The Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) are Apple's design guide for apps on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV and Vision Pro, free on developer.apple.com. The key iPhone numbers as of October 16, 2026, are a 44×44 point control, 17 point body text and text contrast of at least 4.5:1.
What the Human Interface Guidelines are
The HIG is Apple's collection of advice on how an app should look and behave. Apple describes it as guidance for designing a great experience on any of its platforms (Human Interface Guidelines). It explains when to use a tab bar and when a sidebar, which typeface to pick, how to label buttons, and how a screen should adapt to larger text.
The guide is free and needs no sign-in. As of October 16, 2026, it is published in English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Apple updates it page by page, and each page ends with its own dated change log.
How the HIG is organized and what comes with it
There are six sections. Getting started (where to begin for each platform), Foundations (color, typography, layout, accessibility, icons), Patterns (common flows such as onboarding and search), Components (buttons, bars, lists, menus), Inputs (gestures, keyboards, eyes) and Technologies (Apple Pay, Siri, in-app purchase and more).
The guide comes with Apple Design Resources. As of October 16, 2026, that page offers the iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 UI kits for Figma and Sketch, device bezels, and SF Symbols 27, a library of over 7,000 symbols in nine weights and three scales.
The key HIG numbers as of October 16, 2026
| What | iPhone and iPad | Other devices |
|---|---|---|
| Control size | 44×44 pt, minimum 28×28 | Mac 28×28, Apple TV 66×66, Vision Pro 60×60 |
| Button hit region | at least 44×44 pt | Vision Pro 60×60 pt |
| Padding around elements | about 12 pt with a bezel, about 24 pt without | same |
| Text size | 17 pt default, 11 pt minimum | Mac 13 and 10, Apple TV 29 and 23, Apple Watch 16 and 12 |
| Body in Dynamic Type | from 14 pt (xSmall) to 53 pt (AX5) | |
| Text contrast | 4.5:1 up to 17 pt, 3:1 from 18 pt and for bold | same |
Per the Accessibility, Buttons and Typography pages of the Human Interface Guidelines, checked October 16, 2026.
Apple takes the contrast thresholds from WCAG Level AA, and the Accessibility Inspector in Xcode grades colors against them. If your app falls short of 4.5:1 by default, the HIG asks for at least a higher-contrast scheme when Increase Contrast is on, checked in both light and dark appearance.
What changed with Liquid Glass
On June 9, 2025, Apple added rules for the new material to the HIG, with Liquid Glass guidance in Materials and App icons rewritten for layered icons. On December 16, 2025, the Liquid Glass guidance in Color, Buttons, Toolbars and Tab bars was updated. On June 8, 2026, the HIG brought back its design principles, and on September 9, 2026, a new page, Designing for iPhone Duo, covered layouts across two displays (What's new log).
The material itself, its regular and clear variants and whether you can turn it off are covered on the Liquid Glass page.
How to check a screen against the HIG
- Go through every button and icon button. Each needs a hit region of at least 44×44 points, even if the glyph is smaller.
- Check spacing. About 12 points between neighbors with a bezel and about 24 without, or fingers land on the wrong control.
- Set body text to 17 points and turn on the largest text size in the simulator settings. Nothing on the screen should get cut off.
- Open Xcode › Open Developer Tool › Accessibility Inspector and check contrast. Regular text needs 4.5:1 in both light and dark appearance.
- Replace homemade bars and switches with standard SwiftUI controls, which pick up Liquid Glass and correct sizes on their own.
- Reread the HIG page for the component you are changing and check its change log for 2025 and 2026 updates.
Common mistakes
- A tiny icon button. A 20-point glyph with no padding leaves a hit region below the 28×28 minimum. The button needs a 44×44 region even if the glyph inside is smaller.
- Gray text on white. Light gray captions often miss 4.5:1. Small text needs more contrast than large text.
- Fixed font sizes without Dynamic Type. Someone who set large text on their phone won't get it in your app. System text styles scale from 14 to 53 points by themselves.
- A course instead of the source. A course or an article may retell an older version of the HIG. Apple updated these rules in 2025 and 2026, so check against the guide itself.
Appto offers two or three design directions for your app as a live mockup in a phone and writes the code in SwiftUI, where standard controls come with HIG sizes built in. More on the design page.
Questions
What are Apple's Human Interface Guidelines?
Apple's design guide for apps on all of its devices. It's free on developer.apple.com and updated page by page, with a date on every change.
What is the minimum tap target size in iOS?
The default control size is 44×44 points and the minimum is 28×28 (HIG Accessibility page as of October 16, 2026). A button's hit region should be at least 44×44.
What is the default text size in iOS?
17 points for body text, with an 11 point minimum. In Dynamic Type the Body style ranges from 14 to 53 points.
Do I need an iOS app design course?
To start, the HIG itself and the iOS 27 UI kits for Figma and Sketch from Apple Design Resources are enough. They're free and updated with each OS release.
Which languages is the HIG available in?
As of October 16, 2026, Apple publishes it in English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
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