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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White border appears during app transition despite full-opacity 1024x1024 icon (SVG and PNG tested)
Hi everyone 👋 I’m a new iOS developer working on my first app and I’ve run into a frustrating visual bug involving my app icon during the launch/close transition. Issue: When I use Icon Composer (the new tool introduced for iOS 26) to generate my app icon, I consistently see a thin white border or “fringe” around the icon only during the transition animation (when the app opens or closes). It disappears once the animation ends. What I tested and confirmed: • I exported the exact same design directly from Adobe Illustrator as a 1024×1024 PNG, fully opaque, RGB color mode, background color filling the entire canvas (no transparency, no borders, no rounded corners). • When I place that exported PNG directly into the AppIcon asset catalog in Xcode, the icon renders perfectly — no white fringe appears, just a slightly darker shade of blue during transitions (expected and acceptable). • But when I generate the icon using Icon Composer, the white edge always appears, even if I disable effects, use full coverage layers, or only keep a flat color layer. Notes: • Tested on iOS 26 (latest beta) using Xcode 16. • The issue seems specific to Icon Composer’s export format or metadata — maybe it’s not stripping alpha correctly or something related to the squircle mask? • I followed all recommended specs: 1024×1024 px, PNG, sRGB, no transparency, exported from Illustrator at 72ppi with solid background. Even tested without the logo, just the icon made with icon composer Is anyone else experiencing this issue with Icon Composer exports? Is there an official recommendation to avoid this during transitions or should I simply avoid Icon Composer for production icons for now and stick with Illustrator / Figma exports? Thanks so much Here’s a visual example:
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259
Aug ’25
Notification badge with no indication number
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?
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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May ’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
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Aug ’25
How can I force a function only runs once during the whole app lifecycle?
Hi, I want to generate some sample datas for demonstrating the functions of my app when the app launched. My codes are as followings: func generateSampleData() { let hasLaunchedKey = "HasLaunchedBefore" let defaults = UserDefaults.standard if !defaults.bool(forKey: hasLaunchedKey) { //generate the demo data } defaults.set(true, forKey: hasLaunchedKey) } And I put the func in a view's onAppear modifier. I found every time I go the view, it generates the demo data again, which results in producing a lot of demo data. But I have set the status of the function running in the userdefault. Why did it happen? Best Wishes,
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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Aug ’25
What is the best way to design a UITabBarController (or Sidebar) combined with a UISplitViewController on iPadOS 18 and later, while avoiding memory management issues?
I'm developing an iPadOS 18+ application that uses a UITabBarController, styled as a sidebar, to serve as the primary navigation interface. This setup includes 20 different tabs, each representing a distinct section of the app. For the user experience, each tab needs to present a master-detail interface, implemented using a UISplitViewController. The goal is to allow users to navigate between tabs via the sidebar, and within each tab, access related content through the split view's list-detail pattern. The Problem: Currently, my implementation involves instantiating a separate UISplitViewController for each tab, resulting in 20 unique split view instances embedded inside the UITabBarController. While this works functionally, it leads to significant memory usage, especially after the user opens each tab at least once. The accumulation of all these instantiated view controllers in memory eventually causes performance degradation or even memory warnings/crashes on lower-end iPads. The Question: What is the best approach to implement this type of architecture without running into memory management issues? Specifically: Is there a way to reuse or lazily load the UISplitViewController instances only when needed? Can we unload or release split view controllers that haven't been used for a while to reduce memory pressure? Would a custom container controller be more appropriate than using UITabBarController in this case? Are there iPadOS 18+ best practices or newer APIs that support this kind of complex multi-tab, multi-split-view structure efficiently? Any advice on how to optimize memory usage while preserving the sidebar navigation and split view layout would be highly appreciated.
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179
May ’25
Human Interface guideline for Game Center Login.
I can't find any documentation on design guidelines for "Login with Game Center" button. My app allows users to "Play as Guest" or "Login with Game Center". Since Apple provides somewhat strict guidelines for designing "Sign in with Apple" button, i was wondering how to design the button for Game Center login. Should i use Game Center icon. And will Apple review reject this?
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Aug ’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.
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Aug ’25
Subscriptions Not Displaying
I have a subscription group with two individual subscriptions configured but when trying to load the SubscriptionStoreView I get the error: "Subscription Unavailable: The subscription is unavailable in the current storefront." When I try to load the ProductView, it appears to be stuck in a loading screen. I am running the app on a device that is signed into a sandbox account. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
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Feb ’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
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Aug ’25
Maintain app icon contrast when switching to grayscale mode
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!
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259
Aug ’25
Design Challenges with persistent toast message
I have an ongoing activity in progress. Think of: a delivery in progress house internet reboot in progress some water / electricity / internet / tv outage. (food) order processing I want to show a persistent toast message above the tab bar, across all tabs and screens across the app. It could take 15 minutes until the activity is finished. Obviously there's a challenge of: accessibility content overlaying with each other extra engineering effort. What we've thought of doing is: Option1: show a toast message, but when a modal is presented then it presents on top of the toast message. The toast message no longer updates itself. Once the modal is finished, then the toast message re-appears and continues to update. Option2: keep the toast message across all tabs and modals and work through the challenges mentioned Question: What are some other design approaches that could be taken to persist an ongoing activity (much like 'Live Activity', but just across the app when it's in foreground) or what are some design reasons that the two options considered are bad?
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193
May ’25
Animating items between a VStack and a ZStack?
Hey there! I'd love to know if theres a way where you can animate items between ZStack and VStacks? Just like the native iOS notifications on the Lockscreen stack at the bottom and if tapped, they convert from a Stack to a List - I have a list with items, displayed in a VStack, and I make the list collapsable when swiping down, where the items stack behind eachother with a progresisve reduction in opacity & scale, but I havent figured out a way to animate the items between the list and the stack - where you can visually see items starting to overlap and stack ontop of eachother when collapsing the list.
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May ’25
iPhone screen glare
Feedback for iPhone and iPad – Display Technology Dear Apple Team, Currently, the mainstream display technology used in iPhone and iPad is OLED. However, OLED panels produce significant PWM flickering, which strongly irritates the human eye. Many users, especially in China, experience eye strain, tearing, and discomfort after using OLED devices for a period of time. There is a large group of users here who are highly sensitive to screen flicker and therefore cannot use OLED-based devices at all. What they truly need is an eye-friendly device with either LCD or flicker-free Mini-LED display technology. I sincerely recommend that Apple consider offering iPhone and iPad models with LCD or Mini-LED panels. Such displays could provide better eye comfort, no flicker, and a healthier experience. Currently, almost no smartphone manufacturers in China provide such options, and even if they do, their devices often come with outdated chipsets and cannot be used as a reliable daily driver. This presents a valuable opportunity for Apple: by addressing this demand, Apple could attract a unique customer base, increase sales, and even justify a slightly higher price, as many customers would be willing to pay more for the sake of their eye health. In the Chinese market, a truly flicker-free iPhone or iPad would be incredibly rare and highly desired. Thank you for considering this suggestion. I truly hope Apple will take this into account.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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Aug ’25
Any chance of still joining the UX Writing Lab?
I have accidentally missed the sign up window for the UX Writing lab by 1 hour, but I'd still love to join it if at all possible. I have had this lab several times in the past and it was always very informative. I have a time tracking app that helps people make the most of their time. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/timelines-time-tracking/id1112433234 I'm looking for guidance on how to improve copywriting in my onboarding sequence, on my paywall, and overall throughout the app. Thank you for considering. My Apple ID is lukas[at]glimsoft.com.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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90
Jun ’25
Ios26 dev beta 7 brightness
Hi, is it me or latest beta has pronlem with brightness? i have iPhone 16 pro, and now i must keep disabled auto brightness , at keep slider more or less at maximum, in order to clearly see the screen. fabrizio
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
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161
Aug ’25
Preventing Content Cutoff in Sheets
I’m working on a SwiftUI sheet that has a specific size 624 x 746, but I’m running into issues on certain devices like the iPad mini in landscape or when using Stage Manager. The sheet sometimes gets cut off, and the content inside isn’t fully visible. Current Implementation: The sheet is 624 x 746, but if there's less width or height around the sheet, I want it to scale dynamically while maintaining the aspect ratio (to ensure the content can always be shown) Ideally, I’d love for the sheet to increase in size on larger screens to cover more of the page behind it. The sheet contains a NavigationStack with multiple pages. Problems I’m Facing: iPad mini (landscape): The bottom content (like buttons) gets cut off when the sheet height is constrained. Stage Manager: If the user resizes the window, the sheet doesn’t adjust properly, leading to UI clipping. Ideal behavior: I want the sheet to dynamically scale its width and height while maintaining the aspect ratio. Questions How can I prevent content from being cut off when using the sheet in iPad mini landscape? Is there a better approach to handle Stage Manager resizing dynamically? Any insights or alternative approaches would be greatly appreciated! 🚀 Also, I’m a designer, and I’m doing this to help our development team—so please bear with my code 😅 Thanks in advance! 😊
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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655
Feb ’25
iOS 26 not showing new screenshot animation
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
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237
Jun ’25
苹果手机的问题
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
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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144
Jun ’25
Liquid glass - precent automatic color changes
I have an app that displays a MapView. While I am in light mode everything is fine. I can scroll around the map and my overlays (made by UIVisualEffectView containing an UIGlassEffect) stay light and look well! As soon as I change my phone to dark mode, depending on what's underneath the buttons (a light residential area or darker wooded areas) some of my buttons change color. But not all, only where it's supposedly lighter or darker underneath. This makes my whole UI look strange. Some buttons bright, some dark. Is there a way to lock a "color" or interfaceStyle to the effects-view? In light mode everything is fine, but in dark mode it just looks super strange.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
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1.2k
Sep ’25