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/sf-symbols. 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.

SF Symbols

The outline variant works well in toolbars, lists, and other places where you display a symbol alongside text.
Symbols that use an enclosing shape — like a square or circle — can improve legibility at small sizes.
The solid areas in a fill variant tend to give a symbol more visual emphasis, making it a good choice for iOS tab bars and swipe actions and places where you use an accent color to communicate selection.

Animations

Down-up, where the outgoing symbol scales down and the incoming symbol scales up, communicating a change in state.
Up-up, where both the outgoing and incoming symbols scale up. This configuration communicates a change in state that includes a sense of forward progression.
Off-up, where the outgoing symbol hides immediately and the incoming symbol scales up. This configuration communicates a state change that emphasizes the next available state or action.

Apply symbol animations judiciously.

Make sure that animations serve a clear purpose in communicating a symbol’s intent.

Use symbol animations to communicate information more efficiently.

Consider your app’s tone when adding animations.

Custom symbols

Use the template as a guide.

Simple
Recognizable
Inclusive
Directly related to the action or content it represents

Assign negative side margins to your custom symbol if necessary.

Optimize layers to use animations with custom symbols.

Test animations for custom symbols.

Avoid making custom symbols that include common variants, such as enclosures or badges.

Provide alternative text labels for custom symbols.

Don’t design replicas of Apple products.

SF Symbols

SF Symbols

Rendering modes

Gradients

Variable color

Weights and scales

Design variants

Animations

Custom symbols

Platform considerations

Resources

Developer documentation

Videos

Change log

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