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/mac-catalyst. 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.

Mac Catalyst

Before you start

Drag and drop.

Keyboard navigation and shortcuts.

Multitasking.

Pointer interactions and keyboard-based focus and navigation
Window management
Toolbars
Rich text interaction, including copy and paste as well as contextual menus for editing
File management
Menu bar menus
App-specific settings in the system-provided Settings app
Split view
File browser
Activity view
Form sheet
Contextual actions
Color picker

Choose an idiom

When you adopt the Mac idiom, thoroughly audit your app’s layout, and plan to make changes to it.

Adjust font sizes as needed.

Make sure views and images look good in the Mac version of your app.

iPad idiom
Mac idiom

Limit your appearance customizations to standard macOS appearance customizations that are the same or similar to those available in iPadOS.

Integrate the Mac experience

Split views. A split view supports hierarchical navigation, which consists of a two- or three-column interface that shows a primary column, an optional supplementary column, and a secondary pane of content. Frequently, apps use the primary column to create a sidebar-based interface where changes in the sidebar drive changes in the optional supplementary column, which then affect the content in the content pane.
Tab bars. A tab bar supports flat navigation by displaying top-level categories in a persistent bar at the bottom of the screen.
Page controls. A page control displays dots at the bottom of the screen that indicate the position of the current page in a flat list of pages.
A split view with a sidebar displays a list of top-level items, each of which can disclose a list of child items. Using a sidebar streamlines navigation, because each tab’s contents are available within the sidebar. By using a sidebar on both iPad and Mac, you create a consistent layout that makes it easy for iPad users to start using the Mac version of your app.
A segmented control and a tab bar both accommodate similar interactions, such as mutually exclusive selection. In general, using a split view instead of a tab bar works better than using a segmented control. However, a segmented control can work well on the Mac if your app uses a flat navigation hierarchy.

Make sure people retain access to important tab-bar items in the Mac version of your app.

Offer multiple ways to move between pages.

Divide a single column of content and actions into multiple columns.
Use the regular-width and regular-height size classes, and consider reflowing elements in the content area to a side-by-side arrangement as people resize the window.
Present an inspector UI next to the main content instead of using a popover.

Consider moving controls from the main UI of your iPad app to your Mac app’s toolbar.

As much as possible, adopt a top-down flow.

Relocate buttons from the side and bottom edges of the screen.

Mac Catalyst

Mac Catalyst

Before you start

Choose an idiom

Integrate the Mac experience

Navigation

Inputs

App icons

Layout

Menus

Platform considerations

Resources

Developer documentation

Videos

Change log

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