Layout
A consistent, adaptive layout helps users feel at home in your app by organizing content and controls in familiar patterns. Apple’s guidelines stress that a layout should “adapt gracefully to context changes while remaining recognizably consistent”, so interfaces work well when devices rotate, windows resize, or people switch to different. In practice, this means arranging elements in a clear visual hierarchy (often top-to-bottom, leading-to-trailing in left-to-right) and reflowing the interface for each screen size, orientation, and user setting.
Best Practices
Group Related Items:
Cluster similar controls and content into distinct sections. Use whitespace, background colors or shapes, subtle borders, or blur materials to show grouping. For example, related form fields might share a tinted background or separation line. Visual grouping helps people scan quickly and find information.
Prioritize Key Content:
Give the most important information and controls plenty of room. Place primary content or actions in prominent positions (near the top and leading edge) and avoid crowding them. Offload secondary or detail content to subordinate views or expandable sections. In other words, keep your UI concise and uncluttered so the core content stands out.
Extend To The Edges:
Use full-bleed imagery and backgrounds wherever appropriate so your app fills the screen or window. For example, extend fullscreen artwork, photos, or colours to the display edges. Likewise, scrollable content should occupy the full viewport (scroll to the bottom and sides of the window) rather than float in a small centered box. This creates a seamless experience, especially on edge-to-edge screens.
Visual Hierarchy
Place Important Items First:
People naturally scan interfaces from top-left (or leading side) downwards. Put your highest-priority content or actions near the top or leading edge of the view so they catch the eye immediately.
Use Alignment And Contrast:
Align elements in a tidy grid or list to make the layout look organized and easy to scan. Employ font size, weight, color, and contrast to highlight headings and primary information. Consistent alignment (including indenting subpoints) reinforces hierarchy and guides the user’s eye.
Progressive Disclosure:
Don’t show everything at once. Show only the most relevant options or summary content up front and hide advanced or less-used features behind controls or additional screens. For example, show a “More” button or allow scrolling to reveal extra items. This reduces clutter and helps users focus on the essential features.
Space Interactive Elements:
In addition to grouping related items, ensure sufficient spacing around each control. This not only aids touch/focus targeting but also makes individual controls stand out. According to Apple, “provide enough space between interactive components” so they are easy to distinguish and tap.
WCAG recommends touch targets of at least 24×24px with sufficient spacing, and buttons sized 44–48px to ensure accessible and error-free interaction.
Adaptability
Every layout must adapt to changing context and user preferences. Use responsive layout tools (Auto Layout, Swift UI’s layout system, or your framework’s adaptive features) so your interface dynamically adjusts. Handle the major variations below.
Screen Size & Orientation:
Support all relevant screen sizes and orientations. For example, iPhones in portrait vs. landscape and various iPad size classes. Apple divides layouts into Regular (large screens or landscape) and Compact (small screens or portrait) size classes. Design your interface to reflow between these classes.
Layout Guides & Auto Layout:
Use layout guides, safe-area insets, and constraints to pin content to edges or margins. Let your layout stretch or rearrange instead of clipping. As Apple recommends, use Auto Layout/SwiftUI so views “adapt gracefully to context changes”. This ensures, for example, that when a tablet window resizes, the content re-organizes instead of overlapping or leaving huge gaps.
Dynamic Type:
Respect the user’s text-size setting. Enable Dynamic Type so that fonts and layouts scale for larger text. Dynamic Type is an iOS accessibility feature that adjusts font sizes across the system based on user preference. By supporting Dynamic Type (for example, by not fixing label heights and using relative font styles), your interface will expand appropriately for large text rather than truncating. In short, test your design at the largest and smallest text sizes to verify it remains usable.
Locale & Writing Direction:
Account for localization. Layouts should mirror when using right-to-left (RTL) languages, and date/number formatting or string length differences should not break the design. Ensure any labels or placeholders expand to longer translations. While sources here don’t cover it, it’s a standard practice in adaptive design.
Test On Real Devices & Simulators:
Preview the layout on multiple devices, sizes, and configurations. For example, try iPhone vs. iPad simulators, portrait vs. landscape, and different text sizes to spot issues early. (The Apple Simulator can help test rotations and window sizes; real-device testing is best for color and touch behavior.)
Guides & Safe Areas
Layout Guides:
Most platforms provide layout guides or standard margins to help align your content. For instance, iOS defines usable regions and optimal line widths for readability. Use these guides to apply consistent spacing (e.g. system margins) and keep text from becoming too wide. A “layout guide” is simply a rectangular area (in code, UI Layout Guide) you can attach to for positioning content.
Safe Areas:
Always respect safe areas so your content isn’t obscured by system UI. Safe areas mark the visible portion of the screen or window not covered by things like a status bar, navigation bar, home indicator, notch, or system toolbar. By keeping key content and controls inside the safe area, you avoid clashes with devices’ interactive or display features (for example, the iPhone’s Dynamic Island or the camera bump on some iPads). In practice, attach your main layouts to the safe-area layout guide (or use “safe area” constraints) so they automatically inset from notches and bars.