Design Apps for All Apple Platforms

Provides Apple Human Interface Guidelines platform design guidance across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS, watchOS, and games - reinforcing that each platform has a distinct identity and should not have designs simply ported between them. It first checks for an existing .claude/apple-design-context.md project context file and only asks for information not already covered there.

Use when deciding how a design or interaction pattern should adapt across Apple platforms, or when targeting a specific platform's conventions for the first time. Related skills cover adjacent scope: hig-foundations for shared principles (color, typography, accessibility, layout), hig-patterns for interaction patterns that manifest differently per platform, hig-components-layout for navigation structures that vary by platform, and hig-components-content for content display adaptation.

Platform-specific principles: iOS is touch-first, optimized for one-handed use, with tab bars and push/pop navigation stacks. iPadOS is an expanded canvas supporting Split View, Slide Over, and Stage Manager, using sidebars and multi-column layouts, with pointer and keyboard support alongside touch. macOS is pointer-and-keyboard-driven, tolerates dense information display, and uses menu bars, toolbars, extensive keyboard shortcuts, and precisely resizable windows. tvOS is viewed from a distance and designed around the Siri Remote with focus-based navigation, large text, and simple linear layouts. visionOS is spatial, using windows/volumes/spaces in a 3D environment with eye tracking for targeting, indirect gestures for interaction, and ergonomic comfort zones. watchOS is glanceable and brief, built around the Digital Crown, haptics, and complications for timely content. Games get their own interaction paradigm but must still respect platform conventions for system interactions like notifications, accessibility, and controllers.

A five-step decision framework: identify the primary use context (on the go, at a desk, on the couch, spatial environment); match input to interaction (touch, pointer, gaze+gesture, Digital Crown, remote); adapt rather than replicate (a macOS sidebar becomes an iPhone tab bar; a visionOS volume has no watchOS equivalent - translate intent, not implementation); leverage each platform's strengths (Live Activities on iOS, Desktop Widgets on macOS, complications on watchOS, immersive spaces on visionOS); and maintain brand consistency while respecting each platform's visual language.

Reference files cover each platform in depth: designing-for-ios.md, designing-for-ipados.md, designing-for-macos.md, designing-for-tvos.md, designing-for-visionos.md, designing-for-watchos.md, and designing-for-games.md.

Output format: platform-specific recommendations citing relevant HIG sections, a platform differences table comparing navigation/input/layout/conventions, and implementation notes per platform including recommended APIs. Clarifying questions asked when needed: target platforms, new app vs. adapting an existing one (and which platform is the base), SwiftUI vs. UIKit/AppKit, OS version support, and primary use context.

Developers and designers building or porting apps across Apple platforms who need to translate design intent correctly per platform rather than reusing one platform's layout and interaction model everywhere.