Agent skill · design visual · ehmo
tvos-design-guidelines
Apple Human Interface Guidelines for Apple TV. Use when building tvOS apps with focus-based navigation, Siri Remote input, or living room viewing experiences. Triggers on tasks involving Apple TV, tvOS, 10-foot UI, or media playback.
Why this skill is useful
Provides specific design patterns and guidelines for creating user-friendly tvOS applications that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
About 12k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-03-19. 481 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
tvOS Design Guidelines Apple TV is a living room device driven entirely by focus-based navigation and the Siri Remote. There is no pointer, no touch screen, and no mouse. Every design decision must account for the 10-foot viewing distance, the simplicity of the remote, and the lean-back nature of TV consumption. --- 1. Focus-Based Navigation (CRITICAL) The focus system is the foundation of all tvOS interaction. There is no cursor -- users move focus between elements using the Siri Remote touch surface. Rules FOCUS-01: Every interactive element must have a clearly visible focus state. The focused item must be unmistakably distinguished from unfocused items. Use scaling (typically 1.05x-1.1x), elevation via shadow, brightness changes, or border highlights. Never rely on color alone. FOCUS-02: Focus movement must be predictable and follow a logical spatial layout. When a user swipes right, focus must move to the element visually to the right. Avoid layouts where focus jumps unexpectedly across the screen. Grid and linear layouts are safest. FOCUS-03: Use focus guides (UIFocusGuide) to bridge gaps in layouts. When visual gaps exist between focusable elements, add invisible focus guides so the user does not get stuck. Every swipe should move focus somewhere meaningful. FOCUS-04: Apply the parallax effect to focused items. Focused cards, posters, and icons should exhibit a subtle parallax tilt responding to touch surface movement. Use layered images (LSR format) with foreground, midground, and background layers. This communicates depth and confirms focus. Correct: Incorrect: FOCUS-05: Make focus targets large enough for comfortable navigation. Minimum recommended touch target is 250x150pt for cards. Smaller elements are difficult to land on with swipe-based navigation. Group small actions under a focused parent when possible. FOCUS-06: Provide a default focused element on every screen. When a view appears, one element must already hold focus. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills ehmo/tvos