On this page3 sections

Anatomy

  • In Control Center, a control displays its symbol and, at larger sizes, its title and value.

  • On the Lock Screen, a control displays its symbol.

  • On iPhone devices with a control assigned to the Action button, pressing and holding it displays the control’s symbol in the Dynamic Island, as well as its value (if present).

Best practices

Offer controls for actions that provide the most benefit without having to launch your app.

Update controls when someone interacts with them, when an action completes, or remotely with a push notification.

Choose a descriptive symbol that suggests the behavior of the control.

Use symbol animations to highlight state changes.

Select a tint color that works with your app’s brand.

Help people provide additional information the system needs to perform an action.

Provide hint text for the Action button.

If your control title or value can vary, include a placeholder.

Hide sensitive information when the device is locked.

Require authentication for actions that affect security.

Camera experiences on a locked device

Use the same camera UI in your app and your camera experience.

Provide instructions for adding the control.


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

Apple HIG text and imagery are © Apple Inc. This page is a structured index of Apple’s canonical documentation (snapshot 2025-02-02), provided for quick reference and AI-agent consumption — it isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by Apple. Read the original at developer.apple.com (opens in new tab).

Get HIG guidance in your AI

Install HIG Doctor and get expert Apple design guidance directly in Claude Code.

npx skills add raintree-technology/hig-doctor
Email updates aren't configured on this deployment yet. Follow the GitHub repo (opens in new tab) for updates.