The iPhone Duo status icon introduces a new approach to information that has occupied the top edge of the iPhone display for nearly two decades. Instead of treating Wi-Fi, cellular signal, battery status, and other indicators as a conventional horizontal row, Apple has created a flexible circular system that sits in the corner of the foldable iPhone’s display.

Apple officially describes the feature as a “circular, flexible system” within the status bar rather than one fixed icon containing every piece of information at all times. The distinction is useful: the area can adapt according to context while consolidating status information into a smaller visual region.

It is part of a much larger rethink of iOS 27 specifically for iPhone Duo. The foldable device changes the proportions available to software, particularly when its 7.6-inch inner display is open, forcing Apple to reconsider interface elements that have traditionally stretched horizontally across an iPhone screen.

The status system is one of the smallest changes visually, but it illustrates how extensively Apple has adapted iOS around the new hardware.

iPhone Duo status icon replaces the traditional horizontal approach

Conventional iPhones distribute system information across the upper portion of the display. Cellular strength, network type, Wi-Fi connectivity, and battery status typically occupy space around the camera hardware and Dynamic Island.

iPhone Duo approaches that area differently.

Apple says its circular status system nestles into the corner of the screen and presents relevant information including Wi-Fi, cellular strength, battery status, and more. Rather than requiring a long horizontal strip, those indicators can occupy a compact area that works with the device’s unusual screen geometry.

The change is closely connected to the way iPhone Duo handles controls throughout iOS 27.

Apple has moved several interface elements to the side of the display. App navigation, toolbars, the Home Screen Dock, and some Lock Screen controls can use vertical space instead of occupying the familiar horizontal regions found on other iPhones.

The status system therefore becomes part of a vertical interface column rather than an isolated redesign.

This arrangement lets content use more of the display’s height while keeping frequently referenced system information visible. It also creates a consistent location for status details as users change how they hold or fold the device.

A flexible status system suits a foldable iPhone

A foldable phone presents an interface problem that a traditional slab-shaped iPhone does not have.

iPhone Duo can operate through its 5.4-inch outer display or its substantially larger 7.6-inch inner screen. The device can be opened completely, partially folded, rotated, or positioned like a small book.

A static status bar designed around one screen size and orientation would be less effective across those configurations.

Apple instead built iOS 27 so that interface elements can move as the physical device changes. Content reacts to folding, controls relocate, and layouts adjust around the hinge and available screen area.

Apple’s developer guidance provides additional detail about this philosophy. On iPhone Duo, navigation and toolbar controls share vertical space with system elements such as the status bar and Live Activities. When available room becomes limited, application controls can collapse into an overflow menu.

That makes the circular status area part of an adaptive system rather than a cosmetic flourish.

Developers do not need to manually reproduce the status treatment inside their apps. Apple’s standard interface frameworks handle much of the adaptation, especially when applications use native navigation, toolbar, and tab-bar components.

Dynamic Island also moves to the side

The status area is not the only familiar piece of iPhone interface that changes position on iPhone Duo.

Apple has redesigned Dynamic Island so that it can sit vertically along the side of both the outer and inner displays. It can expand from that position to present alerts and Live Activities.

The relationship between Dynamic Island and the new circular status system is particularly interesting because Apple now has two dynamic interface areas operating along the same side of the screen.

One communicates persistent device information such as network and battery status. The other handles temporary activity, alerts, and live information.

Apple’s developer documentation refers to this section as shared vertical space. Application controls may also occupy it, meaning iOS has to continuously decide how much room is available and which elements deserve priority.

That is a major departure from the long-standing assumption that the upper corners of an iPhone screen simply contain a predictable row of small status symbols.

On Duo, those regions have become active parts of the interface layout.

Wi-Fi, cellular, and battery remain immediately recognizable

Consolidating status information creates a design challenge: efficiency cannot come at the expense of readability.

Users have spent years learning the meanings of Apple’s individual status symbols. Cellular bars indicate signal strength, the Wi-Fi symbol communicates wireless connectivity, and the battery icon provides an immediate indication of remaining power.

Apple has not discarded those familiar concepts.

Instead, the circular system changes how and where information is presented. The familiar status categories remain present while the container around them becomes more adaptable.

This is particularly useful on a device with two displays. Users should not need to relearn the meaning of basic connectivity information when moving from the outer screen to the inner display.

The same reasoning applies when iPhone Duo changes orientation. Apple can reorganize the status area without changing the fundamental visual vocabulary behind Wi-Fi, cellular, or battery information.

iPhone Duo pushes the status bar beyond a fixed strip

The new design suggests a different direction for one of the oldest pieces of smartphone interface.

Status bars traditionally behave like reserved strips of screen space. Applications work around them, and their icons occupy predictable positions regardless of what is happening elsewhere.

iPhone Duo turns that space into something more fluid.

The circular system can coexist with a vertical Dynamic Island, changing application controls, Live Activities, and layouts that respond to the physical position of the foldable display. It becomes another component that iOS can arrange rather than a fixed row placed permanently along an edge.

There is no indication that Apple plans to bring the same circular status treatment unchanged to conventional iPhones. Its current implementation is specifically tied to iPhone Duo and the interface requirements created by the foldable hardware.

Still, the design provides a glimpse at how Apple can rethink even deeply established iPhone conventions when the shape of the device changes. When iPhone Duo reaches customers on October 23, the small circular area in the corner will be one of the most immediately visible examples: cellular strength, Wi-Fi, battery information, and other system details occupying a shared adaptive space instead of stretching across the display.

The post iPhone Duo status icon combines Wi-Fi, cellular, and battery information appeared first on AppleMagazine.

A new iPhone 17 can feel surprisingly messy after only a few days of downloading apps. Social media, shopping apps, games, work tools, streaming services and utilities can quickly turn the Home Screen into a collection of icons that takes longer to navigate than it should.

The good news is that you do not have to accept Apple’s default arrangement. You can move app icons, create folders, place apps on different Home Screen pages, hide pages you rarely use and decide where newly downloaded apps should appear.

More importantly, a well-organized iPhone 17 does not need to follow a complicated visual system. The best layout is the one that matches how you actually use your phone.

Start With the Apps You Use Every Day

Before moving anything, think about which apps you open without searching for them.

For many people, these might include Messages, Phone, Safari, Camera, Maps, Photos, Music, Mail or a frequently used social media app. These are the apps that deserve the easiest positions to reach.

Instead of arranging every icon alphabetically, consider giving your most-used apps the most convenient locations.

A simple approach is to keep essential apps on the first Home Screen and move less frequently used apps to later pages. This reduces visual clutter while keeping important functions immediately accessible.

Apple allows apps and widgets to be placed in different positions on a Home Screen, including along the top, bottom or sides of the display.

How to Move App Icons on iPhone 17

Moving an app is straightforward, but you can use the process to completely redesign your Home Screen.

Touch and hold an empty area of the Home Screen until the app icons begin to jiggle. You can then drag an app to a new position on the same page.

If you drag an app toward the edge of the display, you can move it to another Home Screen page. When you have finished arranging everything, tap the Home Screen background to exit editing mode.

A Better Way to Position Apps

Do not feel that every available space has to be filled.

You can deliberately leave areas open to make a wallpaper photo more visible or create a cleaner visual layout. Apple’s current Home Screen customization also allows users to change icon appearance, including light, dark, clear and tinted styles.

This means your iPhone 17 Home Screen can be both functional and visually organized.

Create Folders for Apps You Don’t Need Constantly

Folders are useful when you have several apps that belong to the same category.

To create one, enter Home Screen editing mode and drag one app directly onto another. iPhone will create a folder that can hold additional apps. You can then give the folder a name that makes sense to you.

Instead of creating dozens of folders, keep the categories broad.

For example:

• Social — Instagram, Facebook, Threads and similar apps
• Work — email, documents, cloud storage and meeting apps
• Shopping — Amazon, eBay and other shopping services
• Entertainment — Netflix, YouTube, Spotify and streaming apps
• Travel — airline, hotel, maps and transportation apps
• Games — games you play occasionally

The goal is not to create a perfect filing system. It is to make an app easier to find when you cannot remember exactly where you placed it.

Use the Dock for Your Most Important Apps

The Dock is valuable Home Screen space because it remains available while you move between Home Screen pages.

Think of it as your permanent quick-access area.

Rather than putting four apps there simply because they came with your previous phone, choose the apps you use repeatedly throughout the day.

For example, a practical setup could include:

Phone | Messages | Safari | Camera

Another user might prefer:

Messages | Maps | Music | Mail

There is no universal best Dock arrangement. Your usage habits should determine it.

Organize Home Screen Pages by Purpose

If you have a large number of apps, forcing everything onto one screen can make the iPhone 17 harder to use.

A better strategy is to give each page a purpose.

For example:

Page 1 — Daily use
Communication, browser, camera, maps and other essential apps.

Page 2 — Work and productivity
Email, notes, cloud storage, office apps, calendars and task managers.

Page 3 — Entertainment
Streaming, music, games and social media.

Page 4 — Occasional apps
Travel, shopping, finance, utilities and apps you rarely open.

Apple lets you reorder complete Home Screen pages, so you can put your most useful page first rather than rebuilding the entire layout from scratch.

Hide Home Screen Pages You Rarely Use

You may not need to delete apps simply because you do not want to see them every day.

If a page contains apps you rarely use, you can hide the entire Home Screen page while keeping the apps available through the App Library.

To manage your pages, touch and hold the Home Screen background, tap the page indicator near the bottom, and then select or deselect the pages you want visible.

Hidden pages can be brought back later.

This is particularly useful if you want a minimalist iPhone 17 Home Screen without removing apps you occasionally need.

Let the App Library Handle the Apps You Rarely Open

The App Library can take over some of the organizational work.

Swipe left past your Home Screen pages to reach it. iPhone automatically organizes installed apps into categories, while frequently used apps are positioned for easier access. You can also search for an app by name.

This creates an important distinction:

Home Screen = apps you want to see.

App Library = apps you want to keep.

Once you adopt this approach, you do not need to give every installed app a permanent position on the Home Screen.

Stop New Apps From Filling Your Home Screen

One of the easiest ways to keep your iPhone 17 organized is to control where new apps are installed.

Go to:

Settings → Home Screen & App Library

You can choose whether newly downloaded apps are added to the Home Screen or placed in the App Library only.

Choosing App Library Only can be useful if you regularly download apps but do not want every new installation to disturb your carefully arranged Home Screen.

You can still move an app from the App Library back to the Home Screen whenever you decide that it deserves a permanent place.

Build Your Layout Around How You Hold the iPhone

There is another detail that is easy to overlook: thumb reach.

If you usually operate your iPhone 17 with one hand, putting frequently used apps closer to the lower portion of the display can make them easier to reach.

You do not have to create a symmetrical Home Screen.

Place important apps where your thumb naturally lands. Put less important apps farther away or inside folders.

This approach is often more practical than copying a visually attractive Home Screen layout from someone else.

Use Widgets Without Letting Them Take Over

Widgets can provide useful information without opening an app, but adding too many can make the Home Screen harder to navigate.

Consider keeping only widgets that provide information you genuinely check.

Examples include:

• Weather
• Calendar
• Reminders
• Battery information
• Music
• Maps or travel information

Apple also allows Home Screen widgets and app icons to be customized together, including appearance and color options.

A useful rule is simple: if a widget does not save you time, remove it.

Try a Minimalist iPhone 17 Layout

If you want a cleaner Home Screen, you do not need dozens of folders.

One minimalist setup could look like this:

First page:
Your essential daily apps plus one or two useful widgets.

Second page:
Work, productivity and communication tools.

Third page:
Entertainment and social apps.

Everything else:
App Library.

This arrangement keeps the first screen useful without requiring you to constantly reorganize icons.

What If Your Home Screen Becomes a Mess?

You do not have to manually move hundreds of icons back into place.

iPhone includes an option to reset the Home Screen layout. According to Apple, resetting the Home Screen removes folders and places downloaded apps alphabetically after the apps that came with the iPhone.

You can find this option under:

Settings → General → Transfer or Reset iPhone → Reset → Reset Home Screen Layout

Use this carefully, because it is a reset rather than a temporary rearrangement.

The Best iPhone 17 Home Screen Is the One You Don’t Have to Think About

There is no single perfect app arrangement for the iPhone 17.

The most useful setup is usually based on three principles:

Keep frequently used apps close.

Move occasional apps into folders or the App Library.

Keep the first Home Screen simple enough to navigate instantly.

Once your apps are arranged around your actual habits rather than their download order, the iPhone 17 becomes easier to use. You spend less time searching through pages and more time getting directly to the feature or app you need.

If your Home Screen starts becoming crowded again, do not reorganize everything from scratch. Move the apps you use most often back to the front, hide unnecessary pages and let the App Library handle everything else.

That makes Home Screen organization an ongoing system rather than a one-time cleanup job.

The post How to Arrange App Icons on iPhone 17: The Ultimate Home Screen Organization Guide appeared first on IGeeKphone China Phone, Tablet PC, VR, RC Drone News, Reviews.

For 35 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has looked out into the Universe. Now, Lego is inviting builders to look inward with its latest model of the orbiting observatory.

The new Lego Icons Hubble Space Telescope (set no. 11382) was released on August 1 for $140 at the toy company's stores and its online shop. The 1,252-piece kit builds a 15-inch-long (38-cm) desktop model that is about twice as large as the previously released Lego Hubble models.

The Icons Hubble is the first to be sized in comparison to a Lego minifigure, such that the included astronaut provides a sense of scale for the telescope.

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© LEGO

Safari web apps give frequently used websites many of the qualities normally associated with installed software. A site can receive its own icon, open outside the regular Safari tab interface and appear alongside native apps on supported Apple devices.

The feature is useful for services that do not offer an App Store download, websites used throughout the workday and online tools that feel crowded when surrounded by unrelated browser tabs.

A Safari web app remains a website rather than becoming native Apple software. Its capabilities, interface and offline behavior depend on how the site was developed. Safari supplies the app-like container, while the website continues providing the actual service.

The experience also differs across Apple devices. iPhone and iPad place web apps on the Home Screen, while Mac saves them as separate applications that can open from the Dock, Spotlight or Applications folder.

Safari Web Apps Are More Than Bookmarks

A traditional bookmark saves an address inside Safari. Selecting it opens the page in a normal browser tab with the rest of the browsing session.

A Safari web app creates a more focused entry point. Its icon appears with installed apps, and opening it produces a separate app window or full-screen interface without the usual collection of Safari tabs.

This distinction is particularly valuable for communication tools, project dashboards, streaming services, publications and business systems. A user can switch to the website through the App Switcher, Dock or Spotlight instead of locating the correct Safari window and tab.

Web apps can also support notifications and icon badges when the website provides those features. On iPhone and iPad, supported notifications can appear on the Lock Screen, in Notification Center and on a paired Apple Watch.

The site still controls the quality of the experience. A website designed as a progressive web app may include responsive navigation, offline resources, custom icons and carefully defined window behavior. A basic website may simply open inside a cleaner Safari frame.

How to Create Safari Web Apps on iPhone

Current iPhone software includes an Open as Web App option when adding a website to the Home Screen.

To create one:

1. Open the website in Safari
2. Tap the More button and choose Share. Depending on the selected Safari layout, the Share button may already be visible beside the address field
3. Scroll down and select Add to Home Screen
4. Edit the displayed name if necessary
5. Turn on Open as Web App
6. Tap Add

The new icon appears on the iPhone Home Screen. Selecting it opens the site separately from the main Safari interface, and the web app can be closed through the App Switcher like other iPhone apps.

If Add to Home Screen is missing from the Share menu, scroll to the bottom, select Edit Actions and add it to the available actions.

The chosen name should be short enough to remain recognizable below the icon. Safari may use an icon supplied by the website. When a suitable image is unavailable, the generated icon may use a simplified site image or monogram.

How to Create Safari Web Apps on iPad

The iPad process is similar, although the Share menu reflects the larger Safari interface.

Open the desired website, select Share, choose More if required and tap Add to Home Screen. Turn on Open as Web App before selecting Add.

The resulting icon appears on the iPad where it was created. It can be organized into Home Screen folders and opened through iPad search like other applications.

An iPad web app can be especially useful for browser-based writing tools, office systems, inventory dashboards and educational platforms. Removing the tab bar gives the website more room and makes it easier to use beside another app.

Whether the web app supports multiple windows, external displays or advanced iPad multitasking depends on its design and the capabilities exposed through Safari. Installing a website does not automatically give it every feature available to a native iPad app.

Safari Web Apps Work Differently on Mac

Apple introduced its current Mac web app system with macOS Sonoma 14. Any webpage can be saved as a web app without requiring the website developer to distribute a Mac application.

To create one, open the page in Safari and choose File > Add to Dock. The same command is available through Safari’s Share button.

Safari displays the proposed name and icon before saving the app. After confirmation, the web app appears in the Dock and Spotlight Applications. Its application file is placed inside the Applications folder located in the user’s Home folder.

A Mac web app receives its own window and menu-bar identity. It uses a simplified toolbar containing navigation and sharing controls rather than Safari’s complete tab and bookmark interface.

The web app can remain in the Dock, run automatically as a login item and participate in normal macOS window management. It can also be opened through Spotlight without launching a visible Safari window first.

Mac Web Apps Keep Browsing Separate

A Mac web app operates independently from ordinary Safari browsing. Apple says it does not share ongoing browsing history, cookies, website data or settings with Safari.

When the web app is first created, Safari can preserve an existing website sign-in in many cases. Activity after that point remains inside the web app’s separate data container.

This separation resembles using a dedicated Safari profile, but the web app is even more focused. Searching, following links and changing accounts inside it do not add those pages to the normal Safari history.

The arrangement can be helpful when the same service is used for work and personal accounts. Separate web apps can create clearer boundaries, although account behavior still depends on the website.

Isolation can also explain an unexpected sign-in request. A person may already be authenticated in Safari but encounter a separate session after creating, resetting or reinstalling the web app.

Mac Settings Allow More Control

Mac web apps include settings that are unavailable to ordinary Home Screen bookmarks.

Open the web app, select its name in the menu bar and choose Settings. The application name, starting address and icon can be changed without recreating the app.

Navigation controls can be shown or hidden. Hiding them creates a cleaner appearance for a dashboard that rarely leaves its main page, while displaying them makes sense for sites with deeper navigation.

The title bar can adopt colors supplied by the website. This helps distinguish several installed services but can be disabled when a consistent Mac appearance is preferred.

The Privacy section controls access to the camera, microphone, screen and location. Website data can also be cleared from this area without deleting normal Safari data.

Compatible Safari extensions can be enabled separately for the web app. This prevents every active Safari extension from automatically affecting a focused work tool.

Notifications Make Websites Feel Like Apps

A supported website can request notification permission after it becomes a web app.

On iPhone and iPad, web push notifications use Apple’s notification system. They can appear on the Lock Screen, inside Notification Center and on a paired Apple Watch. They also respond to Focus settings.

Websites must request permission after a direct user action, such as selecting a notification or subscription button. Simply adding a site to the Home Screen does not automatically authorize alerts.

Supported sites can place a count on the Home Screen icon through web badging. This may represent unread messages, pending tasks or new articles, depending on the service.

Mac web apps can send notifications and display unread badges on their Dock icons. Permission should be granted from inside the web app rather than through the same site in Safari if the alerts are intended to belong to the installed app.

Each web app appears by its chosen name in Apple’s notification settings. Alerts, sounds, badges and preview behavior can then be controlled much like those of downloaded software.

Web Apps Do Not Automatically Work Offline

An installed icon does not mean the website has been downloaded completely.

Most web apps continue to require an internet connection because their pages, account data and services remain on remote servers. If the connection disappears, the app may show an error or only display information already stored temporarily.

Websites designed for offline use can cache interface elements and selected content through supported web technologies. The developer decides what remains available without a connection and how changes synchronize later.

This makes offline behavior inconsistent between sites. One writing service may continue editing disconnected documents, while another cannot move beyond its sign-in page.

Anyone depending on a web app during travel should test it in Airplane Mode before assuming that important information will remain accessible.

Links Can Return to Safari

Links belonging to the same website usually remain inside the web app when they fall within its intended navigation area.

External links may open in Safari because they lead beyond the web app’s domain or configured scope. Authentication systems, payment providers and support pages can also move temporarily into a browser window.

This behavior protects the focused identity of the web app. A project-management tool does not need to become a complete browser simply because a task contains a news link.

A poorly configured website may open more links externally than expected. That behavior is generally controlled by the site rather than by a Safari setting available to the user.

Safari Web Apps Do Not Sync Automatically

A web app icon appears only on the Apple device where it was created.

Adding a website to an iPhone Home Screen does not install the same web app on an iPad or Mac, even when every device uses the same Apple Account. Each installation must be created separately.

Safari bookmarks, Reading List items and open tabs can synchronize through iCloud, but web app installations remain local. Mac settings and custom icons also do not automatically transfer to another Mac.

This local behavior allows each device to maintain a different collection. A detailed analytics dashboard may belong on a Mac and iPad, while a compact travel service may only need an iPhone icon.

Removing a Web App Leaves the Website Available

On iPhone or iPad, touch and hold the web app icon and select the removal option. Deleting the icon does not cancel the website account or remove the service from the internet.

A Mac web app can be deleted by opening the Applications folder inside the user’s Home folder and moving the app to the Trash. Removing it from the Dock alone only removes the shortcut.

Website data may remain until it is cleared through the web app’s privacy settings or removed with the app, depending on the platform and current software behavior.

Saved documents stored exclusively by the online service remain subject to that service’s account and retention policies. Removing the web app should not be treated as deleting information held by the website.

Apple Vision Pro Uses a Different Safari Model

Safari on Apple Vision Pro can open multiple spatial windows, synchronize bookmarks and tabs through iCloud, save pages to Reading List and place separate browser windows around the user’s space.

Apple’s current Vision Pro guide does not provide the same Add to Home Screen or Add to Dock installation process documented for iPhone, iPad and Mac.

A website can still feel application-like inside its own Safari window, particularly when positioned as a persistent part of a workspace. That does not make it an installed Home View app.

Apple Watch also does not provide a general Safari web app installation system. It can, however, display supported notifications sent by an iPhone Home Screen web app.

Choose the Starting Page Carefully

A Safari web app opens from a defined starting address, making the selected page important.

Installing a service from its general homepage may produce an app that repeatedly opens promotional content or a sign-in screen. Creating it while viewing an inbox, dashboard, calendar or project page can provide a faster route to the area used every day.

Mac users can change the Application URL later through the web app settings or use Set to Current Page after navigating to a better starting location.

The most effective Safari web apps begin where the work actually happens. A publication can open directly to its latest articles, a company tool can start on its task board and a cloud service can lead to the folder used most often.

That small choice determines whether the icon functions as another website shortcut or becomes an app-like destination that removes several steps from a repeated Apple device workflow.

The post Safari Web Apps Turn Websites Into Apple Device Apps appeared first on AppleMagazine.

Bruno Brito (release notes):

In Tower 15, we introduced the “Fully Merged” badge and Automatic Branch Management to help you keep your repository tidy. With Tower 17, we’re taking the detection behind that badge to a whole new level. […] Tower now matches your local branches against merged pull requests from your hosting service, such as GitHub or GitLab.

[…]

Trust is everything when deleting branches — so we redesigned the “Fully Merged” hint view to show you exactly which checks matched.

[…]

One that is particularly noteworthy is that updating submodules is now significantly faster! Tower gathers each submodule's Git data concurrently instead of one at a time—something you will especially notice in repositories with many submodules.

I’m sad that they got rid of the yellow icon.

Previously:

• Git Tower 16

Paul Kafasis:

With last year’s release of MacOS 26 (Tahoe), Apple made a mess of app icons. In the first betas of MacOS 27 (Golden Gate), however, there are signs of a turnaround. We’re urging Apple to continue making improvements, by restoring the ability for MacOS app icons to have distinct shapes.

[…]

After decades of beautiful, memorable Mac icons in varying shapes, Tahoe flattened personality to obtain bland uniformity. The platform is worse for it.

Past icons weren’t just more expressive. They were also more usable. Having distinct shapes provided a useful way to tell icons apart. Tahoe eliminates that cue by forcing everything into the same squircle, leaving color as the primary way to tell icons apart at a glance.

Jason Snell:

Kafasis makes the important point that uniform shapes make it more difficult for users, especially those with vision issues including color deficiency, to differentiate between icons.

John Siracusa:

Squircle Jail is the worst design-related thing Apple has ever done to Mac developers, and probably the worst icon-related thing it has ever done, period. Incredibly developer-hostile.

If squircled icons are actually better, then let that design win in the market. That’s how we transitioned from the classic Mac OS icon style to the more photorealistic Mac OS X icon style. Developers adopted it because they wanted to, and because users desired it.

John Gruber (Mastodon):

The squircles, I will point out, are not in and of themselves the problem. The problem would be the same with any mandated shape, like, e.g., VisionOS’s circles.

[…]

I can’t think of any other design crime Apple has ever foisted on Mac developers that I’d argue (with Siracusa) was worse.

[…]

It’s like Apple decided every single one of its own apps must wear a stupid-looking hat, and they put those stupid-looking hats on third-party apps too, whether the developers of those apps want them or not. Scratch that. Not hats but helmets.

[…]

Just the mere silhouette of the old Keynote icon is more recognizable, and thus more iconic, than any icon on any platform from Apple today.

Jeff Johnson:

The traffic sign analogy hits me personally, because the StopTheMadness icon used to be shaped like a stop sign, but I was practically forced into making it a generic road sign.

Gus Mueller:

I get why Apple did it, but I think it’s completely wrong for the Mac.

Marcin Wichary:

On his blog, Jim Nielsen writes how Apple filed away so much expression by forcing rigid icon bureaucracy in macOS. Nielsen focuses mostly on distinctiveness; previously, you could make the icon unique by its general shape or the shape of its contents, but one of these two levers has now been taken away[…]

[…]

However, one also can’t help but notice how ugly and amateurish the Creator Studio icons are, so it all feels absolutely like a net negative – the new system took something away and the proposed replacement feels low quality[…]

Rui Carmo:

I, too, find the squircles aesthetically offensive and utterly pointless.

[…]

The part that genuinely breaks my brain, though, is that I now find icons on Linux more distinctive than on macOS, which would be impossible for my ten-year-ago self to believe. The platform that built its reputation on craft and visual identity has spent a year sanding it off, while the one everyone used to mock for its inconsistency is where individuality survives.

Jeff Johnson:

The subliminal, Orwellian message of the squircle jail is that all software is subservient to Apple, merely accessories to Apple devices, interchangeable cogs in the machine.

Mario Guzmán:

Had to grab the rest of the icons from #MacOSX Leopard. Gosh, they’re so, so pretty. So finely crafted. Gorgeous. Love it.

Dr. Drang:

I agree, but Apple’s 50th anniversary has gotten me thinking a lot lately about the early days of the Mac, so it’s only natural that my mind shifted to the highly constrained icons Mac applications had back then.

[…]

Many of the complaints about squircle jail are about the loss of icon elements that “stick out” from the rest of the design. As you can see, this idea was there from the very start; the hands stick out from the tilted rectangles.

John Gruber:

I never loved the hand on these icons. It felt too uniform. It functioned like a “this is an application” badge, but such a badge never felt necessary to me.

[…]

I think it’s less that Apple gave up on them and more that it came into focus that the “hand holding a pen over a diamond-shaped document” convention was intended for document-based apps. It signified “This is a creative tool that you use to create documents”. Apps that weren’t about creating document files — like Disk First Aid and Font/DA Mover — got different icons. Font/DA Mover’s truck icon in System 2 signified that you use this tool to move things. Disk First Aid’s ambulance was an obvious metaphor for repairing something unwell.

[…]

But the main thing about the “hand holding pen over diamond” convention was that it was only ever a convention.

John Gruber (Mastodon):

(a) I don’t think this is a good mandate for iOS either;

(b) it was always so for iOS, though, so it’s not like Apple has ever taken away rich creative icon shapes on the platform;

(c) MacOS is a far richer and more precise environment than iOS.

[…]

App icons on the iOS home screen are effectively simple buttons. I think it’s rather obvious that’s why they have had that squircle/roundsquare shape ever since the iPhone was announced in January 2007 (source). They’re one-tap launchers. App icons in MacOS are not mere buttons. You can drag them, move them, and drop things on them. You click them to select, and double-click to launch. They are richer objects that deserve a richer visual vocabulary. iOS is a world meant for fat-tipped Magic Markers and blunt safety scissors. MacOS is a world meant to support fine-tipped drafting pens and precision razor-sharp X-ACTO knives.

Louie Mantia (Mastodon):

While developers have submitted full-bleed square images for iOS app icons since 2008, for these new squircle icons in macOS 11, Apple provided a template to compose app icons in an image editing tool like Photoshop, with full control over the canvas beyond the suggested—but not required—squircle. This template made it easy-ish for designers to compose macOS app icons that were identical to or synonymous with an iOS app icon, while leaving the door open to continue using arbitrarily-shaped app icons on macOS.

[…]

The second type of Squircle Jail is more controversial, because these app icons were specifically drawn with the intention of fitting in. Overriding that intention feels like punishment for having done the right thing. App icons in a style that was recently encouraged by the system are now scaled down and put inside the squircle as if it were a container. Every icon that was utilizing the previous squircle shape suddenly looks much worse than before.

[…]

Instead of taking care to design and develop solutions specifically for Mac and iPhone, newer and bigger companies that don’t only make apps often ship apps with logo icons, rather than app icons. We’ve all seen it.

[…]

I would love if Apple provided a way for designers to poke outside that squircle boundary. Some of my favorite app icons did that. But also some of my least-favorite app icons ignored this shape entirely, when it was used for every system icon in the last five years. Whenever those apps showed up in my Dock, it was like a stain on my shirt I couldn’t get out.

John Gruber:

Ultimately this is what I object to with the squircle mandate. It favors the bottom of the heap by restricting the top. It makes bad icons mediocre but pushes great icons toward mediocrity too. That’s not The Macintosh Way.

Nick Heer:

Mantia touches on all the pragmatic reasons to unify the shape of icons in an operating system, all of which I have considered, and then drops the above paragraphs — and things started to make more sense to me. This is a different way to think about it. This is not a situation where a cleaner looks like a zesty beverage with toxic consequences. The shared general function of these icons does help communicate something and makes them less ambiguous in that sense.

But a broad category of functionality is only part of the story of an icon and — with respect to Mantia’s long and illustrious history of work in this area, and that of co-Parakeeter Luka Grafera — taking away a difference of shape also limits what an icon can communicate. It may not be a cleaning product that looks and is packaged like juice, but imagine if every consumable liquid was in identical bottles with only a different label.

Steve Troughton-Smith:

Louie’s squircle jail post just underscores that the squircle jail benefits 99% of apps, and is better for the platform overall. There is only ever a handful of apps that make great Mac app icons, and a withering number of ‘great Mac app icon designers’ — you can probably only name one or two left in the scene.

Jeff Johnson:

Mantia talks as if it were more important for apps to “belong to the Dock” than to allow Dock users to quickly select the right app in the list. That’s choosing form over functionality.

“The shape of apps is a squircle.” But Mac users already knew those were apps in the Dock!

See also: Accidental Tech Podcast.

Tyler Hall:

If you’re lucky enough to distribute an app outside the Mac App Store, you can break free of squircle jail using NSDockTilePlugIn. It’s not strictly the intended use-case of that API. And it’s not allowed in the Mac App Store, either. But it can solve the problem.

BasicAppleGuy:

If you recognize these icons, it’s probably time to schedule your routine back exam.

Previously:

• Clear and Tinted Icons Are a Hard Pass
• Liquid Glass 27 Icons
• Apple Creator Studio Icons
• Tahoe’s Terrible Icons
• One Size Does Not Fit All
• macOS Tahoe 26 Developer Beta 4
• macOS Tahoe’s New Theming System
• macOS Tahoe 26 Announced
• The macOS App Icon Book

Update (2026-07-17): Louie Mantia:

But my perspective right now is to be very pragmatic. The decision to mask all icons with squircles is a long-time coming. It was perhaps the most predictable thing to happen in Apple’s history. For 20 years, it’s been leading up to this.

I want to make nice things for macOS, whatever macOS is. And this is what it is.

Roger Wong:

Some of my favorite icons over the years have had interesting shapes, like the truck for Transmit, the vise for Compressor, or the cute bird for Twitteriffic.

[…]

But I also recall clicking some icons and not being able to select them. Why? Because I was inaccurate in my click and instead my cursor landed in the empty space just outside the shape.

[…]

If I recall correctly, developers could use a different mask for the click target to help users out. But I don’t think many did all the time, including Apple, which you can obviously see in the video above.

Louie Mantia:

I don’t want to step on toes regarding your new [StopTheMadness] icon which has great color— but I don’t understand why you elected to abandon the octagon as the outer shape. That’s a choice. You are not forced to abandon it. Why not do something like this?

I like this.

Nick Heer:

Losing some of the artistry in an icon makes it more difficult to distinguish between legitimate and well-crafted Mac apps, and everything else. It is not a perfect proxy, to be sure, and there are some very nice squircle icons. But it is nevertheless a unfortunate change that makes apps of varying levels of quality look more similar.

Adam Engst:

Of the TidBITS readers who chose to respond to the poll, only 1% said they use clear icons on the Mac, and no one admitted to using tinted icons. On the iPhone, clear icons were twice as popular—a whopping 2%—and just 1% of respondents said they use tinted icons. Dark icons, which retain color, were slightly more popular, but still couldn’t exceed single digits, with 6% on the Mac and 9% on the iPhone.

Squircle Jail is one thing; redesigning icons to be assembled within Icon Composer is another. The latter makes a lot less sense but for supporting clear and tinted icons.

Previously:

• Golden Gate Squircle Jail
• Icon Composer Notes
• macOS Tahoe’s New Theming System

Brent Simmons:

• The Current Activity window shows what the app is doing right now
• The Activity Log window shows what the app did recently
• The Account Stats window shows per-account article and status counts and database sizes, and it includes a Vacuum Databases button which can help with database size and performance
• The Dinosaurs window lists feeds that haven’t updated in n months (with a text field where you specify n)

It’s great to have more visibility into what the app is doing. I was about to report a regression where Mastodon and some other favicons were pixellated, but this was quickly fixed in 7.1.1.

Previously:

• NetNewsWire 7.0.4

Wesley Hilliard:

macOS Tahoe threw an icon on every menu item, making them impossible to distinguish at a glance. macOS Golden Gate has rectified that design taboo with blessedly iconless menus.

Apple:

In macOS 27.0, menu bar and context menus present a reduced set of menu item images, similar to the behavior prior to macOS 26.0. By default, NSMenu hides all menu item symbol images — non-symbol images remain visible. For menu items created from a xib file, NSMenu also observes the value of the “macOS 26.0 only” checkbox in the menu item inspector. If this checkbox is unchecked, the menu item image remains visible; if checked, it is hidden. These changes in menu item image visibility apply to applications linked on macOS 26.0 and later. Review the updated Human Interface Guidelines to determine which menu items in your app should still display images. Use the new preferredImageVisibility property on NSMenuItem to customize the image visibility for your menu items. As in macOS 26.0, NSMenu automatically provides default visible menu item images for certain common system-wide menu items, such as Settings, Share, and Print.

Joachim Kurtz:

„Icons in menus are now hidden by default“ and you can specifically enable them to draw attention to the most important actions.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a great change! But to take a full year and your lead designer leaving to figure out that this was a mistake… woof…

Dominik Wagner:

I like that Menu Icons now are hidden by default again on macOS - Quite a lot of concessions towards liquid glass being the wrong move last year. Takes courage to take so many steps back, literally. I’m appreciating that. Even if they present it as improvements rather than “undo” - that’s just what one has to do for marketing.

Previously:

• macOS Golden Gate 27 Announced
• Icons in Menus Everywhere
• WWDC 2026 Keynote

Update (2026-06-11): John Gruber (Mastodon, Hacker News, MacRumors):

Wonderful news in MacOS 27 Golden Gate: the icons are gone. It’s like Tahoe’s menu item icons never happened. Prokopov noted it on Mastodon with before and after screenshots, and mentions that Apple has updated the Human Interface Guidelines accordingly[…]

[…]

This is my favorite news from all of WWDC this week.

Marcin Wichary:

Kudos to Nielsen and Prokopov for pushing on this and explaining the problem so well. This wasn’t about ugly icons. This was about improper use and misunderstanding of iconography.

Our poll results are in: virtually no TidBITS readers use clear or tinted icons on the Mac or the iPhone. But the real issue isn’t color—it’s that Apple’s mandatory squircle shape strips icons of their distinctive personalities, making them harder to differentiate.