UIDesignRequiresCompatibility support clarification.

Question

bmansi OP

Created 9h

Replies 1

Boosts 0

Participants 2

Hello,

Could someone from Apple clarify the support and behavior of the UIDesignRequiresCompatibility property?

The UIDesignRequiresCompatibility documentation states that this property will be ignored for builds targeting iOS 27 or later.

I have a couple of questions:

Does "builds targeting iOS 27 or later" refer to an app that was built using Xcode 27 or later?
iOS 27 is expected to be released in Fall 2026. Suppose that after iOS 27 is released, I create a new build using Xcode 26, with UIDesignRequiresCompatibility set to true, and install that build on an iOS 27 device. Will UIDesignRequiresCompatibility still be honored in this scenario, or will it be ignored and the app will use the Liquid Glass UI?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Frameworks Engineer OP

Apple

8h

Thanks for asking. We're happy to clarify.

The system ignores this key when you build for iOS 27 or later, iPadOS 27 or later, Mac Catalyst 27 or later, macOS 27 or later, or tvOS 27 or later.

It's important to note the difference between building for and targeting a certain release.

When you build your app with the Xcode 27 SDKs, the value of UIDesignRequiresCompatibility will be ignored, even if your app's deployment target is set to the 26 releases or earlier. On the 26 releases and later, your app will use the new design with Liquid Glass.

If you to build your app with the Xcode 26 SDKs, the value of UIDesignRequiresCompatibility will be honored when your app runs on the 26 and 27 releases.