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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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Jun ’25
Greyed out app icon on iOS 26 beta
On iOS 26 beta 3, my app and some other apps got greyed out app icon. It only happens in Default (Light) appearance. Apple automatically converts third-party app icons to support Liquid Glass, but is there any specific requirement with third-party icons to avoid above greyed out app icon issue?
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SwiftUI Logo
I see the logo all over the internet, but the only Official logo I can find is the swift logo, the orange one, but the blue one I do not see a place to download it nor the usage guidelines. I have seen it on various Icon site like Icon8. I would like to use it on my reddit forum that is dedicated to SwiftUI but I want to be legal. Is it allowed to use and if so, where can you download the official verison?
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
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710
Nov ’25
CPContactTemplate does not display buttons iOS26
I'm trying to display CPButtons (CPContactCallButton, CPContactMessageButton) in CPContactTemplate. They are displayed using device with iOS16, but with iOS26 device CPContactTemplate only displays contact image and contact name. No buttons. Is it a bug? I don't have iOS17/18 devices to try.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
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Contact UISearchBar missing.
Feedback id: FB16140301 Below are the steps to reproduce the bug in Contacts app. Open Contacts app. Now search for a contact and didSelect that contact. Now slightly hold swipe right(from view's center leading position) as to pop the view but not fully swipe, now release the finger and you can see the back nav bar button missing and tapping the back button position also doesn't perform dismiss action. Now do fully swipe from left to right to dismiss(pop) current view. Here you can see the search bar missing.-> That's the bug.
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131
Jun ’25
Section Header Overlaps with Cell Text in Plain List Style on iOS 26
Hi everyone, I've noticed that on iOS 26 beta 1 through beta 4, when using a List with the .plain style, the section header overlaps with the cell content below it, as there is no background for the header. This creates a poor visual experience. Additionally, when using NavigationSplitView on iPad, the second column's list always shows this issue. Is this an intentional design change, or just a temporary issue? I haven't found a good workaround so far. Thanks! FB19066489
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589
Jul ’25
Xcode 26 Issue with functional of bridging header in Xcode project with both objective-c and swift
I'm in the process of add some swift code that is all objective-c. I have trouble with my actual app so I have worked on a prototype. There is what I have done Created a new Xcode project, selecting App and Objc Added a blank Swift file and accepted the generation of the -Bridging-Header. In project build setting, Yes for Defines Modules, Yes for Always Embed Swift Libraries Add appropriate .h file to Bridging header In Build Settings, in Swift Compiler - General, Bridging Header has correct path to the bridging header file Setup the single swift file in this was using @objc like this: @objcmembers class MySwiftClass: NSObject { func myMethod() { let output = ... } } When the project runs I execute in the objc ViewController: MySwiftClass *swiftObject = [[MySwiftClass alloc] init]; and get Use of undeclared identifier 'MySwiftClass'
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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354
Oct ’25
Liquid Glass icons appear differently in Dock
I just played around on macOS with the new icons created by Icon Composer, and I noticed that the Dock displays programmatically set icons differently. Try this: Make sure you have the Mail app in your Dock. Set the icon appearance to "Tinted/Light" and set a dark (black) background for the Desktop. Run this code: let image = NSWorkspace.shared.icon(forFile: "/System/Applications/Mail.app") if image.isValid { NSApp.applicationIconImage = image } You'll get something like this: When the icon appearance is set to "Default" or "Dark," everything works as expected, and the "Clear/Dark" and "Tinted/Dark" modes seem to work as well. It seems like the Dock uses a special blend mode depending on the selected background, but this does not seem to be the case if the icon is set programmatically. I filed feedback FB20291186.
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Sep ’25
.Net MAUI (Windows & Mac)
What is the step-by-step process to run an iOS application paired with the Mac in my MAUI project? I am using Windows with Visual Studio 2022 V17.13.5. Application: Multiplatform; Language: C#; Framework: MAUI 8; Xcode: 16.2; Objective: Identify and fix the issue to allow the application to run correctly.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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196
May ’25
Sketch templates for watchOS 11 / Series 10?
Hi, I'm getting started with designing and coding a watchOS app. I wanted to use Sketch to plan the UI before I dive into coding, but it seems like the official Sketch templates on the Design Resources page only have templates for the Series 8 and SE 2 on watchOS 10. I want to use the Series 10's screen size for my layouts since it's the model I have, but I can't find a template for it. Will the official templates be updated for the new models? If not, does anyone know of a third-party template I can use? Thanks in advance!
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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Mar ’25
iOS 26 Beta 7 double-tap to select text while in Dark Mode makes it very difficult to see what you're selecting. This has been an issue since Beta 1 and seems like intended behavior.
This has been an issue since installing the first beta and I haven't seen anyone else say anything about it so I feel like I'm going kind of bonkers. While using Dark Mode, double-tapping to select a word while using the Liquid Glass keyboard, like in Messages or Safari, produces a flashlight-like effect over the text with each tap. While this is a fine animation and pretty helpful when moving the cursor, the brightness of the flashlight effect on white text in Dark Mode makes it impossible to see what you're actually tapping to select. The brightness seems to intensify 100x when rapidly tapping. This is not an issue in Light Mode when the text itself is black. To recreate this, just turn your phone to Dark Mode, go into Messages and type a few words into a thread. Try to double-tap to select a word in the text box. The brightness of the selected word should intensify to the point of being unable to see the word itself. Has anyone been bothered by this? Is there a way to fix or adjust it? I've tried reducing transparency and a bunch of other settings but nothing has worked.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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759
Aug ’25
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:
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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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My experience With IOS 26 Beta
Hello Apple Developers i am here write down my experience with the IOS 26 Beta first off i would like to say that i kind of do/don't like the new iquid glass UI/UIX Designs in some parrts of the ios like in m ust 3rd Party Apps like Uber Lyrith MJ Access Link Moblie app DoorDash VLC And Apple Music App just to name of few since i have installed the beta i have ran into a few bugs i have alread sent to the feeback app via iphone but i'm going to write them here as will i'm not looking for troubleshoots or tech support i'm just shareing my experience with the apple community and the Apple Development/Enginer Team to fine tone for release Time please note that i am a user with Vision impairment so please by respect to me due to my writteing issues and grammer and spelling so here i go my first bug that i ran into on the first day was when i was listening to some music trakcs in the apple muisc app when scrolling down or up fast the app will froze for mill secend then contiune as noraml my second bug that i ran into dureing music play was with my Crossfade settings not working on some tracks im not sure if this is due to BMP alignment or AI algorithm integration with in the software itseif but for me this takes me out of the listening experince that i have when i enjoy listening to music My suggestion Move the AutoMix and Crossfade Settings in to the Apple Music its seif and give the user more controll over how long or how short they want the crossfade or autmix to happen dureing the ending of each tracked play also for the cross fade option is set at 12 increase this to 30 secs or more if possiable or add an BPM options for the Automix to mix in the next track via BMP for simple of my rock track is at 148 BMP the next track should be pop or kpop or rap synceing up with that same BMP speed or similar at 148 BMP my next suggestion for the Apple Music App Shameless track mode (this mode to can be Incorporated) in to the Automix Featrue this redue some music tracks that ends abruptly some MP3 tracks added outside of the Apple Music App seems to broke dureing playback My 3rd bug that i ran in to with the Glass UI for controll Center like i stated before i am Vision impaired with the clear Glass over lapping the current UI for me this hard for me to tell what icons i am looking atside from the Voolum and Brightness Bars i am asking please make this more dark theme and make the icons brigher or add name undernearth the icons or Flip the Dark them or dan the current UI over lapping the Controlor center or add White colors with Black Arrows/icons for all Apple App that has this Glass UI in side of cause this is driving me nuts My 4th Bug that i ran into was with the lock screen/restart/reboot ohh girl where do i began with this one let's with the notifications i don't know who through it was a good idea to have a Clear Bright UI over lapping the Notifications this is very annoying via imessage Texting cause my custom wallpaper Blends in with a white background and this is Worst My suggestion for this is very simple darkering the background on the lock screen abit more so the text is more reader or increase the Notification bars (this is for users like myseif that use Dark mode) My 5th Bug involves my Back ups/Restore/Corrupated < is seif explanatory when i tryed to downgrand back to Version 18.5/18.6 nothing happened so please fix this or make it a bit more easyer for users to be able to back up/Retore their Devices now i has to wait until (Tomttow morning Friday) to factory reset my phone my conclusion since Beta Users and Developers and Engiers are Still testing please take look at my suggestion and try to bring not all but some of them in to public Release Thank You! Update i would like to Downgrad from IOS 26 Developer Beta back to IOS 18.5
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Jun ’25
Got Some Error while build of my Application
Showing Recent Errors Only Prepare build error: Multiple commands produce '/Users/mayankjain/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/PCS_EmpApp-chsylqbxjptobeawzzckymqzagvr/Build/Products/Debug-iphonesimulator/PCS_EmpApp.app/Info.plist' note: Target 'PCS_EmpApp' (project 'PCS_EmpApp') has copy command from '/Users/mayankjain/Documents/05-NOV-2025-SWETA_IOS/PCS_EmpApp/PCS_EmpApp/xcode-out/Platforms/iOS/Info.plist' to '/Users/mayankjain/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/PCS_EmpApp-chsylqbxjptobeawzzckymqzagvr/Build/Products/Debug-iphonesimulator/PCS_EmpApp.app/Info.plist' note: Target 'PCS_EmpApp' (project 'PCS_EmpApp') has process command with output '/Users/mayankjain/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/PCS_EmpApp-chsylqbxjptobeawzzckymqzagvr/Build/Products/Debug-iphonesimulator/PCS_EmpApp.app/Info.plist' Multiple commands produce '/Users/mayankjain/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/PCS_EmpApp-chsylqbxjptobeawzzckymqzagvr/Build/Products/Debug-iphonesimulator/PCS_EmpApp.app/Info.plist'
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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667
Nov ’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
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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753
Sep ’25
Shadow on top of Vision OS icon
Hi guys, I've exported the images with transparency for a Vision OS icon but I still keep getting a weird shadow on the top of the icon when I focus on it. Do you guys had this issue before?
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
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1.6k
Nov ’25