Hig Platforms

Apple HIG: Platform Design

Check for .claude/apple-design-context.md before asking questions. Use existing context and only ask for information not already covered.

Key Principles

1. Each platform has a distinct identity. Do not port designs between platforms. Respect each platform's conventions, interaction models, and user expectations.

2. iOS: touch-first. Direct manipulation on a handheld screen. Optimize for one-handed use. Navigation uses tab bars and push/pop stacks.

3. iPadOS: expanded canvas. Support Split View, Slide Over, and Stage Manager. Use sidebars and multi-column layouts. Support pointer and keyboard alongside touch.

4. macOS: pointer and keyboard. Dense information display is acceptable. Use menu bars, toolbars, and keyboard shortcuts extensively. Windows are resizable with precise control.

5. tvOS: remote and focus. Viewed from a distance. Design for the Siri Remote with focus-based navigation. Large text, simple layouts, linear navigation.

6. visionOS: spatial interaction. 3D environment using windows, volumes, and spaces. Eye tracking for targeting, indirect gestures for interaction. Respect ergonomic comfort zones.

7. watchOS: glanceable and brief. Information consumable at a glance. Brief interactions. Digital Crown, haptics, and complications for timely content.

8. Games: own paradigm. Free to define in-game interaction models, but still respect platform conventions for system interactions (notifications, accessibility, controllers).

Reference Index

Decision Framework

1. Identify the primary use context. On the go (iOS/watchOS), at a desk (macOS), on the couch (tvOS), spatial environment (visionOS)?

2. Match input to interaction. Touch for direct manipulation, pointer for precision, gaze+gesture for spatial, Digital Crown for quick scrolling, remote for focus navigation.

3. Adapt, don't replicate. A macOS sidebar becomes a tab bar on iPhone. A visionOS volume has no equivalent on watchOS. Translate intent, not implementation.

4. Leverage platform strengths. Live Activities on iOS, Desktop Widgets on macOS, complications on watchOS, immersive spaces on visionOS.

5. Maintain brand consistency while respecting each platform's visual language and interaction patterns.

Output Format

1. Platform-specific recommendations citing relevant HIG sections. 2. Platform differences table comparing navigation, input, layout, and conventions. 3. Implementation notes per platform including recommended APIs and adaptation strategies.

Questions to Ask

1. Which platforms are you targeting? 2. New app or adapting an existing one? If existing, which platform is the base? 3. SwiftUI or UIKit/AppKit? 4. Need to support older OS versions? 5. Primary use context? (On the go, desk, couch, spatial, glanceable?)

Related Skills

• hig-foundations -- Shared principles (color, typography, accessibility, layout) across platforms
• hig-patterns -- Interaction patterns that manifest differently per platform
• hig-components-layout -- Navigation structures (tab bars, sidebars, split views) that vary by platform
• hig-components-content -- Content display that adapts across platforms

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

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.

Designing for games

Jump into gameplay

Let people play as soon as installation completes.

Provide great default settings.

Teach through play.

Defer requests until the right time.

Look stunning on every display

Make sure text is always legible.

Make sure buttons are always easy to use.

Prefer resolution-independent textures and graphics.

Integrate device features into your layout.

Make sure in-game menus adapt to different aspect ratios.

Design for the full-screen experience.

Enable intuitive interactions

Support each platform’s default interaction method.

Support physical game controllers, while also giving people alternatives.

Offer touch-based game controls that embrace the touchscreen experience on iPhone and iPad.

Welcome everyone

Prioritize perceivability.

• Text sizes

• Color and effects

• Motion

• Interactions

• Buttons

Help players personalize their experience.

Give players the tools they need to represent themselves.

Avoid stereotypes in your stories and characters.

Adopt Apple technologies

Integrate Game Center to help players discover your game across their devices and connect with their friends.

Let players pick up their game on any of their devices.

Support haptics to help players feel the action.

Use Spatial Audio to immerse players in your game’s soundscape.

Take advantage of Apple technologies to enable unique gameplay mechanics.

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<!-- hig-doctor:canonical-footer --> For the complete guidance, including worked examples and illustrations, see the canonical page: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/designing-for-games

<!-- hig-doctor:attribution -->

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

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.

Designing for iOS

Display.

Ergonomics.

Inputs.

App interactions.

System features.

• Widgets

• Home Screen quick actions

• Spotlight

• Shortcuts

• Activity views

Best practices

• Help people concentrate on primary tasks and content by limiting the number of onscreen controls while making secondary details and actions discoverable with minimal interaction.

• Adapt seamlessly to appearance changes — like device orientation, Dark Mode, and Dynamic Type — letting people choose the configurations that work best for them.

• Support interactions that accommodate the way people usually hold their device. For example, it tends to be easier and more comfortable for people to reach a control when it’s located in the middle or bottom area of the display, so it’s especially important let people swipe to navigate back or initiate actions in a list row.

• With people’s permission, integrate information available through platform capabilities in ways that enhance the experience without asking people to enter data. For example, you might accept payments, provide security through biometric authentication, or offer features that use the device’s location.

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<!-- hig-doctor:canonical-footer --> For the complete guidance, including worked examples and illustrations, see the canonical page: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/designing-for-ios

<!-- hig-doctor:attribution -->

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

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.

Designing for iPadOS

Display.

Ergonomics.

Inputs.

App interactions.

System features.

• Multitasking

• Widgets

• Drag and drop

Best practices

• Take advantage of the large display to elevate the content people care about, minimizing modal interfaces and full-screen transitions, and positioning onscreen controls where they’re easy to reach, but not in the way.

• Use viewing distance and input mode to help you determine the size and density of the onscreen content you display.

• Let people use Multi-Touch gestures, a physical keyboard or trackpad, or Apple Pencil, and consider supporting unique interactions that combine multiple input modes.

• Adapt seamlessly to appearance changes — like device orientation, multitasking modes, Dark Mode, and Dynamic Type — and transition effortlessly to running in macOS, letting people choose the configurations that work best for them.

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<!-- hig-doctor:canonical-footer --> For the complete guidance, including worked examples and illustrations, see the canonical page: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/designing-for-ipados

<!-- hig-doctor:attribution -->

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

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.

Designing for macOS

Display.

Ergonomics.

Inputs.

App interactions.

System features.

• The menu bar

• File management

• Going full screen

• Dock menus

Best practices

• Leverage large displays to present more content in fewer nested levels and with less need for modality, while maintaining a comfortable information density that doesn’t make people strain to view the content they want.

• Let people resize, hide, show, and move your windows to fit their work style and device configuration, and support full-screen mode to offer a distraction-free context.

• Use the menu bar to give people easy access to all the commands they need to do things in your app.

• Help people take advantage of high-precision input modes to perform pixel-perfect selections and edits.

• Handle keyboard shortcuts to help people accelerate actions and use keyboard-only work styles.

• Support personalization, letting people customize toolbars, configure windows to display the views they use most, and choose the colors and fonts they want to see in the interface.

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<!-- hig-doctor:canonical-footer --> For the complete guidance, including worked examples and illustrations, see the canonical page: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/designing-for-macos

<!-- hig-doctor:attribution -->

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

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.

Designing for tvOS

Display.

Ergonomics.

Inputs.

App interactions.

System features.

• Integrating with the TV app

• SharePlay

• Top Shelf

• TV provider accounts

Best practices

• Support powerful, delightful interactions through the fluid, familiar gestures people make with the Siri Remote.

• Embrace the tvOS focus system, letting it gently highlight and expand onscreen items as people move among them, helping them know what to do and where they are at all times.

• Deliver beautiful, edge-to-edge artwork, subtle and fluid animations, and engaging audio, wrapping people in a rich, cinematic experience that’s clear, legible, and captivating from across the room.

• Enhance multiuser support by making sign-in easy and infrequent, handling shared sign-in, and automatically switching profiles when people change the current viewer.

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<!-- hig-doctor:canonical-footer --> For the complete guidance, including worked examples and illustrations, see the canonical page: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/designing-for-tvos

<!-- hig-doctor:attribution -->

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

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.

Designing for visionOS

Space.

Immersion.

Passthrough.

Spatial Audio.

Eyes and hands.

Ergonomics.

Accessibility.

Best practices

Embrace the unique features of Apple Vision Pro.

Consider different types of immersion as you design ways to present your app’s most distinctive moments.

Use windows for contained, UI-centric experiences.

Prioritize comfort.

• Display content within a person’s field of view, positioning it relative to their head. Avoid placing content in places where people have to turn their head or change their position to interact with it.

• Avoid displaying motion that’s overwhelming, jarring, too fast, or missing a stationary frame of reference.

• Support indirect gestures that let people interact with apps while their hands rest in their lap or at their sides.

• If you support direct gestures, make sure the interactive content isn’t too far away and that people don’t need to interact with it for extended periods.

• Avoid encouraging people to move too much while they’re in a fully immersive experience.

Help people share activities with others.

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<!-- hig-doctor:canonical-footer --> For the complete guidance, including worked examples and illustrations, see the canonical page: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/designing-for-visionos

<!-- hig-doctor:attribution -->

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

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.

Designing for watchOS

Display.

Ergonomics.

Inputs.

App interactions.

System features.

• Complications

• Notifications

• Always On

• Watch faces

Best practices

• Support quick, glanceable, single-screen interactions that deliver critical information succinctly and help people perform targeted actions with a simple gesture or two.

• Minimize the depth of hierarchy in your app’s navigation, and use the Digital Crown to provide vertical navigation for scrolling or switching between screens.

• Personalize the experience by proactively anticipating people’s needs and using on-device data to provide actionable content that’s relevant in the moment or very soon.

• Use complications to provide relevant, potentially dynamic data and graphics right on the watch face where people can view them on every wrist raise and tap them to dive straight into your app.

• Use notifications to deliver timely, high-value information and let people perform important actions without opening your app.

• Use background content such as color to convey useful supporting information, and use materials to illustrate hierarchy and a sense of place.

• Design your app to function independently, complementing your notifications and complications by providing additional details and functionality.

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<!-- hig-doctor:canonical-footer --> For the complete guidance, including worked examples and illustrations, see the canonical page: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/designing-for-watchos