Apple Human Interface Guidelines: The Essentials for App Teams

In short: what the HIG is and why it matters

The Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) are Apple's official design guide for iPhone, iPad and its other platforms. They are principles rather than law, but iOS users are so used to them that any deviation feels like "something is off with this app".

Keep two documents apart:

• The HIG describes how the interface should look and work.
• The App Review Guidelines are the rules that decide whether an app is accepted into the App Store.

Reviewers do not check every HIG point, but an awkward, broken or non-native interface raises the risk of rejection. The official version lives on developer.apple.com.

Navigation: three basic models

• Hierarchical — screens open deeper, with a navigation bar at the top showing a title and a Back button. Settings and Mail work this way.
• Flat — several equal sections switched with a tab bar.
• Modal — a separate task on top of the current screen (writing a note, paying) presented as a sheet with clear Cancel and Done buttons.

Most apps combine all three: a tab bar for sections, hierarchy within each section, modals for short tasks.

Tab bar

• Sits at the bottom of the screen and leads to the main sections of the app.
• Keep the number of tabs small: on iPhone, extra tabs get pushed into a "More" tab, which is clumsy.
• Tabs are for navigation, not actions. A "Create" tab that opens a form breaks expectations.
• Every tab gets an icon and a short label. SF Symbols, Apple's system icon library, is the easy choice.
• Do not hide the tab bar without a reason: users should always be able to jump to another section.

Typography

• The system font is SF Pro. A custom brand font is fine if it stays readable at small sizes.
• Support Dynamic Type, the system text size setting. Use text styles (Large Title, Headline, Body, Caption) instead of fixed sizes and the interface will scale on its own.
• Test screens at the largest text size: nothing should be clipped or overlap.
• Avoid very thin weights for body text.

Touch targets

The HIG minimum hit area is 44×44 pt. An icon can be smaller, but the tappable area cannot. Leave enough space between neighboring controls so people do not mis-tap.

Safe areas and different screens

Modern iPhones have rounded corners, a notch or the Dynamic Island at the top and the home indicator at the bottom. The safe area is the region where content is guaranteed not to be covered.

• Backgrounds and images may extend to the edges.
• Text, buttons and input fields stay inside the safe area.
• Test layouts on a small and a large iPhone, and on iPad and in landscape if the app is universal.

SwiftUI respects the safe area by default; ignore it only for the background:

ZStack {
    Color("Background").ignoresSafeArea()
    ContentView()
}

System gestures

iOS users rely on gestures your app must not break:

• swipe from the left edge — go back in the hierarchy;
• swipe up from the bottom — go home and switch apps;
• swipe down from the top corners — Control Center and notifications.

Do not place custom gestures or interactive controls near screen edges where they collide with system ones. Expected in-app patterns are pull to refresh, swipe actions on list rows and long press for a context menu.

What often leads to App Store rejection

• Crashes, placeholder content, broken links and empty screens.
• An app that is essentially a wrapped website with no value of its own.
• Asking for camera, location or contacts access without a clear explanation of why.
• Account sign-up without a way to delete the account inside the app.
• Third-party social login only, without an equivalent privacy-focused option such as Sign in with Apple.

Common team mistakes

• Porting the Android interface one to one: hamburger menu, floating action button, Material-style back arrow.
• Ignoring dark mode and Dynamic Type.
• Shipping tiny buttons "as in the mockup" without a proper hit area.
• Requesting every permission at first launch.