Apple has created a guidelines document for third-party manufacturers who want to create their own MagSafe accessories for the iPhone 12.

It contains specific guidance, such as the fact that MagSafe cases must have a a maximum thickness of 2.1mm, and should be capable of clinging on securely to an iPhone without necessarily having to rely on the magnets to do so.

Thanks to iOS 14’s new widgets, seemingly everyone is redesigning their iPhone Home screens right now. Some of these look amazing. Others evoke the eyeball-abusing tragedy of late-stage MySpace, serving as painful reminders of why most of us didn’t become professional graphic designers.

Here are some of the better iOS 14 custom Home screens we’ve seen. (Want to make your own? We’ve got a guide for you: How to give your iPhone Home screen a new look with custom icons).

Got fliers to make? Websites to start? Logos or presentations or any other of the myriad digital design projects? We rounded up four user-friendly tools so you can dive straight into vector graphics, building websites, illustration and more.

Jerry Manock is one of the great unsung heroes of Apple design. As the father of Apple’s Industrial Design Group, Manock made an indelible contribution to the company’s long line of hit products.

He may not be a household name like Jony Ive, but, starting with the Apple II, Manock played a massive role in making the company what it is today. In an exclusive interview with Cult of Mac, the 76-year-old industrial designer recounts many colorful stories about Cupertino’s past — including one that shows even Steve Jobs got nostalgic.

Before iOS 7, skeumorphism’s cartoon realism ruled. Then things swung too far in the opposite direction, with flat white pages, skinny text and occasionally confusing visual cues. An emerging design trend called neumorphism could bridge the gap in iOS 14, according to Cult of Mac’s Charlie Sorrel. With subtle shading and helpful hints, neumorphism could influence the evolution of Apple’s mobile UI.

Read all about this hot emerging design trend in this week’s free issue of our iOS magazine. It also includes the week’s top Apple news stories, along with a passel of how-tos and product reviews.

Someone thinks a foldable smartphone is a good idea. That person, for now, is not the consumer.

In a survey of 11,374 Americans, a whopping 82 percent of the respondents said they have no plans to purchase a foldable smartphone. That doesn’t mean companies need to shut the lid on the idea.

Take one look at any screenshot from a pre-iOS 7 iPhone, and you’ll wonder how we ever used such a hideous interface for so many years. The skeumorphic design language included so much fake wood, glossy plastic and gray gradient that there’s almost nowhere to put the actual contents of the app.

iOS 7 went way too far in the opposite direction, with flat white pages and skinny text. Is that a button? Is it just a label? Can I press it? Who knows? We’re still suffering from this UI ambiguity today, in iOS 13. Text got thicker, but it’s still hard to know what to press, and what is just there to be read.

Clearly, there’s a space between these two extremes. Something as clean as iOS 7 and, at the same time, as obvious and usable as iOS 6 and previous versions. But what would that look like? I know what I want it to look like. It’s called “neumorphism,” and it looks fantastic.

If you’re an old school Apple fan, you may well remember the Cairo font. Cairo shipped with every version of macOS from 1984 through System 7.1. It was computer history’s first “dingbats” font in computer history, meaning a font in which letters are represented by seemingly unrelated graphics.

Now Susan Kare, the iconic Apple designer who created the fonts and icons for the original Mac, has resurrected Cairo as the basis for a new limited edition throw rug design. Searching for the perfect geeky rug design for your office? Look no further.

Some cheeky designer wondered what our AirPods might look like in the mouth of a baby shark or stuffed in a pineapple.

How about adorable? The company has made two cutesy case covers and they are now on sale in the Cult of Mac store.

iOS 13 and iPadOS added official support for adding fonts to your iPhone and iPad. You’ve been able to do it for a while, using third-party apps that hack their way around the problem using software configuration profiles to install typefaces on your system.

And you can still use those. In fact, you may have to, as we’ll see in a moment. But now you can also install fonts from the App Store, as well as previewing them in a new built-in panel. Let’s take a look.