| name | ios-ui-refactor |
| description | Principal-level SwiftUI UI review and refactoring patterns for iOS 26 / Swift 6.2 clinic-architecture apps, grounded in Rams, Segall, and Edson principles. Use when auditing or improving existing SwiftUI screens, transitions, animations, and visual systems while preserving brand identity and respecting clinic Domain/Data/App boundaries. |
Apple HIG SwiftUI iOS 26 / Swift 6.2 Best Practices
A principal designer's lens for evaluating and refactoring SwiftUI interfaces to Apple-quality standards, grounded in Rams, Segall, and Edson. Contains 51 rules across 8 categories, each grounded in specific principles from three foundational design texts:
- Dieter Rams — Ten Principles for Good Design ("less, but better," "design should be honest")
- Ken Segall — Insanely Simple (simplicity as a core principle for intuitive, beautiful products)
- John Edson — Design Like Apple (design-focused culture, prototyping to perfection, the product is the marketing)
Categories are ordered by a visual review process: start with what to remove, then what to clarify, then what to make honest, invisible, systematic, thorough, enduring, and finally what to refine.
Scope & Relationship to Sibling Skills
This skill is the refactoring and review lens — it evaluates existing UI and identifies visual anti-patterns to fix. When loaded alongside ios-design (building new UI), ios-hig (HIG compliance), or swift-refactor (code-level refactoring), this skill supersedes overlapping rules with more detailed "incorrect -> correct" transformations and "When NOT to apply" guidance. Use this skill for auditing and improving existing screens; use the siblings for greenfield implementation.
Clinic Architecture Contract (iOS 26 / Swift 6.2)
All guidance in this skill assumes the clinic modular MVVM-C architecture:
- Feature modules import
Domain + DesignSystem only (never Data, never sibling features)
- App target is the convergence point and owns
DependencyContainer, concrete coordinators, and Route Shell wiring
Domain stays pure Swift and defines models plus repository, *Coordinating, ErrorRouting, and AppError contractsData owns SwiftData/network/sync/retry/background I/O and implements Domain protocols- Read/write flow defaults to stale-while-revalidate reads and optimistic queued writes
- ViewModels call repository protocols directly (no default use-case/interactor layer)
When to Apply
Reference these guidelines when:
- Reviewing existing SwiftUI screens for visual quality issues
- Auditing whether every element on screen earns its place (Rams #10)
- Evaluating if the interface is self-explanatory without tooltips (Rams #4)
- Checking that colors, states, and hierarchy tell the truth (Rams #6)
- Ensuring animations and materials are invisible, not decorative (Rams #5)
- Verifying spacing, radii, and colors form a coherent system (Edson "Systems Thinking")
- Confirming edge cases — reduce motion, touch targets, safe areas — are handled (Rams #8)
- Adopting iOS 26 / Swift 6.2 APIs that refine previously impossible interactions (Edson "Design Out Loud")
Rule Categories by Priority
| Priority | Category | Principle | Impact | Prefix | Rules |
|---|
| 1 | Less, But Better | Rams #10 + Segall "Think Minimal" | CRITICAL | less- | 7 |
| 2 | Self-Evident Design | Rams #4 + Segall "Think Human" | CRITICAL | evident- | 6 |
| 3 | Honest Interfaces | Rams #6 + Segall "Think Brutal" | CRITICAL | honest- | 6 |
| 4 | Invisible Design | Rams #5 + Edson "Product Is Marketing" | HIGH | invisible- | 6 |
| 5 | Systems, Not Pieces | Edson "Systems Thinking" + Rams #8 | HIGH | system- | 6 |
| 6 | Thorough to the Last Detail | Rams #8 + Rams #2 | HIGH | thorough- | 7 |
| 7 | Enduring Over Trendy | Rams #7 + Edson "Design With Conviction" | MEDIUM-HIGH | enduring- | 5 |
| 8 | Refined Through Iteration | Edson "Design Out Loud" + Rams #1/#3 | MEDIUM | refined- | 8 |
Quick Reference
1. Less, But Better (CRITICAL)
Rams #10: "Good design is as little design as possible." Segall: Apple succeeded by saying no to a thousand things.
2. Self-Evident Design (CRITICAL)
Rams #4: "Good design makes a product understandable." Segall: interfaces must speak in terms people understand.
3. Honest Interfaces (CRITICAL)
Rams #6: "Good design is honest." Segall: clarity without sugar-coating.
4. Invisible Design (HIGH)
Rams #5: "Good design is unobtrusive." Edson: the product itself is the marketing.
5. Systems, Not Pieces (HIGH)
Edson: "Design is systems thinking." Rams #8: nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance.
6. Thorough to the Last Detail (HIGH)
Rams #8: "Care and accuracy in the design process show respect for the user." Rams #2: if the user cannot reliably use it, the product has failed.
7. Enduring Over Trendy (MEDIUM-HIGH)
Rams #7: "Good design is long-lasting." Edson: commit to a voice that persists across product generations.
8. Refined Through Iteration (MEDIUM)
Edson: "Design out loud" — prototype relentlessly until every interaction feels inevitable. Rams #1: innovation serves genuine purpose.
How to Use
Read individual reference files for detailed explanations and code examples:
Reference Files
