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Rendering Multi-Page PDF with SwiftUI View
I have the following code that renders a one-page PDF: func render() -> URL { let renderer = ImageRenderer(content: pdfView()) let url = URL.documentsDirectory.appending(path: "filename.pdf") renderer.render { size, context in var document = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 2550, height: 3300) guard let pdf = CGContext(url as CFURL, mediaBox: &document, nil) else { return } pdf.beginPDFPage(nil) context(pdf) pdf.endPDFPage() pdf.closePDF() } return url } func pdfView() -> some View { Text("View") } How can this be modified so that it renders a PDF with more than one page?
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IOS 26
H ello there. I just installed IOS 26 on my iPhone 15 Pro Max. But i think i found a Bug with a Widget where you have an overview of all devices and their battery. In IOS 18 when we used the Dark Theme (Dark Icons etc.) this widget was dark aswell (look at the picture) and now in IOs everything is dark except this widget. Its kinda annoying…
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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Sep ’25
HotKey support for sandboxed apps
App design: macos, Xcode 16.4, Sequioa 15.5, it is sandboxed Uses: Pods->HotKey for a global hotkey which xcode says "binary compatibility can't be guaranteed" This app is on the Apple Store and supposedly apps on the Apple Store can't use global hotkeys. Someone internally, installed it from the store and the global hotkey works just fine. I'm concerned for two potential problems; I need to find a hotkey library or code that is known to work with a sandbox'd Apple Store app. Why is it working now when everything I have read says it shouldn't.
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Jun ’25
Complex Swift Data Relationships...
I am struggling with exactly how to set up SwiftData relationships, beyond the single relationship model... Let's say I have a school. Each school offers a set of classes. Each class is taught by one teacher and attended by several students. Teachers may teach more than one class, but only at one school. Similarly students may attend more than one class, but only at one school. Classes themselves may be offered at more than one school. Can someone create a class for School, SchoolClass, Teacher, and Student with id, name, and relationships... I have tried it unsuccessfully about 10 different ways at this point. My most recent is below... I am struggling getting beyond a school listing in the app, and I'll cross that bridge next. I am just wondering if all the trouble I am having is because I am not smart with the class definitions. And wondering if this is to complex for SwiftData and CoreData is the requirement. This is not a real app, just my way of really trying to get a handle on Swift Data models and Navigation. I am very new to Swift, and will take any and all suggestions with enthusiasm! Thanks for taking the time. import Foundation import SwiftData @Model class School: Identifiable { var id: UUID = UUID() var name: String var mascot: String var teachers: [Teacher] var schoolClasses: [SchoolClass] init (name: String, mascot: String = "", teachers: [Teacher] = [], schoolClasses: [SchoolClass] = []) { self.name = name self.mascot = mascot self.teachers = teachers } class SchoolClass: Identifiable { var id: UUID = UUID() var name: String var teacher: Teacher? var students: [Student] = [] init (name: String, teacher: Teacher? = nil, students: [Student] = []) { self.name = name self.teacher = teacher self.students = students } } class Teacher: Identifiable { var id: UUID = UUID() var name: String var tenured: Bool var school: School? var students: [Student] = [] init (name: String, tenured: Bool = false, students: [Student] = []) { self.name = name self.tenured = tenured self.students = students } } class Student: Identifiable { var id: UUID = UUID() var name: String var grade: Int? var teacher: Teacher? init (name: String, grade: Int? = nil, teacher: Teacher? = nil) { self.name = name self.grade = grade self.teacher = teacher } } }
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
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Jul ’25
Suggestions on macOS and iPad app structure
Building an app to edit the various parameters of digital musical instruments. A typical user would have perhaps max 6 instruments, out of the hundreds of possibilities. Would like to structure the app with a global window, menu, etc which would be a free download. The user could download editor inserts for their particular set of instruments and ignore all of the others. The downloaded editors would show as options in a menu. It seem like more than a widget but less than a library. Building a monolithic app containing all possible editors doesn't seem like an option, but separate full-app editors for each piece of gear doesn't sound right either. Any suggestions out there? Thanks very much Brian
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May ’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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Sep ’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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May ’25
Scrollview and a background image set to scaledToFill....
I've been beating my head against the wall over a scrollview issue where the top and bottom are cut off in landscape mode. Portrait mode - everything runs swimmingly. The moment I flip the iPad on its side, though, I lose about a quarter of the view on the top and bottom. I thought this was something to do with framing or such; I ran through a myriad of frame, padding, spacer, geometry...I set it static, I set it to dynamically grow, I even created algorithms to try to figure out how to set things to the individual device. Eventually, I separated the tablet and phone views as was suggested here and on the Apple dev forums. That's when I started playing around with the background image. Right now I have.... ZStack { Image("background") .resizable() .scaledToFill() .ignoresSafeArea() ScrollView { VStack(spacing: 24) {.... The problem is the "scaledToFill". In essence, whenever THAT is in the code, the vertical scrollview goes wonky in landscape mode. It, in essence, thinks that it has much more room at the top and the bottom because the background image has been extended at top and bottom to fill the wider screen of the iPad in landscape orientation. Is there any way to get around this issue? The desired behavior is pretty straightforward - the background image fills the entire background, no white bars or such, and the view scrolls against it.
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Apr ’25
New IOS APP Help
Hello, I am looking to develop a relationship with a developer that has experience running through the IOS build approval process. To elaborate, my team and I have designed and built a software application which is working through the Apple Developer review process to have the app approved and released to the App Store. Unfortunately, there has been some challenges, simple challenges in my eyes with our interface preventing Apple from approving our application. Happy to elaborate further. A primary problem and solution I have seen is the software build was testing solely on the iPhone but as recently directed it seem the application must be accessible on iPad as well. With this the case, I have experience some software platforms where on the ipad the interface is not displayed on the whole screen. I am looking for direction on how to implement this setup for the 1st IOS build. Another concern from Apples Developer Review team is the App Tracking Transparency kit may need to be implemented.
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Sep ’25
unable to optimize App for iPad
I use swiftui to build apps on iPhone and iPad. There is no problem with the iPhone app. The game display is fully shown on iPhone. However, for the iPad, the game display is not shown and the screen goes black. I had to tap the button on the upper left side.(looks like a side view button) After that, the game display is only shown in the left side in a very small size. How can I make the game display fully shown in the iPad?
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Apr ’25
iOS 26.0.1: Different Liquid Glass Effects
Hello everyone, In the current iOS version, changes in the "liquid glass" light shining effects can repeatedly be observed on older iPhone devices (12/13/14). This change is often seen after the device is rebooted or after a SystemMemoryReset.ips (System Analysis Data). It changes very often... I'm not currently working on apps myself, but perhaps someone has ideas for the upcoming updates involving Liquid Glass. (please also check the screenshots)
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Oct ’25
A Summary of the WWDC25 Group Lab - Design
At WWDC25 we launched a new type of Lab event for the developer community - Group Labs. A Group Lab is a panel Q&A designed for a large audience of developers. Group Labs are a unique opportunity for the community to submit questions directly to a panel of Apple engineers and designers. Here are the highlights from the WWDC25 Group Lab for Design. Can you expand on how Liquid Glass helps with navigation and focus in the UI? Liquid Glass clarifies the navigation layer by introducing a single, floating pane that acts as the primary navigation area. Buttons within this pane seamlessly morph as you move between sections, and controls can temporarily lift into the glass surface. While avoiding excessive use of glass (like layering glass on glass), this approach simplifies navigation and strengthens the connection between menus, alerts, and the elements that trigger them. What should I do with customized bars that I might have in my app? Reconsider the content and behavior of customized bars. Evaluate whether you need all the buttons and whether a menu might be a better solution. Instead of relying on background colors or styling, express hierarchy through layout and grouping. This is a good opportunity to adopt the new design language and simplify your interface. What are scroll edge effects, and what options do we have for them? Scroll edge effects enhance legibility in controls by lifting interactive elements and separating them from the background. There are two types: a soft edge effect (a subtle blur) and a hard edge effect (a more defined boundary for high-legibility areas like column sorting). Scroll edge effects are designed to work seamlessly with Liquid Glass, allowing content to feel expansive while ensuring controls and titles remain legible. How can we ensure or improve accessibility using Liquid Glass? Legibility is a priority, and refinements are ongoing throughout the betas. Liquid Glass adapts well to accessibility settings like Reduce Transparency, Increase Contrast, and Reduce Motion. There are two variants of glass: regular glass, designed to be legible by default, and clear glass, used in places like AVKit, which requires more care to ensure legibility. Use color contrast tools to ensure contrast ratios are met. The Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) are a living document offering best practices. The colors and materials pages are key resources. Do you have any recommendations for convincing designers concerned with consistency across Android and Web to use Liquid Glass? Start small and focus on high-utility controls that don't significantly impact brand experience. Native controls offer familiarity and predictability to users. Using the native controls makes sure your app feels at home on the device. Using native frameworks provides built-in accessibility support (dynamic type, reduce transparency, increase contrast). Native controls come with built-in behaviors and interactions. Can ScrollViews include Liquid Glass within them? You can technically put a glass layer inside a scroll view, but it can feel heavy and doesn't align with the system's intention for Liquid Glass to serve as a fixed layer. Think of the content layer as the scrolling layer, and the navigational layer as the one using Liquid Glass. If there is glass on the content layer it will collide into the navigational layer. What core design philosophy guided the direction of iOS 26, beyond the goal of unification? The core design philosophy involved blurring the line between hardware and software, separating UI and navigation elements from content, making apps adaptable across window sizes, and combining playfulness with sophistication. It was about making the UI feel at home on rounded screens. Can we layer Liquid Glass elements on top of each other? Avoid layering Liquid Glass elements directly on top of each other, as it creates unnecessary visual complexity. The system will automatically convert nested glass elements to a vibrant fill style. Use vibrant fills and labels to show control shapes and ensure legibility. Opaque grays should be avoided in favor of vibrant colors, which will multiply with the backgrounds correctly. What will happen to apps that use custom components? Should they be adapted to the new design within the next year? The more native components you use, the more things happen for free. Standard components will be upgraded automatically. Look out for any customizations that might clash. Think about what is the minimum viable change, where your app still feels and looks very similar to what it did. Prioritize changes in core workflows and navigational areas. There are a number of benefits to using native components including user familiarity, built-in accessibility support, and built-in behaviors and interactions. Will Apple be releasing Figma design templates? Sketch kits were published on Monday and can be referenced. The goal is to ensure the resources are well-organized, well-named, and easy to use. It's a high priority.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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1.6k
Jun ’25
Questions about the Swift Student Challenge
Hello! I've been wondering about how strict the rules are for multilingual content in submissions, and also what I can use as screenshots. There are screens in my app, explained and accompanied by English, that have Chinese text/audio on them. Is this appropriate? Reading the Terms & Conditions says that "All content must be in English", but because multicultural themes are a main point of my app, it seems unavoidable to use other languages. I've attached images that show what I'm talking about: About the screenshots in my submission, am I allowed to show two screenshots side-by-side of a before & after of what an interaction does in one image? It'd look like two phone screenshots right next to each other.
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Network access has changed
I had, a long time ago (over 10 years) developed an application that is connected to my UPS (for solar panels). Until yet it worked very well, and I didnot have to compute more than making updates of XCode. That was all. But yet I have swiched to the latest value of switch, and it continue to compile, but it does'not work. I am asking to yo in order keeping my app working as previously. As it does not work, which library is replacing Cloudkit.framework ? and which library is replacing InsPersistantContainer.framework ? Have a good day Guy Desbief
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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594
Dec ’25
Poor Rendering of Liquid Glass Icon on Device
Hey there, I redesigned my apps icons for Liquid Glass in the icon composer app. I have to say it's been a pleasure to use and my icons look stunning when rendered in the icon composer app, whatever rendering mode and context I've been testing. But once in a developer release on my device (iOS 26 beta 3), the rendering is very disappointing. They look blurry, very far from what icon composer is showing. I would like to know whether I have a design issue, or if the current state of the beta release is known to not render icon properly. I'm kind of panicking :)
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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1k
Jul ’25
iOS 26 beta 3 bug report
In the clock app when making an alarm for myself to wake up, I found this bug where If you swipe left On an alarm without deleting it and then Swipe right it does a goofy visual glitch where it teleports to the top of your screen.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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522
Jul ’25
How to highlight the specific POI in the map on scroll
Hello, I have used CPPointOfInterestTemplate for displaying data and as user scrolls using the up/down arrow, I do not see any change in the map. Is there a way to highlight the POIs as the user scrolls through the list? I need to use the map controls and zoom to check the markers on the map. Is it possible to set the zoom level of the map in CarPlay? Pls suggest on the above queries
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Apr ’25