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

Effect liquid glass on app icon
Why my app icon doesn't have effect liquid glass on ios26. My team dev still not upgrade to xcode26, so I have to export icon for them. And I don't see the effect like stroke of the detail.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
1
0
737
Oct ’25
Avoid using a segmented control in a toolbar
Hi, in the Human Interface Guidelines, Apple writes: Avoid using a segmented control in a toolbar. Toolbar items act on the current screen — they don’t let people switch contexts like segmented controls do. Along with this image: Source I'm confused by this example. The screenshot seems to be showing a segmented control in a toolbar. Is this saying that the Phone app's All/Missed toggle is different from a segmented control? Under iOS 26 it seems to take a different style compared to a regular segmented control. If so, which component is used to create this filter? Could you please clarify the guidelines? Thank you.
1
0
376
Sep ’25
Scrollview and a background image set to scaledToFill....
I've been beating my head against the wall over a scrollview issue where the top and bottom are cut off in landscape mode. Portrait mode - everything runs swimmingly. The moment I flip the iPad on its side, though, I lose about a quarter of the view on the top and bottom. I thought this was something to do with framing or such; I ran through a myriad of frame, padding, spacer, geometry...I set it static, I set it to dynamically grow, I even created algorithms to try to figure out how to set things to the individual device. Eventually, I separated the tablet and phone views as was suggested here and on the Apple dev forums. That's when I started playing around with the background image. Right now I have.... ZStack { Image("background") .resizable() .scaledToFill() .ignoresSafeArea() ScrollView { VStack(spacing: 24) {.... The problem is the "scaledToFill". In essence, whenever THAT is in the code, the vertical scrollview goes wonky in landscape mode. It, in essence, thinks that it has much more room at the top and the bottom because the background image has been extended at top and bottom to fill the wider screen of the iPad in landscape orientation. Is there any way to get around this issue? The desired behavior is pretty straightforward - the background image fills the entire background, no white bars or such, and the view scrolls against it.
3
0
163
Apr ’25
glassEffect() in SwiftUI always renders as white
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 26 Beta 2 (Tahoe) • Xcode 26 Beta 2 • Samsung Odyssey G9 57” monitor (super ultrawide) • Using Preview in SwiftUI, I use IOS 26 Beta 2 (not the Simulator) Even when I use Apple’s default demo code like: Text("Hello World") .padding() .glassEffect()
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
1
0
112
Jul ’25
How to get a truly clear glass effect for a circle
I'm using .glassEffect(.clear) on a transparent circle over a gradient background. While it's closer to clear than the plain glass effect, it't not really clear, like clear glass. Here is the code. Is there a glass effect that really looks like clear glass? Circle() .fill(.clear) .frame(width: 180, height: 180) .glassEffect(.clear)
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
1
0
853
Oct ’25
IS THE SWiPE LEFT CAMERA MODE REALLY IMPORTANT?
I have really examined the swipe left Camera function mode and sincerely believe it is no more important especially when there no option in the settings to turn it on or off. I will highly recommend a total scrap in the iOS 26 or if possible a function to activate and deactivate it.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
3
0
339
Aug ’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
0
0
285
Aug ’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.
0
0
143
Jun ’25
Resize Window Form After Loading
I am trying to resize a Window Form after it loads and have done quite a bit of searching for code to do it. Here is one code snippet that works to size the form during the design phase. self.view.window?.contentMinSize = CGSize(width: 1100, height: 310) I have tried code like below to increase the window size after the Form loads if let myWindow = self.view.window ?? NSApplication.shared.mainWindow { // Increase window size and position after it loads let newRect = NSRect(x: 100, y: 100, width: 1400, height: 900) } It seems that this code not only changes the Form size after loading, but also changes the size of the Form in Main.swift, which is something I don't want. I read elsewhere that I had to disable constraints to resize the Form, so I tried code below. let tableView = NSTableView() tableView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false let newRect = NSRect(x: 100, y: 0, width: 1100, height: 600) myWindow?.setFrame(newRect, display: true) That code did not seem to do anything as well. Also, the Form displays in the lower left of the screen. Note that main reason I want to resize the Form after loading is to keep it smaller during design development. The same goes for the NSTableView, which I have not gotten to yet.
0
0
201
Oct ’25
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
772
Jul ’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:
5
0
907
Feb ’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:
0
0
686
Oct ’25
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
295
Sep ’25
iOS 26.0.1: Different Liquid Glass Effects
Hello everyone, In the current iOS version, changes in the "liquid glass" light shining effects can repeatedly be observed on older iPhone devices (12/13/14). This change is often seen after the device is rebooted or after a SystemMemoryReset.ips (System Analysis Data). It changes very often... I'm not currently working on apps myself, but perhaps someone has ideas for the upcoming updates involving Liquid Glass. (please also check the screenshots)
0
0
790
Oct ’25
Gray Shades That Adapt to Dark Mode
Hi, Normally we need many shades of gray in any App and Apple system have only 3 , Primery, Secondary, and Gray, so to make Gray regress that automatically adapt to Dark Mode we just use opacity on these colors ? there's no system built in Gray degrees ? Kind Regards
Topic: Design SubTopic: General
0
0
84
May ’25
Correct way to handle 2 to 3 column switch
I'm using a NavigationSplitView on macOS which needs to show 2 or 3 columns depending on the selection of the sidebar. Column 1 has a list of main activities. Some of these just have some data to show and some have a sublist. Currently, when an item that has no sublist is selected, I set the 2nd column (content:) to: Spacer() .navigationSplitViewColumnWidth(0) This works, although it started hitting bugs requiring a workaround on macOS 26, which got me wondering, what is the correct approach here? NavigationSplitViewVisibility.doubleColumn is not the solution, as this hides column 1, not column 2.
Topic: Design SubTopic: General Tags:
0
0
817
Oct ’25