Last week I watched the iOS development community react to substantial rumors of a major UI redesign slated to be announced at WWDC25. The reactions were complex and I’d say broadly negative, which is a reaction I very much can understand and appreciate.
However, after wandering around in the (literal) wilderness for most of last week testing Pedometer++, my current reaction is now much more optimistic. Not because the fundamentals of the situation have changed, but because I’ve decided that it is essential that I develop a practice of optimism to navigate this complicated season in the Apple developer world.
Optimism isn’t enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is a feeling, optimism is a choice. I have much less of the enthusiastic feelings these days about my relationship to Apple and its technologies (discussed here on Under the Radar 312), but I can still choose to optimistically look for the positives in any situation. Something I’ve learned as I’ve aged is that pessimism feels better in the moment, but then slowly rots you over time. Whereas optimism feels foolish in the moment, but sustains you over time.
I’m not talking about a blind optimism which ignores the realities of a situation, but more the realistic pursuit of the positives of a situation which (at the risk of sounding a bit like Paddington Bear) if you look for, you can nearly always find. Realistically focusing on how things can go well and the positive outcomes will help me sustainably continue to grow and improve my chosen field of expertise which is ultimately my career goal.
So with that in mind…here are six positive reasons for optimism about a possible major redesign coming to iOS 19.
- It would provide a point of differentiation for my app against other apps who wouldn’t adopt the new design language right away (either large companies which have their own design system or laggards who wouldn’t prioritize it). Any thing I can do which stands me apart from my competitors is helpful and so Apple providing an opportunity where the system rewards those who follow their leadership quickly is a positive.
- It provides an opportunity to grow my personal design skills. I am by training much more of a developer than a designer, having had to learn most of my design skills on the way. So an opportunity to think through the design of each of my screens is an opportunity for personal growth and improvement. I’d expect to be a better designer after this process than I was would before I started. It is difficult to justify putting in this kind of ground-up work on its own, but if it is encouraged by the platform then I have the benefit from the exercise.
- It is rumored that the redesign will pull many aspects from visionOS and the way it is visually structured. Having spent a lot of time last year working on visionOS that sounds really promising. visionOS is a fully “SwiftUI-first” UI system which really showed in how it was constructed and how developing for it went. While I have lots of frustrations with visionOS development, the UI system and the related SwiftUI toolset related to it are not one of them.
- Any holistic design refresh will involve delving into some of the less considered parts of my apps and then allow me to reevaluate and improve them. So often there will be parts of my apps which get neglected over time, which isn’t great for the user. However, if I have an external impetus to get in there and work on them the app overall will benefit.
- Maybe a bit silly but honestly I just like working on “new” things. I really enjoyed learning how visionOS’s system worked and delighted in the related beautiful apps it resulted with. I would enjoy going through that process again for iOS and have a regular opportunity to do the difficult work of making my apps beautiful in a new way.
- Something I regularly remind myself as I look at new Apple announcements is that I never have the whole picture of what is to come for the platform, but Apple does. They know if things like foldable iPhones or HomeKit terminals are on the horizon and how a new design would fit in best with them. If you pay attention and try to read between the lines they often will provide the clues necessary to “skate where the puck is going” and be ready when new, exciting things get announced subsequently.
That is the list of things I came up with. The process of coming up with the list was itself a useful exercise. By focusing on the positive outcomes I felt much more balanced in my reaction and think I am now better able to look towards a summer of potentially challenging work with a more hopeful, growth based perspective. I’m not saying in all of this that anyone shouldn’t feel negatively towards Apple or its announcements right now, but this is just a practice/approach I’m cultivating to preserve my mental health and allow me to continue to do my best work in my chosen area of expertise.