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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Ask about SF symbols
Hi, I would like to make an educational app for helping my students to learn about malaria diagnosis and need to put some animal icon. In the tabview, is it possible to use system images like monkey, bird, mouse. I cannot see these animals in SF symbol list.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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173
May ’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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128
May ’25
CloudKit not storing or updating public data in real time.
My newly released App Snapshot-Chess-Move, #1592848671, is not creating a public database of chess moves as I expect. What steps do I need to do inorder for my App to be using a public database. It appears as if each of my iOS devices, iPhone, iPad and Mac mini each have a private database of chess moves. When I change my data on the iPad, I expect the new data to appear (with slight delays) on the Mac.. I do not know what to do next. Please help me. This was working in Development mode but not in Production when I submitted my App for release. UPDATE: The cloud data is copied locally to a @Quary variable and updated by using .insert, .delete and .save commands. So, I deleted and re-downloaded my apps on each device, iPad, iPhone, and Mac and obtained the same cloud data. So how do users get the most recent copy of the cloud. Do they need to delete their App and start over? Is there a .update command that can do this updating for me? Also, I pushed the App out of the background and restarted the App to obtain the updated cloud data.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
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199
Apr ’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!
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818
Jul ’25
IS THE SWiPE LEFT CAMERA MODE REALLY IMPORTANT?
I have really examined the swipe left Camera function mode and sincerely believe it is no more important especially when there no option in the settings to turn it on or off. I will highly recommend a total scrap in the iOS 26 or if possible a function to activate and deactivate it.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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343
Aug ’25
Struggling creating a custom SF Symbol: The provided variants are not interpolatable
Hi, I am trying to create a custom SF Symbol from an SVG file created with Affinity Designer but, even though my SVG file look perfect in Firefox for example compared to the exported custom.circle.svg file (as recommended in Apple's documentation), I fail to get rid of this error: "The provided variants are not interpolatable" My creation process using Affinity Designer is: Export as SVG file Duplicate the custom.circle.svg file exported from the SF Symbols app In the new file, replace the 3 "path" tags in the "g" sections "id="Black-S", "Regular-S", "Ultralight-S" with the paths from the SVG file exported from Affinity designer Set the 3 transform matrices to "matrix(1 0 0 1 0 0)" for the 3 variants to be generated at the correct location. Verify in an SVG viewer that the file looks correct. Import the file via Drag&Drop into the SF Symbols app. What is wrong with my file? Thank you in advance for any help, Marc mySymbol.svg.txt
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
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200
Jun ’25
iPad/iPhone - Display best practices….
So…I am hitting a wall here and could use some guidance towards best practice. I’ve developed an app in Xcode/SwiftUI that renders just fine on the iPhone - text, images, buttons, frames…everything is nicely centered on the screen or scrolls where and when I want. The iPad though…not so much. I’m having issues with tops and bottoms being cut off in scrollviews. These are just straight up text screens too - the ones with other elements/controls…they’re rendering fine. I’ve tried a mix of geometry, vstack, scrollview, padding, spacers…the lot of it. Nothing I seem to do works - the views do not want to fill and fit properly. And, of course, the issue becomes worse the moment you flip the iPad into landscape view. Or use the 13” models. I’d imagine others are battling these issues as well and found solutions, so I decided to hit up the brain trust.
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219
Apr ’25
The airdrop was sent to the wrong device. Will modifying the interface in this way reduce the error
I have many Apple devices, such as macbook, iPad and iPhone. It's very convenient for me to transfer files between devices. However, when I want to send files to my own device in public places, I often click on the wrong recipient because the list avatar keeps changing. I hope the list of recipients can be grouped One group is my own device (or the one I often send to), and the other group is other devices. When the user is about to send, the mouse will be in a relatively fixed and mentally expected area. I feel that this can reduce the probability of sending wrongly
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
3
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680
Nov ’25
Sell UI patent to Apple
I've designed a new UI for phones.. I'd like Apple to look at it and see what they think https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10QSQvAdRRkL-eA9WRsSEbsL62XIayJ75Mbi93tx92DI/edit?usp=drive_link
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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799
Jan ’26
Color folder and tags
I’m delighted with the introduction of new color folders. Although, I can’t help but wonder why we still need both color folders and tags. Aren’t the color folders sufficient for our needs?
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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1.2k
Aug ’25
Liquid Glass material behaviour question
I have two views I've applied Liquid Glass to in Swift UI. I've noticed that depending on the height of the view the material changes and I'm not sure why. See the attached screenshot. Both views add the liquidGlass style in the same way but behave very differently on the same background. Ideally I'd like them to look the same as the bottom one. Is that the same as the clear style?
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Sep ’25
Clarification on UIDesignRequiresCompatibility Key and Liquid Glass Adoption
Dear Apple Developer Relations Team, We are currently reviewing the documentation for the UIDesignRequiresCompatibility Info.plist key. In the documentation, there is a warning that states: "Temporarily use this key while reviewing and refining your app’s UI for the design in the latest SDKs." However, in the adoption guide for Liquid Glass: Adopting Liquid Glass, we did not see any explicit requirement to force adoption of the Liquid Glass design. We have the Gojek app, which currently uses the UIDesignRequiresCompatibility key. To ensure long-term stability, we would like clarification on the following points: Future Support of the Key: Is it safe to continue using the UIDesignRequiresCompatibility key? Can you confirm whether this key will remain supported or if there are plans for it to be deprecated/removed in future iOS versions? Liquid Glass Adoption: Our app’s design guidelines do not align with the Liquid Glass style. Can you confirm that adoption of Liquid Glass is not mandatory, and that apps can continue to use their existing custom design guidelines without any restrictions? Compatibility with iOS 26: Are there any required changes we need to make to our existing views to ensure that the UI will continue to render as it does today on iOS 26 and beyond? We want to make sure we provide the best user experience while remaining compliant with Apple’s guidelines. Your clarification would help us plan our design and development roadmap accordingly. Thank you for your support and guidance.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
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Sep ’25
iOS Review
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.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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515
Sep ’25
How can a student start learning Apple’s approach to design?
Hello everyone, I'm 14 and absolutely enthusiastic about Apple — not only the products themselves, but the design nuance, the sense that everything has been well thought-out, and even stuff like Fitness+ and the Tips app. I love how much attention Apple pays to making every aspect of the experience feel deliberate and cohesive. My dream is to eventually become an Apple employee, specifically in design (maybe even retail for the beginnin). I know that I am young right now, but I would like to start learning as soon as possible. To you all who have experience with design or anything else, what are a few things or habits one my age should focus on learning to strengthen in the right direction? to maybe reach this dream Any assistance or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! chase
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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495
Sep ’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:
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780
Jul ’25
Ios26 beta 3 concerns about liquid glass design
With the new ios 26 beta 3 helps some stabillty and performance issues but most of the liquid glass has been removed or made very frosty look; and it defeats the whole purpose of a big redesign, and even thought the changes are because of readability and contrast complaints it should not take away liquid glass design. I think apple should consider adding a toggle or choice to choose if they would want a more frosted look or a more liquid glass look the the original plan.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
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241
Jul ’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.
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640
Oct ’25