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New iOS 18
The format of photos on the new iOS 18 and its updates is HORRIBLE. Not userfriendly, not easy to navigate, not even appealing to the eye. I can’t even see my favorites album anymore and have to search for it every time. In short, I hate it. Well done Apple
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
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712
Nov ’24
Window Control Placement Notification in iPadOS 26
I’m seeing that in the windowed-apps multitasking mode, the new window controls (the three “traffic-light” icons) can overlap the top-left corner of my app’s main view. Detection: How can I programmatically determine whether these window controls will be displayed? Geometry: If they are displayed, how can I find out their exact position and size? I’d like to adjust my layout at runtime to ensure no content is hidden beneath those controls. For reference, my main view does not include a status bar or navigation bar at the top.
Topic: UI Frameworks SubTopic: UIKit Tags:
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175
Jun ’25
Controlling the focus order in a UICollectionView
I'm running into a problem with the focus order in my UICollectionView in my tvOS app. The layout of my app is outlined in the following diagram On the uppermost layer I have a UITableView, each cell containing a single UICollectionView that can contain a variable number of UICollectionViewCells. When the user swipes down, I want the left-most item in the next row down to be selected, as follows: I've been able to get this to work for the majority of cases. The exception is when the previously focused item extends to the length of the screen - in this case the next focused item isn't the leftmost item, but rather the center item, as follows. Using focus guides won't really fit the use case here since collection views are dynamically generated. I've found that there is a function in UICollectionViewDelegate, indexPathForPreferredFocusedView that should help here but it only seems to be called intermittedly, even though I have set remembersLastFocusedIndexPath on the collectionview to true. I can force it to be called by calling setNeedsFocusUpdate() but I can't figure out a good place to call it - shouldUpdateFocus is too early and didUpdateFocus is too late. Is there some way to constrain the focus area of a view to a certain subset of it's frame - for example, the left-most quarter of its width? Or does anyone know of some other solution to this problem?
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534
Jan ’25
Set edge effect style in AppKit
In macOS 26 beta 2 it is possible to set an edge effect style via UIKit using the .scrollEdgeEffectStyle property. (note: I haven't tested this, I'm just looking at the documentation). See: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/swiftui/view/scrolledgeeffectstyle(_:for:) Is there an equivalent API for AppKit-based apps? I can't seem to find any additions in NSView or NSScrollView or elsewhere that seem relevant. Scroll edge effects are mentioned in the "Build an AppKit app with the new design" talk here, which heavily implies it must be possible from AppKit: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2025/310/?time=567
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241
Jul ’25
iOS 26 Floating Search Tab in UIKit
Does anyone have any documentation for how to achieve the floating search tab item in UIKit apps that use UITabBarController? The Liquid Glass UIKit video had code for minimizing the tab bar on scroll down, but I didn't see anything on keeping the search button locked to the bottom trailing edge (as in this screenshot below).
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257
Jul ’25
Using @Environment for a router implementation...
Been messing with this for a while... And cannot figure things out... Have a basic router implemented... import Foundation import SwiftUI enum Route: Hashable { case profile(userID: String) case settings case someList case detail(id: String) } @Observable class Router { var path = NavigationPath() private var destinations: [Route] = [] var currentDestination: Route? { destinations.last } var navigationHistory: [Route] { destinations } func navigate(to destination: Route) { destinations.append(destination) path.append(destination) } } And have gotten this to work with very basic views as below... import SwiftUI struct ContentView: View { @State private var router = Router() var body: some View { NavigationStack(path: $router.path) { VStack { Button("Go to Profile") { router.navigate(to: .profile(userID: "user123")) } Button("Go to Settings") { router.navigate(to: .settings) } Button("Go to Listings") { router.navigate(to: .someList) } .navigationDestination(for: Route.self) { destination in destinationView(for: destination) } } } .environment(router) } @ViewBuilder private func destinationView(for destination: Route) -> some View { switch destination { case .profile(let userID): ProfileView(userID: userID) case .settings: SettingsView() case .someList: SomeListofItemsView() case .detail(id: let id): ItemDetailView(id: id) } } } #Preview { ContentView() } I then have other views named ProfileView, SettingsView, SomeListofItemsView, and ItemDetailView.... Navigation works AWESOME from ContentView. Expanding this to SomeListofItemsView works as well... Allowing navigation to ItemDetailView, with one problem... I cannot figure out how to inject the Canvas with a router instance from the environment, so it will preview properly... (No idea if I said this correctly, but hopefully you know what I mean) import SwiftUI struct SomeListofItemsView: View { @Environment(Router.self) private var router var body: some View { VStack { Text("Some List of Items View") Button("Go to Item Details") { router.navigate(to: .detail(id: "Test Item from List")) } } } } //#Preview { // SomeListofItemsView() //} As you can see, the Preview is commented out. I know I need some sort of ".environment" added somewhere, but am hitting a wall on figuring out exactly how to do this. Everything works great starting from contentview (with the canvas)... previewing every screen you navigate to and such, but you cannot preview the List view directly. I am using this in a few other programs, but just getting frustrated not having the Canvas available to me to fine tune things... Especially when using navigation on almost all views... Any help would be appreciated.
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252
Jul ’25
Apple Music iOS 26 features in Android
Since many users like me use Apple Music on Android, the app is almost as feature-rich as iOS. It would be fantastic if the developers could add the new iOS 26 features to the Android app, along with a minor UI change. I know it’s challenging to implement liquid glass on Android hardware or design, but features like auto-mix, pronunciation, and translation could be added. kindly consider this request !!!!
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104
Jul ’25
Correct way to label TextField inside Form in SwiftUI
Hello everyone. I'm building a simple Form in a Multiplatform App with SwiftUI. Originally I had something like this. import SwiftUI struct OnboardingForm: View { @State var firstName: String = "" @State var lastName: String = "" @State var email: String = "" @State var job: String = "" @State var role: String = "" var body: some View { Form { TextField("First Name", text: $firstName, prompt: Text("Required")) TextField("Last Name", text: $lastName, prompt: Text("Required")) TextField("Email", text: $email, prompt: Text("Required")) TextField("Job", text: $job, prompt: Text("Required")) TextField("Role", text: $role, prompt: Text("Required")) } } } #Preview { OnboardingForm() } In macOS it looks ok but then in iOS it looks like this: and it's impossible to know what each field is for if all the prompts are the same. I tried adding LabeledContent around each text field and that solves it for iOS but then on macOS it looks like this: The labels are shown twice and the columns are out of alignment. I think I could get around it by doing something like this: #if os(iOS) LabeledContent { TextField("First Name", text: $firstName, prompt: Text("Required")) } label: { Text("First Name") } #else TextField("First Name", text: $firstName, prompt: Text("Required")) #endif but it seems to me like reinventing the wheel. Is there a "correct" way to declare TextFields with labels that works for both iOS and macOS?
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882
Feb ’25
ios 18.0 bug UITabBarController "More" Tab First Item Not Displaying Properly on iOS 18
Hello everyone, I'm working on an iOS application using Objective-C and UITabBarController. My app has more than 5 tabs, so the additional tabs are placed under the "More" tab. However, I've encountered an issue specific to iOS 18 where the first item in the "More" tab does not show up properly. This issue does not occur in iOS 17 or earlier versions. Here's my setup method: (void)mainTabbarSetUp { NSMutableArray *tabItemArray = [NSMutableArray array]; UIViewController *viewController1, *viewController2, *viewController3, *viewController4, *viewController5, *viewController6, *viewController7; UINavigationController *navviewController1, *navviewController2, *navviewController3, *navviewController4, *navviewController5, *navviewController6, *navviewController7; viewController1 = [[UIViewController alloc] init]; navviewController1 = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:viewController1]; navviewController1.tabBarItem.title = @"Watch List"; navviewController1.tabBarItem.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"tab_icn_watchlist"]; [tabItemArray addObject:navviewController1]; // Similarly adding other view controllers... viewController6 = [[UIViewController alloc] init]; navviewController6 = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:viewController6]; navviewController6.tabBarItem.title = @"Cancelled"; navviewController6.tabBarItem.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"tab_icn_cancelled"]; [tabItemArray addObject:navviewController6]; self.mainTabBarController.viewControllers = tabItemArray; } What I've Tried: Verified that each view controller is correctly initialized and assigned to a UINavigationController before being added to the tab array. Logged the contents of the moreNavigationController to confirm that it contains the correct view controllers. Tested by reducing the number of view controllers to less than 5, and the issue does not occur. Ensured that all UINavigationControllers are configured consistently (e.g., translucency, bar style, etc.).
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2.5k
Oct ’24
Max OS X App Bundle Framework folder
Hi, the documentation says that an application bundle for Mac OS X can have a Frameworks folder within Contents. Using a framework for console applications (no bundle) and GUI applications (bundle), I cannot load the console applications anymore on Ventura. Prior to Ventora I have tested and ran both on Mojave or earlier - I am not sure. To fix the issue, I have moved the frameworks within the application bundle to match the rpath for /Users/lothar/Library/Frameworks when I place the console into /Users/lothar/bin, the same rpath for application bundles works for those within the bin folder. Can I publish an application bundle with that modified layout or do I have to expect getting problems and do rather a Symlink pointing from /Users/lothar/Frameworks to /Users/lothar/Library/Frameworks? Thanks, Lothar
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686
Oct ’24
AreaMark Always alignsMarkStylesWithPlotArea for linear gradients
I'm trying to make a Swift Chart where 24 AreaMarks an hour apart on X axis over a day display a vertical gradient. The gradient is vertical and is essentially [Color.opacity(0.1),Colour,Color.opacity(0.1] The idea here is where the upper and lower points of each AreaMark are the same or close to each other in the Y axis, the chart essentially displays a line, where they are far apart you get a nice fading vertical gradient. However, it seems that the .alignsMarkStylesWithPlotArea modifier is always set for AreaMarks even if manually applying it false. Investigating further, I've learnt that with AreaMarks in a series, Swift Charts seems to only listen to the first foreground style set in. I've created some sample code to demonstrate this. struct DemoChartView: View { var body: some View { Chart { AreaMark(x: .value("Time", Date().addingTimeInterval(0)), yStart: .value("1", 40), yEnd: .value("2", 60)) .foregroundStyle(LinearGradient(colors: [.pink, .teal], startPoint: .top, endPoint: .bottom)) .alignsMarkStylesWithPlotArea(false) AreaMark(x: .value("Time", Date().addingTimeInterval(3600)), yStart: .value("1", 44), yEnd: .value("2", 58)) .foregroundStyle(LinearGradient(colors: [.orange, .yellow], startPoint: .top, endPoint: .bottom)) .alignsMarkStylesWithPlotArea(false) AreaMark(x: .value("Time", Date().addingTimeInterval(03600*2)), yStart: .value("1", 50), yEnd: .value("2", 90)) .foregroundStyle(LinearGradient(colors: [.green, .blue], startPoint: .top, endPoint: .bottom)) .alignsMarkStylesWithPlotArea(false) } } } Which produces this: So here, all the different .foregroundStyle LinearGradients are being ignored AND the .alignsMarkStylesWithPlotArea(false) is also ignored - the amount of pink on the first mark is different to the second and third 🤷‍♂️ Has anyone encountered this. Are AreaMarks the correct choice or are they just not setup to create this type of data display. Thanks
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726
Jun ’25
Is having a button to exit the app on iOS still ground to exclusion ?
Hello In the past, the documentation and specifically design guidelines were quite clear about the fact that having an exit button was not a good thing, and programmatically exiting the app was prohibited and ground to rejection by the review team. Looking though the documentation and guidelines nowadays, I cannot find any explicit mention of this. We have a client that want us to add such button on the main menu of an app, and we are looking to hard evidence that this is against standards. Has Apple stance on this changed ? Or have I missed it in the doc somewhere ?
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631
Nov ’24
Look to Scroll
Hello! I’m excited to see that Look to Scroll has been included in visionOS 26 Beta. I’m aiming to achieve a feature where the user’s gaze at a specific edge automatically scrolls to that position. However, I’ve experimented with ScrollView and haven’t been able to trigger this functionality. Could you advise if additional API modifiers are necessary? Thank you!
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514
Jul ’25
Removing Grid Lines from Charts in SwiftUI
Hi, I have created a line graph using LineMark in Charts, which by default includes grid lines and axes lines. My requirement is to remove the grid lines but retain the axes lines and the values. I have tried the following code: .chartXAxis { AxisMarks(preset: .extended, values: .stride(by: 2), stroke: StrokeStyle(lineWidth: 0)) } This is removing grid lines as well as axes lines. How to retain axes lines while removing grid lines ?
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323
Feb ’25
Liquid glass: UIPageViewController inside UITabbarController adding blur effect always in iOS26
When using UIPageViewController inside a UITabBarController on iOS 26 with Liquid Glass adoption, visiting the PageViewController tab applies a blur effect to the navigation bar and tab bar even though the current child view controller of the pageView is not scrollable and does not reach behind these bars. Questions: Is this the expected behavior that the pageview's internal scroll view causes the bars to blur regardless of the page view's child content’s scrollability? If so, is there an official way to make the blur effect appear only when the pageview's current child view controller actually scrolls behind the navigation bar or tab bar, and not in static cases? Tried the same in SwiftUI using TabView and TabView with page style. Facing the same issue there as well. Sample screenshots for reference, Sample SwiftUI code, struct TabContentView: View { var body: some View { TabView { // First Tab: Paging View PagingView() .tabItem { Label("Pages", systemImage: "square.fill.on.square.fill") } // Second Tab: Normal View NavigationStack { ListView() } .tabItem { Label("Second", systemImage: "star.fill") } // Third Tab: Normal View PageView(color: .blue, text: "Page 3") .tabItem { Label("Third", systemImage: "gearshape.fill") } } .ignoresSafeArea() } } struct PagingView: View { var body: some View { TabView { PageView(color: .red, text: "Page 1") PageView(color: .green, text: "Page 2") PageView(color: .blue, text: "Page 3") } .tabViewStyle(.page) // Enables swipe paging .indexViewStyle(.page(backgroundDisplayMode: .always)) .ignoresSafeArea()// Dots indicator } }
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178
Jul ’25
MusicKit design guidelines
Hi community, I have a question regarding MusicKit, is it necessary to follow a design guideline to integrate this framework into my App? Also, when no music is reproducing in MusicKit which placeholder we should show, do you provide the resource? Or can we create our own placeholder? Thanks for all, David.
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594
Feb ’25
Wrong unit in HIG > Components > System Experiences > Widget > watchOS widget dimensions
Hello, I noticed a small mistake in the Human Interface Guidelines (HIG). On the page HIG > Components > System Experiences > Widget > watchOS Widget Dimensions, scroll down to the bottom. In the "watchOS widget dimensions" section, the sizes in the table are in pixels (px), not points (pt) actually. However, the table header indicates the sizes should be in points (pt). Page link: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/widgets#watchOS-widget-dimensions For example, the widget size in the Smart Stack on a 49mm watch should be 192x81.5 pt (or 382x163 px), not 382x163 pt. This size can be verified with the information provided here: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/watchos-apps/supporting-multiple-watch-sizes/. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/watchkit/wkinterfacedevice/1620974-screenscale
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
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807
Jan ’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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122
Apr ’25