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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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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519
Jul ’25
App multiple times rejected - 4.3.0 Design: Spam
Hello everyone, I’m looking for some advice or shared experiences regarding an app rejection under App Store Review Guideline 4.3(b) – Design – Spam. Our app was rejected and, after an appeal to the App Review Board, Apple maintained that the app “duplicates the content and functionality of similar apps in a saturated category.” We strongly disagree with this classification and are struggling to understand how Guideline 4.3(b) has been applied in our case. The app was developed as an original product: Custom-designed content (including original cards and interactions) A unique visual style and UI A distinct interaction flow focused on encouraging social interaction between users This was not a template-based or reskinned app, nor is it part of a series of similar submissions. We fully respect the App Store Review Guidelines and are open to making adjustments to better align with them. However, what we find difficult is the lack of specific, actionable feedback. We have not received clear guidance on which exact elements are considered duplicative or what changes would meaningfully address the concern. Some of the questions we are hoping the community can help with: In your experience, what typically triggers a 4.3(b) rejection in cases like this? Are there specific mechanics, terminology, or presentation choices that reviewers often interpret as problematic? Have others successfully resolved a 4.3(b) rejection without completely abandoning their app concept? We have already invested significant time and resources into this project, and being advised to create an entirely new app is not financially feasible for us. We are genuinely trying to understand how to proceed in a way that is constructive and compliant. Any insights, experiences, or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance. — Lars
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
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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
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613
Dec ’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
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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193
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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115
May ’25
Few screen tap feedback ideas (and implementation YouTube video)
I've been playing around with iPad PRO M5 13" as part of my goal to implement some music relating SPH particle simulation effects on it - and this involves utilizing tap events also from the incredible looking fresh screen the device has. See more information from here, all should be overreactively implemented but the ideas remain (with almost zero cost copy fragment shader) : `https://youtu.be/ci-GSgQ0wlM` This attached image shows the tap effects implementation brought just bit a little further than in the video.
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1.1k
Dec ’25
i am struggling to get my tab view to work,
i am struggling to get my tab view to work, when i call views in the action part of my tab view, my background creates issue? does anyone know how to fix this? struct ContentView: View { @Environment(.colorScheme) var colorMode let Color1: Color = .cyan var Color2: Color { colorMode == .dark ? .black : .white } var TextColor: Color{ colorMode == .dark ? .black : .black } let tax: Double = 0.0875 var OptionTypes: [String] = ["Breakfeast", "Lunch", "Dinner", "Dessert", "Drinks"] var BreakfeastFoods: [Food] = [ Food(Name: "Eggs Benedict", Price: 9.50), Food(Name: "Avocado Toast", Price: 5.75), Food(Name: "French Toast", Price: 12.50), Food(Name: "Waffles", Price: 7.25), Food(Name: "Pancakes", Price: 8.60) ] var LunchFoods: [Food] = [ Food(Name: "Tuna Salad", Price: 11.25), Food(Name: "Pizza", Price: 22.50), Food(Name: "Chicken Sandwitch", Price: 8.95), Food(Name: "French Fries", Price: 5.15), Food(Name: "Macaroni and Cheese", Price: 7.50) ] var DinnerFoods: [Food] = [ Food(Name: "Ribeye Steak", Price: 18.99), Food(Name: "Pork Ribs", Price: 21.75), Food(Name: "Salmon", Price: 15.00), Food(Name: "Burrito Bowl", Price: 13.99), Food(Name: "Chicken Fajitas", Price: 20.50) ] var DessertFoods: [Food] = [ Food(Name: "Ice Cream Sundae", Price: 10.00), Food(Name: "Fudge Brownie", Price: 4.85), Food(Name: "Chocolate Cake Slice", Price: 6.10), Food(Name: "Pumpkin Pie", Price: 6.10), Food(Name: "Ice Cream Float", Price: 3.50) ] var Drinks: [Food] = [ Food(Name: "Water", Price: 0.00), Food(Name: "Sparkling Water", Price: 2.15), Food(Name: "Soda", Price: 3.00), Food(Name: "Coffee", Price: 2.50), Food(Name: "Hot Chocolate", Price: 3.50) ] @State var MyCart: [Food] = [] var body: some View { NavigationStack{ ZStack{ LinearGradient(colors: [Color1, Color2], startPoint: .top, endPoint: .bottom).ignoresSafeArea() VStack(spacing: 40){ ForEach(OptionTypes, id: \.self){ OptionType in NavigationLink(value: OptionType){ Text(OptionType) }.frame(width: 250, height: 70).background(LinearGradient(colors: [.cyan, .white,.cyan], startPoint: .topLeading, endPoint: .bottom)).foregroundStyle(TextColor).cornerRadius(100).font(.system(size: 25, weight: .medium)).padding(.top, 16) } }.navigationDestination(for: String.self) { OptionType in switch OptionType{ case "Breakfeast": BreakFeastView(BreakfeastList: BreakfeastFoods, Color1: Color1, Color2: Color2) case "Lunch": LunchView(LunchList: LunchFoods, Color1: Color1, Color2: Color2) case "Dinner": DinnerView(DinnerList: DinnerFoods, Color1: Color1, Color2: Color2) case "Dessert": DessertView(DessertList: DessertFoods, Color1: Color1, Color2: Color2) case "Drinks": DrinksView(DrinksList: Drinks, Color1: Color1, Color2: Color2) // case "My Cart": // MyCartView(MyCartList: MyCart, Color1: Color1, Color2: Color2) default: Text("Error") } } } .navigationTitle("Choose Menu") TabView{ Tab("Menu", systemImage: "fork.knife"){ } Tab("My-Cart", systemImage: "cart.fill"){ } Tab("Store Location", systemImage: "mappin"){ } } } } }
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
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469
Jul ’25
iOS 26 Liquid Glass - Without any Blur - Possible?
let glassView = UIVisualEffectView(effect: UIGlassEffect(style: .clear)) glassView.frame = CGRect(x: 100, y: 200, width: 200, height: 400) self.view.addSubview(glassView) Though UIGlassEffect has two variants: .regular and .clear, even the clear one has some blur on the background. Is there a way to do get absolute no blur? Edges still have the glass effect. Apple does this in two places: Camera app: Text magnifier:
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
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686
Oct ’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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907
Feb ’25
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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585
Dec ’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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134
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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111
Aug ’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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168
Aug ’25