# Live-viewing apps

Source: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/live-viewing-apps
Skill: hig-patterns
Snapshot: 2025-02-02

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<!-- hig-doctor:attribution -->
> **Source**: Apple Inc. Canonical content at https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/live-viewing-apps.
> This file is a structured index of that content, snapshot 2025-02-02.
> Apple HIG text and imagery are © Apple Inc.; this repository provides organization and cross-referencing for AI agent consumption only.

# Live-viewing apps

## Best practices

**Feature live content prominently and make it easy to access.**

**Let people tap once — or not at all — to start playback.**

**Make sure live content looks live.**

**Consider indicating the progress of currently playing live content.**

**Give people additional actions and viewing alternatives.**

**Consider using a content footer for browsing channels during playback.**

  * Give it a subtle treatment, such as a darkening, to keep text legible and help all items remain visually distinct from the content playing behind it.

  * Make it easy for people to identify the thumbnail that represents the currently playing content by, for example, badging the thumbnail or tinting its progress bar.

  * Match the categories in the content footer to those in your electronic program guide (for related guidance, see [EPG experience](https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/live-viewing-apps#EPG-experience)).

  * Design a simple, predictable way for people to invoke and dismiss the content footer — for example, if swiping up invokes the footer, people would expect swiping down to dismiss it.

**Provide instant visual feedback when people change channels.**

**Match audio to the current context.**

## EPG experience

**Prominently display current information and make it easy to return to playback.**

**Make browsing the EPG effortless.**

**Group content into familiar categories to help people find it more easily.**

**Let people browse the EPG without leaving their current content.**

## Cloud DVR

**Let people start and stop recording from the info panel.**

**Let people record a future program in a view that provides details about the content.**

**Help people adapt the recording experience to their needs.**

**Allow playback and other content-specific actions within your cloud DVR area.**

**Consider offering a control that lets people manage cloud DVR settings.**

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For the complete guidance, including worked examples and illustrations, see the canonical page: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/live-viewing-apps