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

Converting iPad app to an iPhone app
I have an iPad developed using UIKit and storyboards now I have to develop UI for iPhone. Designs for iPhone app are completely new from iPad app also navigation is different. I have question regarding should I make different view controllers for iPhone and iPad and different storyboard
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
2
0
508
Jan ’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
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
System fonts file access: allowed for sandboxed apps?
Hello! I am developing an ebook reader iOS app that uses c/c++ codec as a page renderer. The codec uses TrueType as a font rendering engine that requires access to .ttf (or .ttc) files. Currently, I supply TrueType with fonts embedded in the app package, so they lay within the app sandbox. The codec supports the whole unicode plane and many languages that ebooks may use, but the fonts I supply don't have some of the important glyphs (i.e. katakana or hangul). I see that iOS has its own font storage, located in /System/Library/Fonts/ directory. The codec is able to parse this directory and read .ttf files located inside, using these fonts as a fallback in the case when the supplied fonts can't draw certain glyphs. I use opendir and fopen(in "rb" mode) as a way to read the data, and it works well. Does this type of access to the system directory violate the sandbox rule for an app distribution, and, if yes, is there a way to get access to stored .ttf files not violating the mentioned rule?
1
0
896
Jan ’25
iPad screen size
Hi, Does the iPad Playgrounds app act completely the same way as a MacBook Playground? I am developing my app on a 2020 MacBook Air M1 using Swift Playgrounds. However, since the testing is going to be done on an iPad Swift Playgrounds, I was worried if my playground would work, since it relies heavily on the screen size etc. My app runs completely perfect on MacBook Playrgounds, but doesn't work on the iPad simulator on Xcode.
1
1
545
Feb ’25
Using macOS-Sequoia-Production-Templates-Sketch
Hi, I was trying to use macOS-Sequoia-Production-Templates in Sketch format and when I try to export png icon file of the document template, it always includes grey nontransparent background which I am unable to delete. In contrast, exporting png app icon file from another template has transparent background and exports well. Is it something wrong with the document icon production template? How can I export document png icon file with transparent background?? Thanks
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
1
0
142
May ’25
Stacked-sheets vs. nav-stack-in-a-sheet for navigation hierarchies on top of a map
I couldn't help noticing that the Maps and Find My apps make extensive use of "sheets stacked on top of each other" to represent its navigation hierarchy, with a "new content comes in from the bottom" orientation instead of a navigation stack with "new content comes in from the right side" oriented transitions. I'm interested in this topic because I have a similar navigation-hierarchy-over-a-map case in my app (with a custom map view though) and I'm torn back and forth between the approach of replicating the "stacked sheets" vs. putting a navigation stack in a sheet, esp. with the navstack approach being way more attainable with the iOS 26 glass design. I couldn't find any guidance for this kind of UI in the Human Interface Guidelines; I'm leaning towards the navstack-approach for my app; but in terms of the behavior of the SwiftUI container views in this scenario it seems a little bit of an uphill path. Any thoughts on what pattern should be preferred for presenting a deep navigational hierarchy on top of a map-like view?
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
1
0
299
Jul ’25
Recollecting Source Code and Binary
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
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
1
0
123
Aug ’25
ios 18
i accidentally updated my iphone with the ios 18 and i dislike it. the emoji display were too huge and the picture gallery was kinda messy. i hope apple could fix this by bringing back the old emoji display and the gallery settings.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
1
0
478
Feb ’25
Icon composer won't allow me to import any files
I have been battling the new Icon Composer app for 2 days trying to build an app icon. However, I cannot get it to import any files. I have used the Apple provided App Icon Template. I have exported my layers to .svg and when I open the finder, everything is disabled. I can't find help for this anywhere. I am on Sequoia on my Mac and not sure how to design this app icon without access to the composer.
1
0
105
Aug ’25
iOS Screenshot Markup – Rounded Crop Tool (UI Concept)
🔍 Context The built-in screenshot editor in iOS and iPadOS (Markup tool) only allows users to crop images using rectangular frames. While this is sufficient for basic editing, it lacks flexibility for those who wish to tailor the screenshot to the aesthetics of iOS itself — which relies heavily on rounded shapes and smooth UI elements. ⸻ 🚫 Current Limitation • After taking a screenshot and opening it in Markup, users can only crop in rectangular or square formats. • No option is available to apply rounded corners to the crop. • As a result, many users are forced to use third-party apps just to achieve a basic rounded-edge crop, which feels unnecessary for such a common need. ⸻ ✅ Proposed Solution Add a rounded corner cropping feature to the screenshot editor. This could be implemented as: • A toggle to activate “Rounded Crop”. • A radius slider (or predefined corner radius presets). • Optional: an export option to save the result with transparent background, useful for designers and mockups. ⸻ 🎯 Why it matters • Aligns better with the iOS design language (cards, notifications, widgets, etc.). • Saves time for users who currently have to rely on external editing apps. • Greatly improves the presentation of screenshots for social media, UI/UX mockups, blogs, and professional use cases. • Useful across many professions: developers, designers, content creators, educators, marketers. ⸻ 📷 Visual Example Here’s a mockup to illustrate the proposed feature: (Add your image here) ⸻ 💡 Bonus Suggestion Allow exporting with a transparent background when cropping screenshots — especially useful for rounded crops or mockups placed on colored backgrounds.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
1
0
268
Aug ’25
UITabBarController with sidebar on iPadOS 18
When I create a tab group for the sidebar on iPad, the title and disclosure triangle act like a single control. Every time I tap the section title, the disclosure triangle for that section activates and hides or exposes that section's children and actions. I want the section title to behave like Photos, where tapping a section title just displays its view controller, and the disclosure triangle is a separate control that must be tapped to hide and show children and actions. I did not see any delegate methods that would let me control this behavior. Is this supported?
1
0
193
May ’25