Stephen Lemay's human interface design (HID) great leadership begins

[RockRock8]

I haven't criticized iOS 26 (because I love it), but there is a brand new, sudden change that was released in iOS 26.3 that made me very, very excited and is a great and positive improvement in UI/UX, even if I was okay with the previous.

Apple had been replacing clear symbol buttons with distinct functions, and instead putting a lot of functions into a "..." circular More button on every app previously

Until Now. in iOS 26.3, this begins in changing that design philosophy. A brand new button that is distinct in purpose and explicit in explanation.

This button is in the Share Sheet. The "..." More gives way to a new design:
a circular button with a downwards arrow that says "View More"

Upon press, the modal view instantly expands and shows a variety of functions, with the aforementioned button now showing an upwards arrow, which allows you to reverse that and collapse the expanded view when not needed, with clear and fast function.

This was not present in any of the betas as far as I can tell.

I am really, really happy about this. Very excited. What I love about Apple's spatial OS is how few "..." More buttons there are. A lot of them are replaced with dedicated buttons that explain what they do, even if it is a more menu.

This is a great, positive improvement that is the result of Stephen Lemay's new HID leadership. Great improvements that are iterated on quickly and intelligently, shipped in a blink of an eye reliably and in high quality. It is very Apple what just happened.

This was encased by over a rumored 1,300 updated binaries in iOS 26.3 (source: OneJailbreak) that improves nearly every single subsystem. A lot of users on social media are praising 26.3 for increased performance over previous (my observations anyways).

You can see a full video (that's way more thorough than any other YouTuber, I've checked) of 26.3 showcasing this change and more!

One more thing: Stephen Lemay and the rest of Apple loves liquid glass and worked on it. This has been repeatedly said by them. Don't expect them to revert on a controversial yet forward thinking design, instead to fix and improve upon stuff like this.

Time / video:

2 minutes 10 seconds (for the button)

 

[Cmaier]

I expect a lot of changes in the next year. Lemay is going to revert to fundamental UX principles, presumably while keeping the liquid glass look and feel. But there are lots of things that can be done to improve discoverability, legibility, etc.

 

[RockRock8]

Another change noted in the video (beyond the button and binary changes rumored by OneJailbreak) is Maps app got a new navigation upgrade. Now in addition to your current directions, you get upcoming turns as well underneath, which is also nice too!

I expect a lot of changes in the next year. Lemay is going to revert to fundamental UX principles, presumably while keeping the liquid glass look and feel. But there are lots of things that can be done to improve discoverability, legibility, etc.

Well... I'll say this:
I think what his leadership is v.s. what social media may want might be two different things; and that the former (his leadership) aligns with what consumers actually want (read:record sales) vs the latter (social media's haphazard opinion) which almost never aligns with what the consumer wants

I'll use this example: Purportedly (according to John Gruber... so... take that with what you will) he was in charge of iPad's multitasking Split View feature ever since it was created (in 2015 I think). Stephen did not agree with shoehorning Mac's GUI system into the iPad, but eventually since people bitched enough for so long they invented a multitasking system reminiscent of it while still being iPad.

I personally agree with Stephen Lemay's philosophy and invention, but social media bitched. I mean this to say that a few might still disagree with what Apple makes. I guess that would suck for them. I don't give a shit. I'm excited, because he has clear talent and is very Steve Jobs like in design

Another example that I can confirm he worked on through an article I read was the Apple Pencil, and all the cool stuff it can do, including the feature where it shows a very realistic shadow of whatever input tool you chose (a fountain pen shadow, an eraser, marker, etc.) I thought that was such an amazing feature and so Apple in its philosophy and execution (as always).

You can read that interview:

The creation of Pencil Pro and iPad Pro: an inside look with Apple designers

In a conversation with Domus, Apple explain how its thinnest product ever was conceveid and why the Apple Pencil Pro strikes the perfect balance between product, interaction, and UI design.

www.domusweb.it

« L'iPad est une feuille de verre magique » rencontre avec l'équipe design d'Apple

À Cupertino, l'Apple Design Studio, un grand espace collaboratif anciennement dirigé par Jonathan Ive, imagine et fabrique les produits Apple de demain. Molly Anderson et Steve Lemay, deux des inventeurs du dernier iPad Pro, racontent à Numerama les coulisses du projet. L'Apple Design Studio est...

www.numerama.com