Argyle teen’s skin-cancer app earns Apple recognition

An Argyle Secondary student is taking on skin cancer with code. Grade 10 student Adam Brayford has created Pigment, an app designed to flag potentially cancerous moles using image recognition. This summer, the project earned him a spot as a finalist in Apple’s Swift Student Developer Challenge, one of the company’s global youth competitions.

Brayford finished in the top 350 student developers worldwide. The idea is simple. Take a photo. Let the app analyze it. Then decide whether a dermatologist visit is needed.

Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer and is on the rise in British Columbia and across Canada. In B.C., melanoma rates sit around the national average of about 21 cases per 100,000 people per year—roughly the level seen in other provinces like Ontario—underscoring how common this risk can be here at home.

Doctors look for warning signs like uneven borders, changing size, multiple colours, and irregular shape when checking moles. Early detection can make a real difference. Pigment doesn’t replace medical diagnosis. It helps with early detection. Brayford says the project is personal.  “A few of my mom’s friends have died of cancer,” he said. “It would be meaningful to me if I could make a difference.”