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.

I have some questions about Liquid Glass and iOS 26 on the iPhone. Routine scrolling transactions in any view are causing the title to change from Light Mode colors to Dark Mode colors. Is this now standard operation? The column headers are also displaying a black stripe across the top of the screen when scrolling. So why doesn't the display shift when in Dark Mode to Light mode? Scrolling is causing everything in the header (navigation title, time, battery status, and wi-fi status) to change from black to white. Is this an accessibility action that I may have turned on by accident? I'm not very thrilled by this behavior!

Hi there. I want to use Adobe XD for designing and prototyping apps, and I would like to get the UIKit design resources working. I downloaded it and tried to open it with Adobe XD, but it threw this error: There was an error opening the file Apple iOS 26 UI Kit.sketch (Error code: 115) I really prefer to use the UIKit in Adobe XD rather than paying for Figma or Sketch. Thanks. Apple Design Resources

I've designed a new UI for phones.. I'd like Apple to look at it and see what they think https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10QSQvAdRRkL-eA9WRsSEbsL62XIayJ75Mbi93tx92DI/edit?usp=drive_link

Hi Apple team, We're planning to integrate Tap to Pay on iPhone feature in our product, and found there's a QR code button on the your Figma design: https://www.figma.com/design/2SOXmeLvimllvT67MTMLOy/Tap-to-Pay-on-iPhone--Community-?node-id=0-1&t=E3XskpsLctTuZvg5-1 Questions: is there any official documentation about the QR code button on this screen? What happens when user clicks on QR button? What're the suggestions to show/hide that button, and can we customize it? Thanks.

I am developing an app in Swift Playground (No Xcode). All my Views respond to the navigation call when I click NEXT except one. When I click NEXT the app hangs then crashes. The error message does not identify the cause of the crash. I have research every possible lead with no success. I would like to get some ideas on how to resolve this issue.

I was wondering if errors are common for the code below for saving SwiftData data and what would be the best way to handle them (popup, closing the app)? do { try modelContext.save() } catch { print("error") }

I have a project, and I prepared an app icon. But I don't know where to drag the .icon, please help me out!

Hi everyone, I am working on a CarPlay integration, and need open a two level list opened from a root template. However, I am always receiving an error message when opening the 2nd pushed template. To narrow it down not to have an issue with some app specific code I created the CarPlay scene below. I am aware that there is a limit, but two levels I understand are supported on all CarPlay integrations, the maximum seems to be 5. The app is just crashing right after showing the 2nd template. Any ideas? Any hints are much appreciated. Thanks a lot! Regards, Michael class CarPlaySceneDelegate2: UIResponder, CPTemplateApplicationSceneDelegate { // [...] private func createRootTemplate() -> CPListTemplate { let pushToAItem = CPListItem(text: "Push to Template A", detailText: "Level 1 → Level 2") pushToAItem.handler = {[weak self] (pushToAItem, completion) in guard let self = self else { completion() return } self.interfaceController?.pushTemplate( self.pushTemplateA(), animated: true, completion: { (didPresent, error) in completion() } ) } let section = CPListSection(items: [pushToAItem]) let template = CPListTemplate(title: "Root Template", sections: [section]) return template } private func pushTemplateA() -> CPListTemplate { let pushToBItem = CPListItem(text: "Push to Template B", detailText: "Level 2 → Level 3") pushToBItem.handler = {[weak self] (pushToBItem, completion) in guard let self = self else { completion() return } self.interfaceController?.pushTemplate( self.pushTemplateB(), animated: true, completion: { (didPresent, error) in completion() } ) } let backToRootItem = CPListItem(text: "Pop to Root", detailText: "Go back to root") backToRootItem.handler = { [weak self] _, completion in self?.interfaceController?.popToRootTemplate(animated: true, completion: nil) completion(); } let infoItem = CPListItem(text: "Current Depth", detailText: "2 (Template A)") let stackCountItem = CPListItem( text: "Stack Count", detailText: "\((interfaceController?.templates.count ?? 0) + 1)" ) let section = CPListSection(items: [pushToBItem, backToRootItem, infoItem, stackCountItem]) let template = CPListTemplate(title: "Template A", sections: [section]) return template } private func pushTemplateB() -> CPListTemplate { let pushToCItem = CPListItem(text: "Push to Template C", detailText: "Level 3 → Level 4") pushToCItem.handler = {[weak self] (pushToCItem, completion) in guard let self = self else { completion() return } self.interfaceController?.pushTemplate( self.pushTemplateC(), animated: true, completion: { (didPresent, error) in completion() } ) } let backToRootItem = CPListItem(text: "Pop to Root", detailText: "Go back to root") backToRootItem.handler = { [weak self] _, completion in self?.interfaceController?.popToRootTemplate(animated: true, completion: nil) completion() } let popOneItem = CPListItem(text: "Pop One", detailText: "Go back to Template A") popOneItem.handler = { [weak self] _, completion in self?.interfaceController?.popTemplate(animated: true, completion: nil) completion() } let infoItem = CPListItem(text: "Current Depth", detailText: "3 (Template B)") let stackCountItem = CPListItem( text: "Stack Count", detailText: "\((interfaceController?.templates.count ?? 0) + 1)" ) let section = CPListSection(items: [pushToCItem, popOneItem, backToRootItem, infoItem, stackCountItem]) let template = CPListTemplate(title: "Template B", sections: [section]) return template } private func pushTemplateC() -> CPListTemplate { let backToRootItem = CPListItem(text: "Pop to Root", detailText: "Go back to root") backToRootItem.handler = { [weak self] _, completion in self?.interfaceController?.popToRootTemplate(animated: true, completion: nil) completion() } let popOneItem = CPListItem(text: "Pop One", detailText: "Go back to Template B") popOneItem.handler = { [weak self] _, completion in self?.interfaceController?.popTemplate(animated: true, completion: nil) completion() } let infoItem = CPListItem(text: "Current Depth", detailText: "4 (Template C)") let stackCountItem = CPListItem( text: "Stack Count", detailText: "\((interfaceController?.templates.count ?? 0) + 1)" ) let section = CPListSection(items: [popOneItem, backToRootItem, infoItem, stackCountItem]) let template = CPListTemplate(title: "Template C", sections: [section]) return template } }

Hi, I just had V1.0 of my app approved on the App Store and I immediately noticed that the icon preview is broken. It looks good in Xcode, on-device and also in the App Store link preview. The icon was built with Icon Composer. Here's the difference (left is App store): Has anyone encountered the same issue and found a solution?

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

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?

I am writing to express interest in engaging with Apple regarding a highly original and commercially relevant concept related to future iPhone innovation. Given the confidential and proprietary nature of this idea, I am not in a position to share details through an open inquiry or standard feedback form. I would welcome the opportunity to present this concept through an official and formal communication channel that ensures appropriate confidentiality and professional evaluation, should Apple have an established process for external innovation or partnership discussions. Please advise if there is a suitable point of contact or procedure for initiating such a conversation in accordance with Apple’s policies. Thank you for your time and consideration. Please feel free to contact me though my email or phone Regards Tahmeed Hossain Contact: +880 1781882730

The clock on the lock screen is too big. This is very noticeable on the serif font, the maximum size goes beyond the frame, and rests on the frame of the phone display. (Screenshot 1 & Screenshot 3) This is especially evident if you use the enlarged interface (using the Large Text function), here the time goes completely out of the frame and conflicts with the frame of the phone screen. (Screenshot 2 & Screenshot 4)

Dear Apple, please make sure this bug gets delivered to whoever is responsible. That's all I ask. Please don't let it sit for months unassigned. This is, by far, the worst bug I've ever found with the macOS wallpaper system. FB21532401 If you own a 13" 2020 or newer MacBook pro model, set to the default resolution, and are running macOS Tahoe, macOS will significantly degrade the quality of any image set as wallpaper. When a still image is set as the wallpaper on macOS Tahoe, on some display configurations, the systems downscales the image to an incorrect size, resulting in pixelated wallpaper. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that macOS Wallpaper Agent appears to be using a less than ideal downscaling algorithm, which results in Super Mario Bros’ type pixelation (nearest neighbor) as opposed to any other reasonable modern method (like bicubic.) The issue does not repro on macOS Sequoia. Every model MacBook we’ve tested offers some resolutions with some form of this problem, but the 13” is the only one where it is notably awful. The most evident default case of this is the 13” MacBook Pro models with a 2560x1600 physical display (for example, 2020 MacBook Pro 13” (17,1.)) These models have a physical display resolution of 2560x1600, and a default scaled resolution of 1440x900. The relationship between the physical resolution and scaled resolution is not an even ratio (1:1 or 2:1), which seems to be the common condition under which this issue occurs. Repro steps: Set the systems display resolution to the default resolution - ideally on the model described above (see details on this below) Set a high resolution image (in this example 5120x2880) as the system wallpaper using any method Results: On the model described above, Wallpaper Agent will generate and display a 1440x810 image as the wallpaper. It should be generating and displaying at a minimum of 2560x1600, or more appropriately at 2880x1800 which is the proper 2X resolution. This can be confirmed by viewing the properties of the generated images in the macOS wallpaper cache here: ~/Library/containers/com.apple.wallpaper.agent/Data/Library/Caches/com.apple.wallpaper.caches/extension-com.apple.wallpaper.extension.image On modern Apple systems, the only situation in which the wallpaper should be generated at 1X is when the physical resolution and set resolution are 1:1. In any situation where the physical resolution is larger than the set resolution, the image should be generated at 2X the set resolution. As far as we can tell, this issue impacts any format, and any resolution of image, and occurs independent of the set image resolution.

Your app still contains features that mimic the iOS interface or behavior. I have a simple app that uses a NavigationSplitView 3 panels I have a section for Filters and User created Categories in Panel 1 A list of "Requests" from the selected Filters/Categories in Panel 2 and details of a request in Panel 3 It's designed to be simple and easy to use. How can it NOT "mimic the iOS interface" if I am using their own APIs? What should I do to get around this

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.

I've been playing around with the recently published iPad PRO M5 13" and it's awesome in most ways I've been able to think of. But this video capture of the app I'm developing, for example, lacks it the app icon "should" be just slightly translucent as I see it. https://youtube.com/CAukICBrVzw However I'm not and UI/X person and this is primarily my personal preference only for an option to allow for devs.

This issue affects core system UI elements such as Control Center, notifications, and system apps. In iOS 26, the Liquid Glass UI introduces excessive transparency and blur across the system. This significantly reduces text readability, lowers contrast, and causes visual fatigue during prolonged use. There is currently no true option to fully disable Liquid Glass effects. Existing accessibility settings only partially mitigate the issue and do not restore a solid, high-contrast interface similar to iOS 18. Please consider adding a system-wide toggle to completely disable Liquid Glass and transparency effects, or provide a solid UI mode for users who prioritize readability and visual comfort. This is especially important for accessibility, as the current design negatively impacts users sensitive to eye strain and low contrast.

I am working on a Mac App that was developed with Objective C and Interface Builder. In earlier versions of Mac OS the window title was centered. Now in Tahoe it's left-justified. Is there some way to set this? There is no setting for this in Interface Builder and I can't see any way to do it programmatically by reading the developer documentation. Is this even possible?

Some SF Symbols (wifi for example) render fine with the variable. But many, mostly ones with the circle being variable, do not seem to work. The SF Symbols app shows them rendering with a variable fine. But in code it doesn't work. Am I missing something or is there a reason? var body: some View { HStack { Image(systemName: "01.circle", variableValue: 0.5) Image(systemName: "figure.wave.circle", variableValue: 0.5) Image(systemName: "wifi", variableValue: 0.5) }.font(.largeTitle) } }