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.

Learn about designing great app and game experiences

Posts under General subtopic

Post

Replies

Boosts

Views

Activity

macOS 26 Beta Dark Mode Icons Fallback Removed
Post: In macOS 26 Betas 1–3, the system applied an automatic dark-mode fallback for app icons. This ensured consistency across the Dock and Finder even when developers hadn’t provided dark assets. Since Beta 4, this fallback was removed. As of Beta 7, icons now rely entirely on developer-updated assets. The result is mixed light and dark icons in the Dock, breaking visual consistency and making app recognition slower in dark mode. Observed behavior: • Icons without dark assets are displayed in their original light version. • Some apps (e.g. Final Cut Pro) show a gray border treatment that feels inconsistent with the rest of the UI. • The fallback applied in Betas 1–3 is completely absent. Expected behavior: System should provide a fallback rendering until developers supply proper dark assets, or offer a toggle in System Settings → Appearance (e.g. “Force Dark Icons”). This is still present in Beta 7. Is there any plan to restore the fallback mechanism or provide a user option?
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
0
0
329
Aug ’25
App crashes on click NEXT to next View
I am developing an app in Swift Playground (No Xcode). All my Views respond to the navigation call when I click NEXT except one. When I click NEXT the app hangs then crashes. The error message does not identify the cause of the crash. I have research every possible lead with no success. I would like to get some ideas on how to resolve this issue.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
0
0
237
Jan ’26
Images added in Reality Composer look darker in AR
I’m working with Reality Composer and noticed that images added directly to a scene appear significantly darker when viewed in AR. This seems different from how other objects in the scene respond to lighting, especially under varying real-world light conditions. Is this expected behavior? Are images treated with a different lighting model in Reality Composer? Is there any recommended way to get more consistent light response for image-based artworks?
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
1
0
554
Mar ’26
How does Apple achieve this effect?
Hi everyone, I'm new to building apps on Swift and recently I've been wondering how does Apple get this blur effect behind the control center on Mac OS Tahoe. I think it would be nice to use in an app that I'm making but I can't seem to find it in the docs. Is it available through AppKit? I would appreciate some help on this
0
0
639
Dec ’25
iOS 27 feature suggestion
I am requesting a dedicated toggle in Settings > Display & Brightness (or Accessibility) to enable/disable the Liquid Glass UI effects so that I am able to get frosted glass thingy effect that was in iOS 18 back.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
1
0
1.1k
Mar ’26
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:
6
0
809
Jul ’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
3
0
153
May ’25
iOS26 App icon is blurry
After I upgraded to iOS 26, most of the App icons with white backgrounds appeared blurry, as if they had been blurred by Gaussian filtering. However, some of them were normal. As shown in the picture, if you observe carefully, you will notice that the DeepSeek Chrome Photos icon is blurry, while Expo Go and LightBlue are normal. Is this a bug of the system? Does anyone have the same problem?
0
0
720
3w
Nearby Accessory
Can the vehicle‑side UWB module, acting as a Nearby Accessory, perform ranging with multiple iOS phones simultaneously while iOS cell uses background ranging with the vehicle‑side UWB (which involves BLE GATT services)? I mean, when the IOS cell works in the background, it will read the nearby gatt characteristic automatically. If there were multiple phones perform ranging with the accessory, the read characteristic from the accessory side, what shall its content be? Or does the accessory only perform ranging with one phone at a time?
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
0
0
545
Feb ’26
Can't get a simple network call working. Novice developer.
Here is my code and the error code being generated during build. let myString : String = "https://www.alphavantage.co/query?function=TIME_SERIES_DAILY&symbol=AAPL&apikey= D5GY7HKODE66G0T9" var banjo = URL(string: myString) let task = URLSession.shared.dataTask(with:banjo ) { myDatastring , response , error in} // task.resume() I've tested that URL in my browser and it works. But when I try to build I get: Value of optional type 'URL?' must be unwrapped to a value of type 'URL' Please tell me what I'm doing wrong. I think the URL struct is not returning a URL type of object.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
2
0
305
Sep ’25
glassEffect() in SwiftUI always renders as white – even with latest Beta 2 on macOS 15
Hi everyone, I’m having trouble getting the new glassEffect() modifier to render correctly in SwiftUI. No matter what I try, it just appears as a solid white background (instead of translucent glass). This happens both in Beta 1 and Beta 2. My setup: • Mac mini (M4 chip) • macOS 15 Beta 2 (Tahoe) • Xcode 16 Beta 2 • Samsung Odyssey G9 57” monitor (super ultrawide) • Using Preview in SwiftUI (not the Simulator) Even when I use Apple’s default demo code like: Text("Hello World") .padding() .glassEffect()
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
0
0
143
Jun ’25
NavigationTitle in LiquidGlass style
Hello everyone. I want to do navigationTitle (located on the top side on MacOS system) in LiquidGlass style. now my solution look like: just black rectangle. But i want like this: opacity and LiquidGlass. Like in Photo app in MacOS. Please help me, thank you in advance. My code: struct RootView: View { @Environment(\.horizontalSizeClass) var hSize var body: some View { if hSize == .regular { DesktopLayout() .navigationTitle("title") .toolbarBackground(.ultraThinMaterial, for: .automatic) } else { MobileLayout() } } }
1
0
729
Mar ’26
Xcode 26 Beta 3 – SwiftUI Previews & Project Window State Broken After Minor Edits?
Hi everyone, since updating to Xcode 26 Beta 3, I’m seeing some really strange behavior. I just changed the color of a Color asset in my SwiftUI view – literally just switched from one named color to another – and suddenly: • Previews stopped working completely, with vague or no error messages. • Even when I changed the color back to what it was before, the previews still refused to build. • In addition, Xcode no longer restores the open tabs/windows when reopening the project. It just shows a blank editor every time I open it. This all happened without touching any project settings or code structure – just a simple color swap. Has anyone else run into this with Xcode 26 Beta 3? Would love to know if it’s a known bug or if there’s a workaround (besides nuking Derived Data, which I’ve already tried). Thanks!
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
0
0
229
Jul ’25
Apple Music fullscreen artist not showing
In Apple Music I opened fullscreen for a song and I accidentally clicked some keys and the name and artist name of the song I was playing disappeared, and I can't figure out how to get it back, it temporarily comes back when I hover over the top bar but I can not get it to stay there permanently.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
0
0
77
Jun ’25
Widgets For VisionOS26
I found that unofficial apps like ChatGPT and Shadowrocket can use widgets in VisionOS 26. How is this achieved? How can I also enable widgets for apps I develop?
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
549
Activity
Oct ’25
macOS 26 Beta Dark Mode Icons Fallback Removed
Post: In macOS 26 Betas 1–3, the system applied an automatic dark-mode fallback for app icons. This ensured consistency across the Dock and Finder even when developers hadn’t provided dark assets. Since Beta 4, this fallback was removed. As of Beta 7, icons now rely entirely on developer-updated assets. The result is mixed light and dark icons in the Dock, breaking visual consistency and making app recognition slower in dark mode. Observed behavior: • Icons without dark assets are displayed in their original light version. • Some apps (e.g. Final Cut Pro) show a gray border treatment that feels inconsistent with the rest of the UI. • The fallback applied in Betas 1–3 is completely absent. Expected behavior: System should provide a fallback rendering until developers supply proper dark assets, or offer a toggle in System Settings → Appearance (e.g. “Force Dark Icons”). This is still present in Beta 7. Is there any plan to restore the fallback mechanism or provide a user option?
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
329
Activity
Aug ’25
App crashes on click NEXT to next View
I am developing an app in Swift Playground (No Xcode). All my Views respond to the navigation call when I click NEXT except one. When I click NEXT the app hangs then crashes. The error message does not identify the cause of the crash. I have research every possible lead with no success. I would like to get some ideas on how to resolve this issue.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
237
Activity
Jan ’26
Images added in Reality Composer look darker in AR
I’m working with Reality Composer and noticed that images added directly to a scene appear significantly darker when viewed in AR. This seems different from how other objects in the scene respond to lighting, especially under varying real-world light conditions. Is this expected behavior? Are images treated with a different lighting model in Reality Composer? Is there any recommended way to get more consistent light response for image-based artworks?
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
Replies
1
Boosts
0
Views
554
Activity
Mar ’26
How does Apple achieve this effect?
Hi everyone, I'm new to building apps on Swift and recently I've been wondering how does Apple get this blur effect behind the control center on Mac OS Tahoe. I think it would be nice to use in an app that I'm making but I can't seem to find it in the docs. Is it available through AppKit? I would appreciate some help on this
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
639
Activity
Dec ’25
iOS 27 feature suggestion
I am requesting a dedicated toggle in Settings > Display & Brightness (or Accessibility) to enable/disable the Liquid Glass UI effects so that I am able to get frosted glass thingy effect that was in iOS 18 back.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
Replies
1
Boosts
0
Views
1.1k
Activity
Mar ’26
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:
Replies
6
Boosts
0
Views
809
Activity
Jul ’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
Replies
3
Boosts
0
Views
153
Activity
May ’25
Fgima Design to SiwftUI PlugIn from Apple
Hi, It would be sure if Apple creates a Fgima plug in to convert designs to SwiftUI, no one can do it like Apple and it would be SUPER and super time saving ! -- Kind Regards
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
Replies
1
Boosts
0
Views
159
Activity
May ’25
iOS26 App icon is blurry
After I upgraded to iOS 26, most of the App icons with white backgrounds appeared blurry, as if they had been blurred by Gaussian filtering. However, some of them were normal. As shown in the picture, if you observe carefully, you will notice that the DeepSeek Chrome Photos icon is blurry, while Expo Go and LightBlue are normal. Is this a bug of the system? Does anyone have the same problem?
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
720
Activity
3w
Nearby Accessory
Can the vehicle‑side UWB module, acting as a Nearby Accessory, perform ranging with multiple iOS phones simultaneously while iOS cell uses background ranging with the vehicle‑side UWB (which involves BLE GATT services)? I mean, when the IOS cell works in the background, it will read the nearby gatt characteristic automatically. If there were multiple phones perform ranging with the accessory, the read characteristic from the accessory side, what shall its content be? Or does the accessory only perform ranging with one phone at a time?
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
545
Activity
Feb ’26
Can't get a simple network call working. Novice developer.
Here is my code and the error code being generated during build. let myString : String = "https://www.alphavantage.co/query?function=TIME_SERIES_DAILY&symbol=AAPL&apikey= D5GY7HKODE66G0T9" var banjo = URL(string: myString) let task = URLSession.shared.dataTask(with:banjo ) { myDatastring , response , error in} // task.resume() I've tested that URL in my browser and it works. But when I try to build I get: Value of optional type 'URL?' must be unwrapped to a value of type 'URL' Please tell me what I'm doing wrong. I think the URL struct is not returning a URL type of object.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
Replies
2
Boosts
0
Views
305
Activity
Sep ’25
glassEffect() in SwiftUI always renders as white – even with latest Beta 2 on macOS 15
Hi everyone, I’m having trouble getting the new glassEffect() modifier to render correctly in SwiftUI. No matter what I try, it just appears as a solid white background (instead of translucent glass). This happens both in Beta 1 and Beta 2. My setup: • Mac mini (M4 chip) • macOS 15 Beta 2 (Tahoe) • Xcode 16 Beta 2 • Samsung Odyssey G9 57” monitor (super ultrawide) • Using Preview in SwiftUI (not the Simulator) Even when I use Apple’s default demo code like: Text("Hello World") .padding() .glassEffect()
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
143
Activity
Jun ’25
UX Design certification for Partner Hub (Apple Pay)
Hi, Just want to check is there a requirement for Apple that for App Digital Wallet provisioning that Apple Pay button is not more than 2 taps away from Home Screen?
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
157
Activity
Jul ’25
NavigationTitle in LiquidGlass style
Hello everyone. I want to do navigationTitle (located on the top side on MacOS system) in LiquidGlass style. now my solution look like: just black rectangle. But i want like this: opacity and LiquidGlass. Like in Photo app in MacOS. Please help me, thank you in advance. My code: struct RootView: View { @Environment(\.horizontalSizeClass) var hSize var body: some View { if hSize == .regular { DesktopLayout() .navigationTitle("title") .toolbarBackground(.ultraThinMaterial, for: .automatic) } else { MobileLayout() } } }
Replies
1
Boosts
0
Views
729
Activity
Mar ’26
SwiftUI iOS26 beta7 ".navigationTitle()" does't show small title in Navigation Bar.
As the title indicates the problem, the large title is shown but the small title in Navitation Bar view is not shown when scrolled up with iOS26 beta7. It works with iOS18 or earlier. Is this iOS26 bug?
Replies
1
Boosts
0
Views
489
Activity
Sep ’25
During Apple subscription renewals in the sandbox environment, why isn't Apple's server sending the server-to-server notifications to our backend?
We're using StoreKit for in-app purchases on iOS, and our backend has the server notification URL configured. However, during subscription renewals, Apple's server doesn't send any requests to our endpoint. What could be causing this?
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
Replies
1
Boosts
0
Views
467
Activity
Jul ’25
Xcode 26 Beta 3 – SwiftUI Previews & Project Window State Broken After Minor Edits?
Hi everyone, since updating to Xcode 26 Beta 3, I’m seeing some really strange behavior. I just changed the color of a Color asset in my SwiftUI view – literally just switched from one named color to another – and suddenly: • Previews stopped working completely, with vague or no error messages. • Even when I changed the color back to what it was before, the previews still refused to build. • In addition, Xcode no longer restores the open tabs/windows when reopening the project. It just shows a blank editor every time I open it. This all happened without touching any project settings or code structure – just a simple color swap. Has anyone else run into this with Xcode 26 Beta 3? Would love to know if it’s a known bug or if there’s a workaround (besides nuking Derived Data, which I’ve already tried). Thanks!
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
229
Activity
Jul ’25
Apple Music fullscreen artist not showing
In Apple Music I opened fullscreen for a song and I accidentally clicked some keys and the name and artist name of the song I was playing disappeared, and I can't figure out how to get it back, it temporarily comes back when I hover over the top bar but I can not get it to stay there permanently.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
77
Activity
Jun ’25
How can we ensure legibility on tinted SF Symbols on Liquid Glass tab bar?
I've noticed that the App Store app tends to make the selected tab indicator darker on light mode and lighter on dark mode. Is there any easy way to ensure better legibility out of the box with Tab View (SwiftUI) when using the tint modifier with custom colors?
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
200
Activity
Sep ’25