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.

All subtopics
Posts under Design topic

Post

Replies

Boosts

Views

Activity

Greyed out app icon on iOS 26 beta
On iOS 26 beta 3, my app and some other apps got greyed out app icon. It only happens in Default (Light) appearance. Apple automatically converts third-party app icons to support Liquid Glass, but is there any specific requirement with third-party icons to avoid above greyed out app icon issue?
0
1
272
Jul ’25
Align NSMenuItem title to right
In my application, I am creating a simple NSMenu with NSMenuItems. The title of the NSMenuItems are adapted to the system language. So, when the system language is an RTL language (right to left), I want my NSMenuItem to be aligned at the right. I can't see anyone talking about this, or any option that could make me achieve that easily. NSMenuItem* item1; NSMenuItem* item2; item1 = [[NSMenuItem alloc] init]; item2 = [[NSMenuItem alloc] init]; item1.title = "foo"; item2.title = "bar"; item1.action = @selector(fooAction); item2.action = @selector(barAction); NSMenu *menu = [[NSMenu alloc] init]; [menu addItem:item1]; [menu addItem:item2];
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
0
1
92
Mar ’25
Launch screen more vibrant in iOS18?
Hi! I've detected that in iOS18 launch screen colors differs from the defined ones, that is, if I create a launch screen with a color like #ff0000 (red) and the initial view controller is a view controller with the same color as background, I can see the transition between launch screen and the initial view controller because the launch screen color is different from the other one (dark in this case). I've tested it with several colors: left side is the launch screen and right side is the initial view controller. Both views created with IB using the same colors (it also happens with background images using colors) Is this an intentionall behavior? If so, theres a way to disable it? I need the transition between the launch screen and my initial view controller to be non perceptible... Thanks!
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
4
1
685
Jan ’25
Liquid Glass Navigation Bar
The system provided liquid glass background looks terrible with my companies navigation bar background color. The navigation background color is not up for discussion and cannot be changed. The clear liquid glass style looks great and I can apply that to buttons I add to the navigation bar, but that doesn't effect the system provided back button. I would prefer to maintain the default back button functionality. Please make it possible to set the liquid glass style that the system provides for navigation bar items.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
0
1
954
Oct ’25
Liquid Glass App Icons without Icon Composer
We have found that on iOS 26 beta some of our app icons built from an Xcode 16 asset catalog containing a single 1024x1024 .png file have a Liquid Glass effect applied to them while others have not. The documentation states that If you choose not to use Icon Composer, you can still use an AppIcon asset catalog in your project containing individual app icon images and let the system apply the Liquid Glass material. and If you prefer, you can take advantage of the system’s automatically generated treatment that is applied to all app icons. Is there any insight into how the system treats app icons that have not yet been updated with Icon Composer?
1
1
2.2k
Nov ’25
Shadow on top of Vision OS icon
Hi guys, I've exported the images with transparency for a Vision OS icon but I still keep getting a weird shadow on the top of the icon when I focus on it. Do you guys had this issue before?
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
0
1
1.6k
Nov ’25
Proposal: Capacitive swipe-based volume control integrated into iPhone frame
I would like to propose a design enhancement for future iPhone models: using the existing bottom-right antenna line (next to the power button area) as a capacitive “volume control zone” that supports swipe gestures. Today this line is a structural antenna break, but it is also located exactly where the thumb naturally rests when holding the phone in one hand. With a small embedded capacitive/force sensor, the user could slide their finger along this zone to control volume without reaching for the physical buttons. Why this makes sense: • Perfect ergonomic thumb position in both portrait and landscape • One-handed volume adjustment becomes easier for large-screen devices • Silent and frictionless vs. clicking buttons (useful in meetings / night mode) • Consistent with Apple’s recent move toward contextual hardware input (Action Button, Capture Button, Vision Pro gestures) The interaction model would be: • Swipe up → increase volume • Swipe down → decrease volume • (Optional) long-press haptic = mute toggle This could also enhance accessibility, especially for users with reduced hand mobility who struggle to press mechanical buttons on tall devices. Technically, this would be similar to the Capture Button (capacitive + pressure layers), but linear instead of pressure-based. It does not replace physical buttons, it complements them as a silent gesture-based alternative. Thank you for considering this as a future interaction refinement for iPhone hardware design.
2
0
568
Oct ’25
Huge UI difference between Simulator and Real Device
Hi everyone, I’m testing our SwiftUI app on both Xcode simulator and a real iPhone. On the simulator, everything looks clean and aligned. But when I run it on an actual iPhone (same build, iOS 18), the layout looks broken—fonts overlap, spacing is off, and elements are misaligned. Both screenshots are from the exact same screen and time. First is simulator, second is iPhone. Any idea why this difference happens? Is there something I should check in terms of rendering or layout settings? Thanks in advance!
1
0
273
Jul ’25
Feature Request: Dual Apple Pencil Pro Use or Charging Dock Support
Hi everyone 👋 I’ve been using the Apple Pencil Pro with my iPad Pro M4 and absolutely love it — the squeeze gesture, rotation, and haptics are amazing for creative work. But I’ve run into a little roadblock… Right now, only one Pencil Pro can be paired at a time. So while one is charging, you can’t use another as a backup without unpairing and re-pairing, which interrupts the workflow. I’d really love to see one of two things: The ability to use one Pencil while another charges or An official external charger (or support for third-party ones) Personally, I’d happily buy both a second Pencil and a charger if this became possible. I’ve even chatted with other creatives who feel the same — it would make a huge difference for long projects or working on the go. Just wanted to share this idea and see if anyone else here would like this too. Thanks for reading!
1
0
425
Jul ’25
ipados 26 and xib
hi, i have an objc ipad application that use xib with zooming for adapt to the screen (until ios18) but with ipad os 26 will be displayed wrong
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
6
0
189
Jul ’25
Spam 4.3 (a)
Hello everyone, I’ve reached out to Apple’s review team multiple times, but unfortunately, I haven’t received any clear or specific guidance on why my app was rejected. My app has been rejected several times with the reason “Spam” under guideline 4.3, and I still don't understand exactly which part of the app is problematic. Even after providing the necessary information about the data, I resubmitted the app, and after a few days, it quickly moved into "In Review" status, but then was rejected within seconds with the same “Spam” message. I have sent over 13 messages asking for specific feedback, and all I get are vague responses saying “It’s spam, refer to 4.3, fix your app, and resubmit.” However, when I review the guidelines, I don’t see any specific reasons for rejection that apply to my app. I’m particularly confused because my app is a VPN, and when I check the guidelines, I see that apps in categories like dating and others are saturated, but VPN apps are not. My app uses completely dedicated servers, and the IP addresses are not found in any other apps. Still, my app keeps getting rejected. If anyone has encountered a similar issue or has any insight into what might be causing this, I would greatly appreciate it if you could provide detailed guidance on what specifically needs to be changed to get the app approved. Thank you!
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
1
0
815
Mar ’25
List View within a Scrollview
The bane of my existence has been designing interfaces where the whole view needs to scroll, but a portion is a List and the other portion is static. I run into this problem time and again so I was hoping someone has a good solution because we all know that embedding a List view inside ScrollView is a no-go within SwiftUI. It simply doesn't work. So what is a best practice when you need the whole screen to scroll, but a portion is a List? Use a navigation stack instead of a ScrollView? What if it's a child view of a navigation stack already?
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
2
0
768
Jul ’25
Repost : Analog Clock on lock screen
When we are going to have a real analog clock option on the lock screen. If an apple watch can do it surely its not that difficult. For someone who uses a clock to tell what time it isn't as opposed to what time it is, i’m constantly having to convert a digital image where the image of hands on a dial is so much easier. Surely this isnt because someone has forgotten how to read a clock
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
1
0
110
Apr ’25
Core database relationship are only partially updating.
I created a data structure based on a dictionary of words. The purpose is to link each word to all other words made up of the same letters plus one. Example: table -> ablate, cablet, tabled, gablet, albeit, albite, etc. For this I built a data model made of three entities: Word, Draw, Link. A Draw is a set of letters corresponding to a Word and sorted in alphabetic order, like : HOUSE -> EHOSU. A Link is a letter that you add to a Draw to get another Draw. So my data model looks like this: And here is how I implemented it in Xcode: Entity Word (let's forget the attribute optComp that plays no role here) Entity Draw Entity Link I am populating the data in two steps: first I read a list of words from a .txt source and I populate the Word entity and at the same time the Draw entity with the corresponding relationship (function loadDic()) This first step apparently works fine. I can easily find all anagrams of any word with something like word.sort.word.spelling I read through the Draw entity. For each draw I seek all existing +1 draws considering each letter of the alphabet. If there are, I create a Link and add the relationships (function createLinks()) Here is where something goes wrong. If the Link's and the relationship Draw.plus seem to be correctly created, the other relationship Link.gives is only partially populated, say 50%. Moreover, I tried to apply an additional routine (updateLinks()) , focusing only on Link's with an empty Link.gives relationship and updating them. But again, only 50% of the nil relationships appear to be populated. I could not find out why those relationships are not properly populated. If someone can help me out I would be grateful. Here is the code: LoadDic() function (OK) : func loadDic() { print("Loading dictionary...") dataAlreadyLoaded.toggle() guard let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: INPUT_FILE, withExtension: "txt") else { fatalError("\(INPUT_FILE).txt not found") } if let dico = try? String(contentsOf: url, encoding: String.Encoding.utf8 ) { let lines = dico.split(separator: "\r\n") for line in lines { let lineArray = line.split(separator: " ") print("\(lineArray[0])") // word let wordSorted = String(lineArray[0].sorted()) let draw = getDraw(drawLetters: wordSorted) ?? addDraw(drawLetters: wordSorted) // look if draw already exists, otherwise create new one. let wordItem = Word(context: viewContext) // create word entry with to-one-relationship to draw wordItem.spelling = String(lineArray[0]) wordItem.optComp = (Int(String(lineArray[1])) == 1) wordItem.sort = draw do { try viewContext.save() } catch { print("Errort saving ods9: \(error)") } } } print("Ods Chargé") } func addDraw(drawLetters: String) -> Draw { let newDraw = Draw(context: viewContext) newDraw.draw = drawLetters return(newDraw) } func getDraw(drawLetters: String) -> Draw? { let request: NSFetchRequest<Draw> = Draw.fetchRequest() request.entity = Draw.entity() request.predicate = NSPredicate(format: "draw == %@", drawLetters) do { let drw = try viewContext.fetch(request) return drw.isEmpty ? nil : drw[0] } catch { print("Erreur recherche Tirage") return nil } } createLinks() function (NOK): func createLinks() { var erreur = " fetch request <Draw>" let request: NSFetchRequest<Draw> = Draw.fetchRequest() request.entity = Draw.entity() request.predicate = NSPredicate(value: true) print("Building relationships...") do { let draws = try viewContext.fetch(request) count = draws.count for draw in draws { print("\(count) - \(draw.draw!)") linkTable.removeAll() for letter in ALPHABET { print(letter) let drawLettersPlus = String((draw.draw! + String(letter)).sorted()) // draw with one more letter if let drawPlus = draws.first(where: { $0.draw == drawLettersPlus }) { // look for Draw entity that matches augmented draw let linkItem = Link(context: viewContext) // if found, create new link based on letter with relationship to augmented draw linkItem.letter = String(letter) linkItem.gives = drawPlus erreur = " saving \(draw.draw!) + \(letter)" try viewContext.save() linkTable.append(linkItem) // saves link to populate the one-to-many relationship of the initial draw, once the alphabet is through } } let drawUpdate = draw as NSManagedObject // populate the one-to-many relationship of the initial draw let linkSet = Set(linkTable) as NSSet drawUpdate.setValue(linkSet, forKey: "plus") erreur = " saving \(draw.draw!) links plus" try viewContext.save() count -= 1 // next draw } } catch { print("Error " + erreur) } print("Graph completed") } updateLinks function (NOK): func updateLinks() { var erreur = "fetch request <Link>" let request: NSFetchRequest<Link> = Link.fetchRequest() request.entity = Link.entity() print("Running patch...") do { request.predicate = NSPredicate(format: "gives == nil") let links = try viewContext.fetch(request) for link in links { let baseDraw = link.back!.draw! print("\(baseDraw) \(link.letter!)") let augmDrawLetters = String((baseDraw + link.letter!).sorted()) if let augmDraw = getDraw(drawLetters: augmDrawLetters) { viewContext.perform { let updateLink = link as NSManagedObject updateLink.setValue(augmDraw, forKey: "gives") erreur = " saving \(augmDraw.draw!) \(link.letter!)" do { try viewContext.save() } catch { print("Erreur mise à jour lien") } } } } } catch { print("Error " + erreur) } } RESULT And this is the output showing the content of the Draw entity with relationships after createLinks() is applied: And here after updateLinks() is applied :
2
0
986
Feb ’25
Live Weather Radar Overlay in CarPlay Maps
Hi all — I wanted to share an idea I recently submitted through Feedback Assistant that I think could improve safety and usability for drivers using CarPlay: Add an option to overlay live weather radar (rain, snow, storms, etc.) directly onto CarPlay Maps while navigating. Similar to how traffic conditions are shown now, this would allow drivers to visually track incoming weather in real time without switching apps or relying on separate devices. Why this matters: • Enhances driver safety by increasing situational awareness • Helps with trip planning and route adjustments around severe weather • Reduces distractions by integrating everything into one screen • Useful for everyday drivers, long-haul travelers, and first responders I submitted this via Feedback Assistant, but I’d love to know what others think. If you also see value in this feature, consider submitting your own version via Feedback Assistant so Apple sees there’s interest. Let’s push for smarter, safer navigation — thanks for reading!
3
0
753
Jul ’25
Requirements for application functions that use some WeatherKit data
Hi there I have developed an offline algorithm for calculating tides, which works based on the built-in database of tidal stations in some regions. The algorithm works correctly and the results match the real data. I would like to receive and add moon data from Weather Kit to the algorithm for performance improvement experiments. What requirements do I need to apply to the application so that I can use data from Weather Kit in my algorithm ?
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
1
0
75
Jun ’25
SF Symbols 7
Will the draw (animation) functionality of SF Symbols be available when symbols are cut/pasted into a Keynote presentation? Better yet, will the draw tools from SF Symbols 7 be available in Keynote for objects created in Keynote?
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
1
0
170
Jun ’25