Mac App Show Guidelines On Screen

A layout guide defines a rectangular region that helps you position, align, and space your content on the screen. The system includes predefined layout guides that make it easy to apply standard margins around content and restrict the width of text for optimal readability. You can also define custom layout guides.

Mac App Show Guidelines On Screen

In iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS, the system defines a collection of traits that characterize variations in the device environment that can affect the way your app displays on the screen. Using SwiftUI or Auto Layout, you can ensure that your interface adapts dynamically to a wide range of traits and contexts, including:

If your app runs on a specific device, make sure it runs on every screen size for that device. In other words, an iPhone-only app must run on every iPhone screen size and an iPad-only app must run on every iPad screen size. For guidance, see Device screen sizes and orientations.

Extend visual content to fill the screen. Make sure backgrounds extend to the edges of the display, and that vertically scrollable layouts, like tables and collections, continue all the way to the bottom.

Use layout templates to build media-centered apps and use grids to provide collections of content. If the layout of your media app simply needs to present content beautifully with minimal layout customization, use a predesigned layout template. If your app needs to showcase a collection of content, use a grid to make the content easy to browse at a distance and quick to navigate with the remote.

Use the catalog template to display groupings of related items, such as genres of movies or TV shows. People view the list of groupings on the left, and focus on one to see its items on the right.

The menu bar template is designed for top-level navigation, such as an entry page to your content. It includes a menu of items across the top. People focus on an item to view related content below the menu.Keep the menu bar uncluttered. Each additional item you display adds more choices and increases the complexity of your app.Keep menu items onscreen. When the menu bar is in focus, ensure that all of its items are visible. In general, include seven or fewer items with short labels, to avoid crowding content and causing items to scroll off the screen.See also Tab Bars.

The parade template shows rotating previews for a focused grouping of content, such as movies or albums in a particular genre. A list of groupings is shown on the right. People focus on one grouping to view noninteractive rotating previews of its elements on the left.

The product bundle template promotes a series of related TV shows, movies, and other products. It typically includes an image, background, and descriptive information. A shelf below the content displays the products the bundle contains, such as the episodes of a TV season. People can scroll down to bring up more information, such as cast and crew listings, ratings, and reviews.

Make partially hidden content look symmetrical. To help direct attention to the fully visible content, keep partially hidden offscreen content the same width on each side of the screen.

Design your content to extend from one edge of the screen to the other. The Apple Watch bezel provides a natural visual padding around your content. To avoid wasting valuable space, consider minimizing the padding between elements.

Support autorotation in views people might want to show others. When people flip their wrist away, apps typically respond to the motion by sleeping the display, but in some cases it makes sense to autorotate the content. For example, a wearer might want to show an image to a friend or display a QR code to a reader. For developer guidance, see isAutorotating.

Use Apple product images at a size that is clearly legible at the image resolution provided. Ensure that the minimum device size is no smaller than 25 mm in height for printed materials and 200 px onscreen. Maintain the correct relative product scale whenever multiple products are shown.

You are responsible for securing the rights to all materials used in screen content within your app, and you should display fictional account information instead of data from a real person. For the screen content of apps that work within Apple apps, you are responsible for securing the rights and approvals for third-party content such as store names or locations.

The status bar for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch should show a full network icon or product designator, a full Wi-Fi icon, and a full battery icon. If your app runs full screen, you can extend your app screen image over the status bar. If your app is optimized for 5G networks, you can display the 5G icon in the status bar from a compatible device.

Always use the correct Apple product names with the correct capitalization as shown on the Apple Trademark List. Always use Apple product names in singular form. Modifiers such as model, device, or collection can be plural or possessive. Never typeset Apple product names using all uppercase letters.

Use the appropriate credit lines in all communications worldwide, listing all the Apple trademarks and products included in your communication and advertising. Include the credit lines only once in your communication or website, and place the credit lines wherever you provide legal notification. Follow standard practices for the placement of legal copy, such as creating additional screens or providing interactive links. When the App Store badge is used, credit both Apple and the Apple Logo.

Your app screen images, Mac, Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple TV product images, or photographs thereof cannot be used in any manner that falsely suggests an association with Apple or is likely to reduce, diminish, or damage the goodwill, value, or reputation associated with the App Store, the Mac App Store, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch, Apple TV, or Apple itself.

Some page templates have persistent alignment guides. To show or hide these guides on document pages, choose View > Guides > Show Page Template Guides or Hide Page Template Guides (from the View menu at the top of your screen).

A collection of settings supported across product platforms helps you customize your onscreen display according to your personal preferences. Make text easier to read with Bold Text or Larger Text. You can also invert colors, increase contrast, reduce transparency, or apply color filters to adapt your screen in ways that best support your vision preferences. These settings can be applied on an app-by-app basis in iOS and iPadOS. And in macOS, you can even customize the fill and outline color of your mouse pointer to make it easier to spot onscreen.

Enlarge an area of your screen on the fly. And in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, you can get a picture-in-picture view, allowing you to see the zoomed area in a separate window while keeping the rest of the screen at its original size.

Get an alert for incoming Phone and FaceTime calls, new texts, email messages, and calendar events through vibration on iPhone or a quick LED light flash on iPhone and iPad. And your Mac can flash the screen when an app needs your attention.

AssistiveTouch for Apple Watch lets people with upper-body limb differences use their Apple Watch without ever having to touch the display or controls. Using built-in motion sensors and on-device learning, Apple Watch detects subtle differences in muscle movements and tendon activity, letting you control the display through hand gestures like a pinch or a clench. Answer incoming calls, control an onscreen motion pointer, and access Notification Center, Control Center, and more.7 You can also use AssistiveTouch for Apple Watch to run shortcuts with Siri to complete tasks or modify VoiceOver and Switch Control settings on your iPhone.

A double or triple tap on the back of your iPhone can be set to trigger all kinds of actions, like opening Control Center, taking a screenshot, or cueing a favorite app. Back Tap can even be used to turn on a wide range of accessibility features and run shortcuts with Siri, making it a great way to replace standard Home Screen gestures when they become tricky.8

When publishing an app in the Apple App Store, you are required to provide app screenshots. The screenshots have a significant impact on your app's conversion rate. When people search apps in the App Store, your app's screenshots appear next to the app name and app subtitle. And when potential users come to your app's product page, the screenshots tell the story about your app and should convince them to download it.

Many mobile users will use your app screenshots to form a first impression and decide whether or not they want to download your app. That is why screenshots are crucial for your App Store listing optimization and play a massive role in driving more downloads.

The Apple guidelines are pretty straightforward. You must use images and videos taken directly within your app. That means you are not allowed to use images or videos that show, for example, someone holding an iPhone.

Apple gives you ten slots for screenshots per localization. We highly advise that you use all ten slots when uploading the images in App Store Connect if it makes sense. Some apps might use only 5 or 6 screenshots if the app has powerful features and a popular brand name. But generally speaking, every additional screenshot is an added opportunity to show why people need to download your app.

The screenshots must be in flattened JPEG or PNG RGB file format with 72 dpi resolution and without transparency. Each screenshot needs to fit one of the mandatory screen resolutions defined by the Apple App Store (see below).

Apple is specific about showing how people use your app. All screenshots need to be taken from the app; that is, they need to contain the screens from the app. As the data provider, you are responsible for everything you upload, so we suggest using only the elements over which you have intellectual property.