Adaptivity

Adaptivity

Visualise Size Classes, Layout Margins, Readable Content Guide, Safe Area Layout Guide and more.

Adaptivity - Hacknicity



Introduction

Adaptivity

Adaptivity is an invaluable tool for developers and designers. Use it to visualise how Size Classes and margins for layout, readable content and the safe area look on real devices and how they change with respect to orientation, iPad multitasking and Dynamic Type size changes. A comprehensive System Images browser shows the different SF Symbols data sets across iOS versions with availability, localization and name change information. There are also views for visualising Dynamic Type styles, System Colors, System Fonts and System Materials.

There are four versions of Adaptivity:

  • Adaptivity (A) is the full version and supports iPad and iPhone.
  • Adaptivity (B) has reduced features and supports iPad and iPhone.
  • Adaptivity (​C) has the same reduced features as Adaptivity (B) but only supports iPhone. Use it to visualise how an iPhone‑only app appears when run on iPad.
  • Adaptivity (A) for Mac is a version of Adaptivity (A) built with Apple’s Mac Catalyst technology. Some iOS-specific features are unavailable.

Adaptivity (A) includes Table View Controller, Double and Triple Column style Split View Controller, Keyboard Dodging and Custom Keyboard, Safe Area Layout Guide, Pointer Interaction, System Colors, System Fonts, System Images, System Materials, Keyboard shortcuts, Keyboard navigation, Home Screen Quick Actions, Siri shortcut, Handoff support, External display support, Widgets, Notification Content Extension, Watch App and iMessage App.

Adaptivity (A) supports multiple windows on iPadOS 13 or later. On earlier versions, Adaptivity (B) must also be downloaded to run Adaptivity twice using Split View or Slide Over iPad multitasking.

Adaptivity (A) is a universal purchase and includes the Mac Catalyst version of the app. Buying one allows the other to be downloaded at no extra cost using the same Apple ID. More information on the Mac version can be found here.

I hope you find Adaptivity useful. If you have any questions or comments please use the support mail address in the Contact section of this web page, or send me mail directly from the Settings->Send me Feedback section in the app.

Testimonials

Sean Allen showcased four indie apps, including Adaptivity, in his Indie Dev Apps video (starting at 4m26s), 12th April 2020:

“This is an amazing tool for developers.”

“I’m not trying to spend your money, but to me this is a no-brainer.”

Gui Rambo and John Sundell discussed Adaptivity during the Indie Support Weeks segment of episode 77 of the Stracktrace podcast (starting at 42m42s), 1st April 2020:

Gui: “It’s a very, very good tool as a reference for both developers and designers…”

John: “Yeah, it’s super useful and I also love that it provides a very quick answer to those really common questions that you get from designers…”

Paul Hudson, creator of Hacking with Swift’s 8 essential apps for iOS developers, 30th March 2020:

“Adaptivity is not just highly recommended – it’s essential.”

Federico Viticci, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of MacStories.net’s Must-Have Apps, 2019 Edition, 23rd January 2020:

“Adaptivity has saved me hours of work I would have spent reading through Apple’s documentation or finding ways to describe concepts that are much better explained with screenshots. Adaptivity lets me visualize iOS’ latest design changes, and it plays an essential role in the making of my iOS reviews every year.”

A selection of App Store reviews for Adaptivity (A):

★★★★★ Essential Tool
This honestly is the most essential tool for every iOS developer. It is my go to reference for all system defaults and I think it should be linked from the official apple documentation.
— Simonnickel, Germany.

★★★★★ Only batteries are not included!
The developer seems to have thought of everything I could think of, and some I’d not, to provide configuration information dynamically for your iOS and iPadOS apps. It’s SO much more useful than dry, static dimension figures - this shows you right there and then on the device you’re using. Excellent.
— KiltedGreen, United Kingdom.

★★★★★ Instant buy
Great app, essential resource.
— sdt33, United States.

★★★★★ Such a great tool
I use this app all the time. It’s a great way to easily see standard layouts on a real device. Invaluable!
— rcope, United States.

★★★★★ A must have for developers!
This tool is invaluable, and all developers should check it out! It’s super helpful to be able to check out SFSymbols on the fly, and test different system materials against your custom backgrounds.
— DuraidAbdul, Canada.

Main Features

Safe Area
  • Visualise full view, layout margins, readable content and safe area layout guides.
  • Sizes displayed in points or pixels.
  • Regular or large navigation bar titles.
  • Toggle status bar and navigation bar / toolbar / tab bar visibility.
  • Activity View Controller support for sharing a snapshot image of each view.
  • iPad multitasking and, on iPadOS 13 or later, multiple window support.
  • Dark appearance support (requires iOS/iPadOS 13 or later).
  • Setting to force right-to-left layout.
  • Handoff actions from Adaptivity (A), (B) or (⁠C) on one device to Adaptivity (A) on another.
  • External display support.

Table View Controller

Table View Table View Configuration
  • Explore standard table view cell layouts.
  • Configurable table view style, cell style, image size, text lengths and more.

Other Views

Form Sheet Keyboard
  • Popover, Form/Page Sheet, Full Screen and Automatic modal presentations.
  • Customise Sheet Presentations on iOS/iPadOS 15 or later.
  • Keyboard Dodging and Custom Keyboard.
  • Split View Controller and Tab Bar Controller.

Pointer Interaction

Pointer Interaction
  • Explore iPadOS pointer interactions (requires iPadOS 13.4 or later).
  • Configurable UIButton pointerStyleProvider.
  • Configurable custom Pointer Style, Pointer Effect and Pointer Shape.
  • Configurable Pointer Accessories on iPadOS 15 or later.

Dynamic Type

Dynamic Type Choose Dynamic Type Font
  • Dynamic Type styles for the current Content Size Category.
  • On iOS/iPadOS 13 or later, view the four system font designs (default, rounded, serif and monospaced), other built-in fonts, and custom fonts installed by font provider apps.
  • On iOS/iPadOS 16 or later, view the five system font widths (standard, condensed, compressed, expanded and extra expanded).

System Colors

System Colors System Color Detail
  • Explore System Colors.
  • Semantic colors and light/dark appearance (requires iOS/iPadOS 13 or later).

System Fonts

System Fonts System Font Detail
  • Explore System Fonts (requires iOS/iPadOS 13 or later) and their weights at different sizes.
  • View the four system font designs (default, rounded, serif and monospaced), other built-in fonts, and custom fonts installed by font provider apps.
  • View the five system font widths (standard, condensed, compressed, expanded and extra expanded) on iOS/iPadOS 16 or later.

System Images

System Images System Image Detail
  • Explore System Images (requires iOS/iPadOS 13 or later).
  • Images are grouped into categories and ordered as in Apple’s SF Symbols Mac app.
  • Choose between viewing the different SF Symbol data sets, the custom social media images from Icons8, or the custom SF Feathers images from Niels Boey.
  • Select different render modes, configure colors and, on iOS/iPadOS 16 or later, use Variable Color.
  • Mark images as favorites and see all your favorites grouped together in a single collection.
  • Create your own custom collections of images.
  • Restricted images are clearly identified.
  • Optional annotation to show image size, aspect ratio, optical centre and baseline.
  • Optional annotations to show iOS version availability or identify favorite, restricted and localized images.
  • Where available, view language or right-to-left localizations for an image.
  • View image at different weights, scales and a choice of text styles.

System Materials

System Materials Light System Materials Dark
  • Explore System Materials and Vibrancy Effects (requires iOS/iPadOS 13 or later).
  • Adaptive, Always-Light and Always-Dark blur effects.
  • Customisable background image.

Right-to-Left Layout

System Colors Right-to-Left System Images Right-to-Left
  • Setting to force the app into a right-to-left layout.
  • Leading/trailing margins, constraints and user interface components are reversed.
  • Navigation controller pushes view controllers from the left. Back button is on the right.
  • Some System Images become wholly or partly reversed.

Extension Targets

Siri Shortcut Widgets
  • Siri shortcut with custom response UI (requires iOS 12 or later).
  • Pre- and post-iOS 14 style Widgets to show layout.
  • iOS 14 style Widgets to show random System Images.
  • iOS 14 style Widgets to show Dynamic Type text styles.
  • iOS 16 lock screen Widgets to show layout.
  • iOS 16 lock screen Widgets to show random System Images.
  • Notification Content Extension.
  • Watch App (requires watchOS 4 or later).
  • iMessage App.

User Guide

The User Guide provides a reference for Adaptivity.

Privacy Policy

The Privacy Policy page describes the privacy policy for Adaptivity.

Version History

The Version History page provides a version history for Adaptivity.