For a number of years now, one thing has felt off with Apple’s software program design. There’s been an excessive amount of emphasis on showy results and crowd pleasing animations, and never sufficient on creating intuitive experiences that really work for the person. However now that Apple’s design chief Alan Dye is leaving the corporate for brand spanking new pastures at Meta, I’m hoping for a radical enchancment to iPhone and Mac software program–one which’s lengthy overdue.
I’m not pinning all of Apple’s software program woes on Dye. However as the corporate’s Vice President of Human Interface Design, he set the tone for Apple’s complete software program ecosystem, and finally, the design selections circulate again to him. With him on the way in which out, plenty of customers (myself included) shall be hoping for a return to the design glory days of Apple’s previous. Right here’s what I feel went unsuitable, and what I hope we may see change.
Apple misplaced its method
Folks prefer to complain that Apple’s design has been going downhill, a lot in order that “what would Steve Jobs do?” has turn out to be a meme of kinds. However for long-time Apple followers, it actually does really feel that one thing has been amiss on the firm when it comes to design.
That doesn’t imply that all the pieces is unsuitable. Apple nonetheless pumps out unimaginable designs which might be immediately and shamelessly copied by its rivals, the true signal that you just’re a class-leading act. The indication of a great design is one which immediately feels acquainted, even in case you’ve by no means used it earlier than, and Apple continues to be able to doing that. I vividly recall feeling that method concerning the iPhone X’s swipe-based gesture system, which Dye helped to implement.
Apple
But for each design hit, it looks like Apple has been placing out simply as many misses. Take into consideration the Dynamic Island. Certain, it seems superb, and its animations are stunning, however are you able to say that it genuinely elevates your iPhone expertise? I’m unsure I can. Whereas I prefer it, I can’t assist feeling that that’s just because it’s extra practical than the dumb notch that got here earlier than it.
The clear app icons in iOS 26 are one other worrying indicator. Icons are supposed to immediately let you know what they signify, even from a split-second look or a look from the nook of your eye. When each icon seems similar and fully clear, you lose that very important performance, and the whole function of an icon is undermined. That could be a transfer carried out purely as a result of somebody at Apple thought it appeared cool, and the person expertise suffers because of this. Implementing it was an excuse to make one thing visually beautiful with out there being a urgent want to take action.
However by far the worst instance of this “let’s do it as a result of we are able to” strategy, in my thoughts, is the brand new animation that performs whenever you use a Liquid Glass toggle in iOS 26. A toggle’s function is to allow or disable one thing else–in different phrases, it’s ephemeral, one thing you employ shortly after which transfer on. That’s its design function.
In iOS 26, the toggles are something however ephemeral. Faucet a toggle, and it jumps up because it strikes, slowing down the animation and distracting your eye. It transforms the toggle from a fleeting instrument that’s fully practical to an off-putting centerpiece. There isn’t any function to that change apart from to make it look fairly, and in doing so, Apple has created a sluggish, extra annoying expertise. That isn’t “design is the way it works,” that’s “design is the way it seems.” It might look like a small factor, however sweating the small stuff is what design is all about. On the finish of the day, getting that proper was Dye’s accountability. Getting it unsuitable is symbolic of his legacy.
Foundry
Jobs versus Dye
That cuts to the center of the matter. For years, Apple’s design staff has been led by somebody who, it appears, doesn’t perceive the central philosophy that underpinned Apple’s best design triumphs. How else can we clarify the complicated design selections, irritating modifications, and new options that appear to be at the very least partly motivated by superficial reasoning?
To be clear, I don’t suppose there’s something unsuitable with making issues which might be fairly. Recall Steve Jobs’ quote on Mac OS X’s Aqua interface: “One of many design targets was whenever you noticed it, you needed to lick it.” But additionally recall one other Steve Jobs quote about design: “Folks suppose it’s this veneer, that the designers are handed this field and instructed, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we expect design is. It’s not simply what it seems like and looks like. Design is the way it works.”
Within the view that Jobs was criticizing, good design meant making one thing that was all seems and glamour however no coronary heart and soul. That appears to be the way in which Apple’s design has been going below Dye.
An actual warning signal was the Liquid Glass introduction video that Dye introduced at WWDC in June 2025. The section was heavy on how Liquid Glass would supposedly make you are feeling; Dye talked about it sparking a way of pleasure and delight on a number of events. However he was very gentle on why precisely the brand new design system was a practical enchancment on what got here earlier than. The impression I obtained (I’m positive I’m not alone) was that this was being carried out as a result of Apple was uninterested in how iOS appeared and needed a visible overhaul. The corporate appeared much less pushed by the necessity to enhance the person expertise and extra by an inside want to create a brand new search for the sake of it. For veteran Apple watchers, it was regarding.
Apple
Liquid Glass has continued to be extremely divisive months after its debut. Textual content is illegible when glass panels overlap one another or when writing is superimposed on prime of a picture. Animations really feel extreme and overwrought. Controls are complicated and obscured. All this appears to stem from the main focus being put squarely on how one thing seems and feels. “Design is the way it works” isn’t just some empty adage. Liquid Glass is an instance of what occurs when Apple forgets what it means.
Turning the ship round
A few of this may really feel just a little inside baseball. However I feel we must always care concerning the concepts that go into the way in which our gadgets work as a result of most of us use them every single day. If we’re given merchandise that look visually beautiful however are irritating to make use of, we’re going to go elsewhere for one thing higher.
Alan Dye was an odd selection to move up Apple’s human interface staff as a result of he had no background in software program design. His previous work expertise consists of style home Kate Spade and advert company Ogilvy, hardly the form of resumé that signifies somebody obsessed over person interface and expertise.
Apple has already given customers the choice to tone down Liquid Glass in iOS 18.1.
Foundry
His successor, Stephen Lemay, appears to be minimize from a really totally different fabric. An previous hand at Apple, he’s seen as somebody who understands each Apple’s tradition and good software program design ideas way over Dye ever did.
Many designers inside Apple are comfortable at Lemay’s appointment, “if not downright giddy,” based on longtime Apple pundit John Gruber. He’s “deeply revered talent-wise,” and robust reward has been given to his “consideration to element and craftsmanship,” the precise issues which were uncared for below Dye.
I hope which means we see a return to the concepts that made Apple software program nice in years passed by. A stronger emphasis on person expertise, an obsession over small particulars, and a renewed ardour for interfaces and controls. An appreciation of the foundational concepts that helped Apple’s merchandise attain the top of software program design.
The change most likely gained’t occur shortly. Apple is a giant beast that turns slowly, and it put an excessive amount of effort into Liquid Glass to shortly abandon it. However with a designer on the helm who’s rooted in stable ideas–evidently that’s the view of Lemay internally at Apple–there’s an opportunity Apple’s software program can get again on observe.
If that leads to a swift loss of life for the accursed Liquid Glass toggle, I’m all for it.
