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.

Status bars

A status bar appears along the upper edge of the screen and displays information about the device’s current state, like the time, cellular carrier, and battery level.

A stylized representation of an iPhone status bar with labels showing the time and cellular, Wi-Fi, and battery levels. The image is tinted red to subtly reflect the red in the original six-color Apple logo.

Best practices

Obscure content under the status bar. By default, the background of the status bar is transparent, allowing content beneath to show through. This transparency can make it difficult to see information presented in the status bar. If controls are visible behind the status bar, people may attempt to interact with them and be unable to do so. Be sure to keep the status bar readable, and don’t imply that content behind it is interactive. Prefer using a scroll edge effect to place a blurred view behind the status bar. For developer guidance, see ScrollEdgeEffectStyle and UIScrollEdgeEffect.

Consider temporarily hiding the status bar when displaying full-screen media. A status bar can be distracting when people are paying attention to media. Temporarily hide these elements to provide a more immersive experience. The Photos app, for example, hides the status bar and other interface elements when people browse full-screen photos.

A screenshot of the top half of the Photos app on iPhone, showing a photo filling the screen. The status bar is visible at the top of the screen.

The Photos app with the status bar visible

A screenshot of the top half of the Photos app on iPhone, showing a photo filling the screen. The status bar is hidden, and only the photo is visible.

The Photos app with the status bar hidden

Avoid permanently hiding the status bar. Without a status bar, people have to leave your app to check the time or see if they have a Wi-Fi connection. Let people redisplay a hidden status bar with a simple, discoverable gesture. For example, when browsing full-screen photos in the Photos app, a single tap shows the status bar again.

Status bars

Status bars

Best practices

Platform considerations

Resources

Developer documentation

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