Issue 727
19th September 2025
Written by Dave Verwer
Comment
If you work on or have an interest in macOS UI design, make sure you don’t miss Mario Guzmán’s project, which aims to collect and modernise the old Mac Human Interface Guidelines. He started the project in 2023 with Layout Guidelines and followed it up in late 2024 with Toolbar Guidelines. I only discovered them this week, but I hope he has plans for more, as they are wonderful! ❤️
Apple’s current HIG is great, but it’s far more high-level than the old guidelines used to be. In part, that’s because the new HIG covers all platforms together. While there are platform-specific tips in each section, in my opinion, it doesn’t go deep enough. Compare the layout section of today’s HIG to Mario’s document.
What I’d love to see Apple tackle is a guide to SwiftUI-based design with this level of detail. Like it or not, some conventions have changed since those old HIGs, and I’d love to see guidance for designing apps with Apple’s most modern approach. Oh, and in case you wondered, yes, I’m talking about things like the new macOS settings window, and yes, that’s why I said “like it or not” two sentences ago. 😬
SwiftUI takes care of some aspects of app design really well. High-level components like navigation and toolbars are well handled, and so are the lowest-level consistency details, like getting standard spacing without worrying about exactly how many points separate a label from neighbouring controls. All the tools for consistently designed apps are there. What’s missing is more examples of well-designed apps that developers can learn from.
Then, imagine if they went further and worked with their own design teams and third-party developers to publish case studies of Keynote, Numbers, Nova, Sketch, Things, or Procreate. Better yet, make publishing a case study on Apple’s documentation site part of the Apple Design Award prize. What an honour for both the winner … and for Apple.
Either way, don’t miss Mario’s Layout Guidelines and Toolbar Guidelines. They absolutely deserve your attention.
– Dave Verwer
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News
Swift 6.2 ReleasedI’ve linked to enough Swift 6.2 articles over the summer that you might feel there’s no need to read Holly Borla’s launch post on the official Swift blog. I’d encourage you to still check it out, though, not just for great explanations of the features you know about, but for those you might have missed.
iOS 26 Rollout Dashboard
It’s always fun to see how fast the operating systems are rolling out, and this year, TelemetryDeck has put up a page that updates every few hours with the latest stats. It’s based on data from thousands of apps using its platform, so it should be statistically significant. 22.4% and counting! 👍
Code
Introducing Diagnostics: Improved Debugging and User SupportThis new diagnostic library from Antoine van der Lee looks promising. Easily access session logs (with support for filtering sensitive data), container file system data, and customisable “insights” that you can use to report back on the most likely reason for issues based on checks you define. All made easy for your customers to send to you via email.
Understanding Deflate
The ZIP file format is remarkable. It’s not the very best lossless compression available, but it’s great proof that file formats live forever. John Scott took me right back to my university classroom this week with his article on DEFLATE. It’s still used in all sorts of places today, not just in ZIP files but also in every PNG you create.
Business and Marketing
I forced myself to spend a week in Instagram instead of XcodeI really enjoyed Daniel Hour’s latest article on forcing himself to spend an entire week focused entirely on marketing his app. But that alone wasn’t enough! He also stepped completely out of his comfort zone, doing marketing activities he had never tried. Did they pay off? You’ll need to read it to find out. 😱
Books
Exploring AI for iOS DevelopmentApple’s foundation model is now shipping out to all kinds of devices, so if you’ve not yet experimented with it, now would be a great time to start. With that in mind, Rudrank Riyam’s latest book covers exactly that topic! Start with the basics, then quickly move on to @Generable, tool use, and much more.
For full disclosure, Rudrank sent me a copy of the book.