At WWDC25 we launched a new type of Lab event for the developer community - Group Labs. A Group Lab is a panel Q&A designed for a large audience of developers. Group Labs are a unique opportunity for the community to submit questions directly to a panel of Apple engineers and designers. Here are the highlights from the WWDC25 Group Lab for Design.
Can you expand on how Liquid Glass helps with navigation and focus in the UI?
Liquid Glass clarifies the navigation layer by introducing a single, floating pane that acts as the primary navigation area. Buttons within this pane seamlessly morph as you move between sections, and controls can temporarily lift into the glass surface. While avoiding excessive use of glass (like layering glass on glass), this approach simplifies navigation and strengthens the connection between menus, alerts, and the elements that trigger them.
What should I do with customized bars that I might have in my app?
Reconsider the content and behavior of customized bars. Evaluate whether you need all the buttons and whether a menu might be a better solution. Instead of relying on background colors or styling, express hierarchy through layout and grouping. This is a good opportunity to adopt the new design language and simplify your interface.
What are scroll edge effects, and what options do we have for them?
Scroll edge effects enhance legibility in controls by lifting interactive elements and separating them from the background. There are two types: a soft edge effect (a subtle blur) and a hard edge effect (a more defined boundary for high-legibility areas like column sorting). Scroll edge effects are designed to work seamlessly with Liquid Glass, allowing content to feel expansive while ensuring controls and titles remain legible.
How can we ensure or improve accessibility using Liquid Glass?
Legibility is a priority, and refinements are ongoing throughout the betas. Liquid Glass adapts well to accessibility settings like Reduce Transparency, Increase Contrast, and Reduce Motion. There are two variants of glass: regular glass, designed to be legible by default, and clear glass, used in places like AVKit, which requires more care to ensure legibility. Use color contrast tools to ensure contrast ratios are met. The Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) are a living document offering best practices. The colors and materials pages are key resources.
Do you have any recommendations for convincing designers concerned with consistency across Android and Web to use Liquid Glass?
Start small and focus on high-utility controls that don't significantly impact brand experience. Native controls offer familiarity and predictability to users. Using the native controls makes sure your app feels at home on the device. Using native frameworks provides built-in accessibility support (dynamic type, reduce transparency, increase contrast). Native controls come with built-in behaviors and interactions.
Can ScrollViews include Liquid Glass within them?
You can technically put a glass layer inside a scroll view, but it can feel heavy and doesn't align with the system's intention for Liquid Glass to serve as a fixed layer. Think of the content layer as the scrolling layer, and the navigational layer as the one using Liquid Glass. If there is glass on the content layer it will collide into the navigational layer.
What core design philosophy guided the direction of iOS 26, beyond the goal of unification?
The core design philosophy involved blurring the line between hardware and software, separating UI and navigation elements from content, making apps adaptable across window sizes, and combining playfulness with sophistication. It was about making the UI feel at home on rounded screens.
Can we layer Liquid Glass elements on top of each other?
Avoid layering Liquid Glass elements directly on top of each other, as it creates unnecessary visual complexity. The system will automatically convert nested glass elements to a vibrant fill style. Use vibrant fills and labels to show control shapes and ensure legibility. Opaque grays should be avoided in favor of vibrant colors, which will multiply with the backgrounds correctly.
What will happen to apps that use custom components? Should they be adapted to the new design within the next year?
The more native components you use, the more things happen for free. Standard components will be upgraded automatically. Look out for any customizations that might clash. Think about what is the minimum viable change, where your app still feels and looks very similar to what it did. Prioritize changes in core workflows and navigational areas. There are a number of benefits to using native components including user familiarity, built-in accessibility support, and built-in behaviors and interactions.
Will Apple be releasing Figma design templates?
Sketch kits were published on Monday and can be referenced. The goal is to ensure the resources are well-organized, well-named, and easy to use. It's a high priority.
Explore the art and science of app design. Discuss user interface (UI) design principles, user experience (UX) best practices, and share design resources and inspiration.
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Hi everyone,
I’m currently testing iOS 26 on my iPhone as part of the developer program. According to Apple’s documentation and demo materials, a new screenshot animation was introduced in this version. However, when I take a screenshot on my device, the animation remains the same as in previous iOS versions.
I’ve double-checked that I’m running the correct build of iOS 26, and I haven’t found any settings that might enable or disable this feature.
Is anyone else experiencing the same issue? Could this new animation be device-specific, region-limited, or require additional configuration?
Any insight would be appreciated!
Thanks in advance,
Alonso Rivera
Hi,
Anybody knows will this occurs when using navigationStack at iOS 18.3? The navigationStack not stay at safeareas
the code as simple as that:
NavigationStack(path: $navManager.path) {
VStack {
Text("Hello")
}
.navigationDestination(for: Route.self) { route in
switch route {
....
}
}
}
.environmentObject(navManager)
.environment(logic)
I have the June 2025 version, but I'd like to find the 2022. There was something removed from the 2022 that I would like to check out.
Hello All,
I used to own an app named LOLIIPOP, and am in the process of transferring it to my new apple account.
I am having two problems....
How do I transfer the source code and binary to my new apple account?
My developers have an old code, so I need to send them the LAST code they uploaded to the App Store.
How do I do that as well???
Please any help!!!
Thanks,
Mr. LM
I like this font. but in license only allowed for use in Mockup UI.
Feel free to use in commercial?
https://mobbin.com/apps/bloom-ios-e1251835-34e6-426e-9f94-f9595f2567fa/1c919e9a-d144-4aa0-b788-f9752111e281/screens
Hi, I've been trying for an hour to turn the symbols in sf symbols from left to right to right to left, I'd appreciate some help
As a very exclusive Apple only I want to share my thoughts on the new iOS 26 update, which I recently installed on my iPhone 16. While I genuinely appreciate Apple’s drive for innovation and personalization, this update introduces visual and stylistic changes that, in my opinion, compromise what has made iOS feel uniquely Apple for so long.
Liquid Glass & Home Screen Aesthetics:
When I first saw previews of the “Liquid Glass” design, I was excited. I assumed it would add more flexibility to things like the home screen customization — something like an optional effect that builds on the popular app tinting feature introduced in the previous iOS version. But instead, it appears that the Liquid Glass look is now the default and, more concerningly, unavoidable.
The result is a visual experience that feels dramatically more bubbly and less refined. App icons appear more rounded and inflated in a way that — and I say this as constructively as I can — reminds me more of Android or Samsung’s One UI than of Apple’s signature design language. For someone who’s chosen Apple specifically because of its clean, crisp, and elegant UI, this shift is disappointing. iOS has always felt visually mature and thoughtfully minimal. With this update, it starts to feel overly stylized and visually heavy, which I don’t associate with Apple’s identity.
Camera App – Icon Design:
While I don’t have major concerns with the layout of the Camera app itself, the new Camera app icon is something I feel very strongly about. The previous design was balanced, clear, and professional — instantly recognizable. The new icon, is completely different, and it has more the camera that look like the actual iPhone camera, which I can respect the want to identify the app the iPhone. But this is not the effect I felt it has, I feel like it is less professional than before, which again makes me think a little bit about androids. This minor change feels bit because icons are what we see every day, and this one doesn’t feel quite right for Apple.
Along with the new camera icon, the other new icons like the notes app, and the slight change in the message app icon, these small shifts aren’t ones I was overly pleased with, kind of felt like something that wasn’t broke and didn’t need fixed
Messages App:
The Messages app is where I felt the biggest disconnect. The updated keyboard with the “keys” looking more bubbly which again, makes me think android. And with the new monogram icons (initials in thick fonts with purple backgrounds), make the app feel — again — much more like an Android UI. While that might sound superficial, it doesn’t make me feel like it’s an iPhone.
As someone who’s always preferred the Apple system, I’ve come to expect a particular standard of visual design — one that’s distinct from other platforms. This new look blurs that line. The once refined look of Messages is not as clean and simple as it used to be. I also preferred the gray background for monogram icons. The new colors and heavy fonts draw attention in ways that don’t feel as clean and simplistic which I have loved Apple for in the past.
Control Center:
Another area where I noticed a slight change is the Control Center. It’s not a big difference to the previous one, which I liked. The main difference I noticed was the brightness and sounds “bar” seems more elongated. Not a major difference but I would rather see the older design if I were to be honest.
What I Did Like:
There are some positives: I think the new lock screen notification styling works well, and the Liquid Glass effect looks great in that specific context. I actually really like the looks that it has with the notifications on the lock screen, having it be that transparent gives a clean and simple look. Lots of the new things that can be done in this update are very nice and convent, the more customization is great.
Final Thoughts:
To be clear, I offer this feedback not because I’m resisting change, but because I value what makes iOS feel like iOS. This update, while visually bold, feels like a departure from Apple’s strengths — the clean and simplistic look. If there’s one big takeaway I hope you’ll consider, some of the new looks that have been put in place give a feeling that’s not Apple, and more Android. it’s that many of these new visual styles would be better received as optional customizations, not system-wide defaults.
I would love to see an update to help fix some of this. I don’t believe there is a way to “un-update” my phone but if I could I would, even though some of these new things do look and feel good.
1/自从更新26.0版本 页面好看但是应用和主界面使用体验非常差很卡
2/苹果键盘功能有待优化 表情和语音文字识别还有键盘设置
3/还有手机发热卡顿 导致非常多的使用不方便 苹果官方请优化以上问题
Hello -
I have an older app on the store, iAchieved, that suddenly stopped working properly on iOS 18. You can see it on the store, here:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/iachieved/id1069338478
It still opens runs, and I can try to enter a new item, but something is wrong with the date, so that the "Done" button does not appear. And since it does not, I cannot tap it and create the item.
I'm not a developer, I don't code, I only designed the app and had someone build it for me.
But, if you can put it in layman's terms, any idea what's causing this?
Thanks so much for any insight you can provide,
-- David
Hi all,
I wanted to check whether the NFC bottom-sheet UI shown by iOS during an NFC reading session can be customized.
We have a Figma design (attached) for how the sheet should look, but we are not sure whether iOS allows modifying the default NFC UI.
Is UI customization supported, or is the bottom sheet fully controlled by the system?
Thanks in advance.
Hi,
Normally we need many shades of gray in any App and Apple system have only 3 , Primery, Secondary, and Gray, so to make Gray regress that automatically adapt to Dark Mode we just use opacity on these colors ? there's no system built in Gray degrees ?
Kind Regards
Where is the Figma App Icon Template mentioned in the Developer session https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2025/361?
I'm looking for a way to display a notification badge without showing a number—essentially, just an empty badge to indicate the presence of notifications. From my research, it seems like this functionality isn't available . Is there any workaround or method to achieve this?
Context & Issue
I am developing an iOS application.
My app icon uses colors that are relatively close to each other.
When the user enables Accessibility → Display & Text Size → Color Filters → Grayscale (or similar modes), the icon becomes harder to distinguish because it loses color and contrast is reduced.
Goal
When iOS switches to grayscale mode, I want the app icon to maintain good contrast between its elements so it remains clearly recognizable.
What I’ve tried
Redesigned the icon with more contrasting colors.
Added strokes/outlines, but it still doesn’t look much better in grayscale.
Researched how iOS renders app icons when grayscale is enabled, but couldn’t find a way to override or provide an alternative icon.
Specific questions
Is there any API or mechanism in iOS that allows providing a different version of the app icon when the user has grayscale mode enabled?
If there’s no direct API, are there any best practices for designing iOS app icons to ensure good contrast when converted to grayscale?
Do we have to design grayscale version for app icon?
Thank you!
I'm trying to create custom SF symbols and am getting this error message when I validate the template. It doesn't matter if I Export Template or Symbol. Also, it doesn't even matter if I make any changes or not, as long as it is opened in Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape and then I save it, I will get this error message when validating.
While the activityBackgroundTint modifier is intended to set the background color of a Live Activity, it often fails to dynamically update, leaving the activity with an incorrect background. Replacing it with
ZStack {
Color(.background)
....
}
solves the problem, but this is a workaround. The activityBackgroundTint modifier is still needed, at a minimum, so that the "Allow Live Activity for the app" extension does not have the default color.
This issue affects core system UI elements such as Control Center, notifications, and system apps. In iOS 26, the Liquid Glass UI introduces excessive transparency and blur across the system. This significantly reduces text readability, lowers contrast, and causes visual fatigue during prolonged use.
There is currently no true option to fully disable Liquid Glass effects. Existing accessibility settings only partially mitigate the issue and do not restore a solid, high-contrast interface similar to iOS 18.
Please consider adding a system-wide toggle to completely disable Liquid Glass and transparency effects, or provide a solid UI mode for users who prioritize readability and visual comfort.
This is especially important for accessibility, as the current design negatively impacts users sensitive to eye strain and low contrast.
Hi,
in the Human Interface Guidelines, Apple writes:
Avoid using a segmented control in a toolbar. Toolbar items act on the current screen — they don’t let people switch contexts like segmented controls do.
Along with this image:
Source
I'm confused by this example. The screenshot seems to be showing a segmented control in a toolbar.
Is this saying that the Phone app's All/Missed toggle is different from a segmented control? Under iOS 26 it seems to take a different style compared to a regular segmented control. If so, which component is used to create this filter?
Could you please clarify the guidelines? Thank you.
I am working on a Mac App that was developed with Objective C and Interface Builder. In earlier versions of Mac OS the window title was centered. Now in Tahoe it's left-justified. Is there some way to set this? There is no setting for this in Interface Builder and I can't see any way to do it programmatically by reading the developer documentation. Is this even possible?
I am developing an app that requires calling the iPhone's Face ID module to scan users' facial data. Where can I find Apple's design resources and guidelines for Face ID? The Face ID resources available in Figma are incomplete, and I need more support.
For example, in the iPhone settings, the scenario: the UI interface for scanning the user's face to collect data, specifically the circular design in the "How to Set Up Face ID" screen.