How should I design an iPad app using Apple's HIG?

Apple's HIG recommends using sidebars instead of bottom tab bars on iPadOS, supporting split views for multitasking, and adding pointer interactions. Apple HIG Skills provides instant, AI-ready guidance on all iPadOS conventions.

What are Apple's guidelines for adding Apple Pay?

Apple's HIG specifies exact payment button placement, flow design, error states, and UX patterns required for App Store approval. Apple HIG Skills gives your AI agent access to the full Apple Pay design guidelines.

How do I make my Apple app accessible?

Apple's HIG requires support for VoiceOver, Dynamic Type, sufficient color contrast ratios, and motor accessibility features like Switch Control. Apple HIG Skills covers all accessibility foundations and requirements.

How do I design for visionOS and Apple Vision Pro?

Apple's HIG for visionOS covers ornaments, volumes, immersive spaces, eye tracking, and spatial interaction patterns. Apple HIG Skills includes dedicated visionOS platform guidance and spatial layout references.

What are Apple's dark mode design guidelines?

Apple's HIG specifies using system semantic colors, material backgrounds, elevated surfaces, and vibrancy for dark mode. Apps should test in both modes and avoid hard-coded color values. Apple HIG Skills covers the full dark mode specification.

How should I design notifications for iOS apps?

Apple's HIG covers notification grouping, Live Activities, action buttons, and respecting user attention. Apple HIG Skills provides guidelines for the full notification system including widgets and complications.

Source: Apple Inc. Canonical content at https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/complications. 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.

Complications

Best practices

Identify essential, dynamic content that people want to view at a glance.

Support all complication families when possible.

Consider creating multiple complications for each family.

Define a different deep link for each complication you support.

Keep privacy in mind.

Carefully consider when to update data.

Visual design

Choose a ring or gauge style based on the data you need to display.

The closed style can convey a value that’s a percentage of a whole, such as for a battery gauge.
The open style works well when the minimum and maximum values are arbitrary — or don’t represent a percentage of the whole — like for a speed indicator.
Similar to the open style, the segmented style also displays values within an app-defined range, and can convey rapid value changes, such as in the Noise complication.

Make sure images look good in tinted mode.

Avoid using color as the only way to communicate important information. You want people to get the same information in tinted mode as they do in nontinted mode.
When necessary, provide an alternative tinted-mode version of a full-color image. If your full-color image doesn’t look good when it’s desaturated, you can supply a different version of the image for the system to use in tinted mode.

Recognize that people might prefer to use tinted mode for complications, instead of viewing them in full color.

When creating complication content, generally use line widths of two points or greater.

Provide a set of static placeholder images for each complication you support.

Circular

Style: Rounded
Weight: Medium
Text size: 12 pt (40mm), 12.5 pt (41mm), 13 pt (44mm), 14.5 pt (45mm/49mm)
Style: Rounded
Weight: Medium
Text size: 34.5 pt (40mm), 36.5 pt (41mm), 36.5 pt (44mm), 41 pt (45mm/49mm)

Corner

Style: Rounded
Weight: Semibold
Text size: 10 pt (40mm), 10.5 pt (41mm), 11 pt (44mm), 12 pt (45mm/49mm)

Inline

Rectangular

By supplying background color or content that communicates information or aids in recognition
By using intents to specify relevancy, and help ensure that your widget is displayed in the Smart Stack at times that are most appropriate and useful to people
By creating a custom layout of your information that is optimized for the Smart Stack
Style: Rounded
Weight: Medium
Text size: 16.5 pt (40mm), 17.5 pt (41mm), 18 pt (44mm), 19.5 pt (45mm/49mm)

Complications

Complications

Best practices

Visual design

Circular

Corner

Inline

Rectangular

Legacy templates

Circular small

Modular small

Modular large

Extra large

Platform considerations

Resources

Developer documentation

Videos

Change log

Get HIG guidance in your AI