Among the major user problems on iPhone that still remain unsolved, which ones do you think an independent developer outside Apple could realistically start tackling today? And if I built a prototype to solve one of them, what would you look for to decide, “This is something real”?

Hi everyone, Following the update to macOS 27, we have observed a regression/behavioral change in PDFKit regarding how markup annotations (particularly highlights, underlines, and strike-outs) are drawn. Issue Description Whenever a markup annotation (PDFAnnotationSubtypeHighlight / PDFAnnotation) has associated text or contents, PDFKit now automatically renders a yellow speech-bubble / comment note icon directly adjacent to the highlighted region in the margins. Visual Symptom: Instead of a clean text highlight overlay, the document margin is immediately cluttered with comment bubble icons for every single highlighted passage or line. Impact across applications: Because this rendering occurs within the native PDFKit.framework rendering layer, rolling back host applications to earlier releases does not alleviate the issue. It affects both system PDF rendering and third-party PDFKit-based viewers (such as Skim). Expected Behavior: Standard highlight and markup annotations should display their color fill over the text without forcing an external comment icon unless an explicit pop-up / sticky note annotation is requested. Third-Party Tracker Reference This issue is actively being investigated and tracked in the Skim open-source project here: https://sourceforge.net/p/skim-app/bugs/1617/ Questions for DTS / Community: Is there an undocumented flag, preference, or API attribute on PDFAnnotation / PDFView in macOS 27 to disable or hide these automatic markup pop-up icons globally or per annotation? Is this change intentional as part of a redesigned annotation interaction model, or is it an unintended side effect of internal note rendering changes? Any workarounds or insights would be greatly appreciated.

"When handling deeplinks from notifications or widgets on Apple Duo, how should the fold state affect deeplink execution? Should a deeplink arriving during fold be executed immediately or queued until fold completes? Can pending deeplinks be interrupted if a fold occurs during navigation? Should navigation state be restored after the device unfolds?"

I’m preparing my existing App Store app for iOS 27 and want to test interface resizability on iPhone Duo. I cannot find the iPhone Duo simulator in Device Hub. Is it currently available? If so, what Xcode version/runtime is required and how do I add it? Thanks! I have the latest Xcode 27 from downloads section and Device Hub 27. Where is 27.1 download?

While the activityBackgroundTint modifier is intended to set the background color of a Live Activity, it often fails to dynamically update, leaving the activity with an incorrect background. Replacing it with ZStack { Color(.background) .... } solves the problem, but this is a workaround. The activityBackgroundTint modifier is still needed, at a minimum, so that the "Allow Live Activity for the app" extension does not have the default color.

On iPhone 18 Pro, the Now Playing panel and bottom Lock Screen controls can use different material opacity and foreground colors for the same wallpaper and settings. The final appearance depends on the preceding wallpaper-editing sequence. Environment Device: iPhone 18 Pro iOS: 27.2 beta (24B5084k) Liquid Glass: Clear / most transparent setting Wallpaper: Built-in iPhone 18 Pro wallpaper collection Variants tested: Silver and Black within the same saved wallpaper configuration Feedback Assistant: FB24866793 Two observed appearance states For clarity, I use the following labels: Higher-opacity state (S_s): The Now Playing panel and bottom buttons have a light or gray, relatively solid fill with dark foreground icons. Translucent state (S_t): The same elements are more transparent and use light foreground icons. In Sleep mode, they darken and blend into the background more naturally. No Liquid Glass setting is changed during the following sequence. Shortest reproduction sequence 1. Change Silver to Black Start with the Silver variant displaying the higher-opacity state (Silver S_s). Open the Lock Screen wallpaper carousel, tap Customize, change Silver to Black within the same iPhone 18 Pro wallpaper configuration, tap Done, and exit the carousel. Observed result: Black retains the higher-opacity state (Black S_s). 2. Save Black without changing it Reopen the same Black wallpaper in Customize, make no changes, tap Done, and exit. Observed result: Black changes to the translucent state (Black S_t). 3. Change Black back to Silver Reopen Customize, change Black back to Silver, tap Done, and exit. Observed result: Silver retains the translucent state (Silver S_t). 4. Save Silver without changing it Reopen the same Silver wallpaper in Customize, make no changes, tap Done, and exit. Observed result: Silver changes back to the higher-opacity state (Silver S_s). The complete sequence is therefore: Silver S_s → Black S_s → Black S_t → Silver S_t → Silver S_s The two actual appearance changes occur after reopening Customize and saving without changing the selected wallpaper. Actual result When switching between Silver and Black inside the same saved wallpaper configuration, the existing material state can be preserved even though the new wallpaper has a different brightness. Reopening the configuration and saving it without making a change can then alter: Now Playing panel opacity Notification material appearance Bottom shortcut-button opacity Foreground or icon colors As a result, the exact same Silver or Black wallpaper can appear in either state solely because of the preceding editing history. Expected result The material opacity and foreground colors should be determined consistently from the currently selected wallpaper and the Liquid Glass setting. Switching between Silver and Black should update the appearance immediately if different treatments are intended for them. Saving an unchanged wallpaper should not alter the Lock Screen appearance. Sleep mode impact The issue is especially noticeable in Sleep mode. In the higher-opacity state, the Now Playing panel and bottom buttons remain conspicuous gray elements against the darkened Lock Screen. In the translucent state, the same controls darken and integrate with the background. Supporting evidence The corresponding Feedback Assistant report, FB24866793, includes: A screen recording of the complete sequence in normal mode A screen recording of the same sequence in Sleep mode A detailed PDF report containing screenshots, terminology, additional observations, and reproduction paths Both recordings show the following sequence: Silver S_s → Black S_s → Black S_t → Silver S_t → Silver S_s The recordings and PDF cannot be attached directly to this Developer Forums post, but they are available to Apple through the Feedback Assistant report. Request for confirmation Could anyone else with an iPhone 18 Pro test this sequence on the same iOS build? If you can reproduce it, please consider filing a separate Feedback Assistant report and referencing FB24866793.

In the future will outer display ability be avaible without camera use

Among the major problems iPhone users still face today, which ones do you think remain genuinely unsolved and could realistically be addressed by an independent developer? If I were to build a prototype around one of those problems, what criteria would you use to judge whether it represents a genuinely meaningful solution? Thank you for any perspective you’re able to share.

Hi, With the Duo's guidance on side-aligned vertical toolbar buttons, is there any updated guidance on iPad toolbar button placement? It would seem natural for an app on iPad Mini, for example, to have the same toolbar placement and layout as it does on a Duo. Thanks!

The new top blur/overlay in iOS 27 feels significantly heavier and more visually intrusive than the previous progressive blur treatment in iOS 26. In iOS 26, the blur transitioned more naturally into the content, allowing the background and artwork to remain visually continuous. In iOS 27, the stronger and more defined overlay creates a noticeable boundary at the top of the screen, making it feel like a separate UI layer rather than part of the background. I believe the previous progressive blur approach was more elegant and better aligned with the Liquid Glass design language. It would be great if Apple could consider: Reducing the overall blur intensity Making the transition more gradual Removing the noticeable hard visual boundary Preserving more of the underlying content and artwork I have attached an iOS 26 vs. iOS 27 comparison for reference.

Area: iPadOS / UIKit / Accessibility Summary: In iPadOS 27, the floating shortcut bar above the software keyboard (Undo, Redo, Copy, AutoFill) and the bottom keyboard toggle buttons (Globe, Microphone, Handwriting) suffer from severely reduced touch targets. This makes them difficult to tap accurately, leading to frequent mis-taps and a degraded text input experience. Steps to Reproduce: Open any app with a text input field (e.g., Safari, Notes) on an iPad running iPadOS 27. Bring up the software keyboard. Observe the floating shortcut bar and the bottom row of keyboard toggles. Attempt to tap "Undo", "Redo", or the handwriting/globe buttons. Expected Behavior: The UI elements should meet Apple's Human Interface Guidelines for minimum touch target size (44x44 pt). Alternatively, enabling "Larger Text" or "Display Zoom" in Accessibility settings should appropriately scale these system UI components. Actual Behavior: The buttons are visually cramped and their touch targets are tiny. Increasing system text size has no effect on these UI elements. It is extremely difficult to hit the correct button, and users frequently trigger the wrong action. Environment: Device: A16 iPad OS Version: iPadOS 27.0 (Build: [IpadOS27) App: System-wide (Safari, Notes, etc.) Impact: This affects accessibility and basic usability. Users with larger fingers, motor impairments, or those relying on Accessibility features are significantly impacted. The UI feels overly compressed and unintuitive.

I'm currently in the WWDC26 Group Lab for Icon Composer and they will not allow questions about the newest features in Icon Composer and visionOS app icons. Why are visionOS app icons not supported? Why are they so different that this isn't possible? Are there any plans to include them? In an age where Apple is increasingly encouraging developers to create apps across multiple platforms (resizability), this becomes an even more reasonable question to ask. Why is this one platform not getting the love??

We are qualifying a production WidgetKit extension on an iPhone 17 running iOS 26.6.1. both use App Group group.com....app.widgets. The extension reads small snapshots from the App Group. Precise personal Home data uses NSFileProtectionComplete; a separate book-only Lock projection uses NSFileProtectionCompleteUntilFirstUserAuthentication. Public Daily and non-personal control state are stored separately. Does Apple provide a supported deterministic mechanism to cause or observe the actual system-hosted WidgetKit provider performing a fresh App Group read during each phase below? Locked after first unlock. Rebooted, before the first passcode unlock. Relocked after first unlock. We need to attribute the read to the exact extension executable/process, establish the lock phase without unlocking or opening the protected data through the observation mechanism, and distinguish “the provider did not run” from “it ran but observation was unavailable.” Cached widget pixels, file attributes and later recovery cannot establish whether a fresh provider read was allowed or denied. WidgetCenter reload requests and timeline dates are opportunistic and have not produced deterministic invocations in these phases. Direct provider invocation, XCTest helper processes, debugger-controlled lifecycle substitution and manually reading files from the host do not establish the required system WidgetKit lifecycle. We cannot weaken file protection or add artificial production AppIntent/background capabilities solely to force this test. Please clarify which applies: A. A supported deterministic XCTest, CoreDevice, Xcode or WidgetKit test mechanism exists. If so, what setup, trigger and logging method should we use? B. WidgetKit scheduling in these states is intentionally opportunistic and no deterministic public test mechanism is provided. If so, what supported evidence does Apple recommend for verifying this protected-file contract? This request concerns test methodology; we are not claiming locked/BFU protection has passed.

All of a sudden, I am not able to create a new event on my iPhone calendar and have it repeat. Repeat does not appear anywhere in my calendar is not restricted in any way. It worked before, but after the current beta update, it does not work

This is the message I keep getting but my logo is not transparent and does not contain alpha channels. In Base44 - not sure what to do next - any ideas? Invalid large app icon. The large app icon in the asset catalog in “WixOneApp.app” can’t be transparent or contain an alpha channel. For details, visit: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/app-icons. (90717)

i suggested to customize the Bottom navigation bar with a classic rectangular version and a new circular version, such as the Liquid Glass option. Especially for iPhone SE screens feedback ID: FB24611709

I have an issue when trying to upload my app through transporter saying the icon has an alpha channel and the format is wrong. I have changed this to make it the correct dimensions and not transparent etc but the same issue is coming up. Any advice on what to do?

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Hi, I work with CG movies using sRGB as the working color space, and I’m trying to better understand how macOS handles color in movie files. For CG movies created in sRGB, what color tagging would Apple recommend to preserve the intended appearance in QuickTime Player? For example, would 1-13-1 be considered appropriate in this case? Thanks!

I have a map application in iOS and want to show the location of the parking pay stations. These are machines which dispense a parking ticket. There is no cashier. Is there an SF Symbol to represent this? I was thinking some combination of parking P and currency symbol $, which seems a little hokey. While I am only in the USA, in general a version would be needed for different languages and countries. For example, E (estacionamiento) is the symbol for parking in Latin American Spanish, and the Euro symbol would be used in the EU. If not in SF Symbols, is there something commonly used for this? I don't want to re-invent the wheel.