton@revenuecat.com.
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