What design updates are coming in iOS 18

iOS 18 introduces several design updates and enhancements. Here are some of the key changes:

1. App Icons and Widgets Customization:

   • App icons and widgets can now appear in light, dark, or tinted versions. A tinted version of your app icon will automatically be available to users after they upgrade to iOS 18. This ensures a consistent visual experience across the home screen (Platforms State of the Union).

2. UIKit Enhancements:

   • Document Launch Experience: Redesigned launch experience for document-based apps, allowing full control over launch views and support for template document creation (What’s new in UIKit).
   • Tabs and Sidebar: Major updates to tabs and sidebar, including a new syntax in SwiftUI for tab views and new API in UIKit to better describe app hierarchy (What’s new in UIKit).
   • Fluid Transitions: Support for new fluid transitions across the system (What’s new in UIKit).

3. Controls API:

   • New controls API allows creating controls that can be added to the control center, assigned to the action button on iPhone 15 Pro, or appear on the lock screen. This makes frequent tasks from your apps faster and easier to access (Platforms State of the Union).

4. Tab and Sidebar Experience:

   • Updated look for the tab bar, which now shares a safe area with the navigation bar for a more integrated appearance. Toolbar items from the navigation bar will automatically move to overflow if there's not enough room (Elevate your tab and sidebar experience in iPadOS).

These updates aim to enhance the user interface, making it more customizable and delightful to use. For more detailed information, you can refer to the sessions mentioned above.