Aug 16 — we audited every SoloMaid screen against Apple's official design rulebook (the Human Interface Guidelines, current iOS 26/27 edition). Approved & implemented same day (Andrew's call: afters + rounder buttons in). Reduce Motion shipped as a system-setting-only block — nobody sees it unless their iPhone asks; deletable in one place if ever unwanted.
The verdict: the bones are genuinely good. Most of what Apple asks for, our own design law already demanded — often stricter (their tap floor is 44px; ours is 48). And Apple explicitly blesses custom-branded looks like ours — their words: “Even a highly stylized interface can be approachable” — as long as the app behaves in familiar ways. So the warm SoloMaid look stays. Almost everything we found is about feel, not paint.
Our only hard failure: the light-gray used for timestamps, hints and the tab labels measures 2.7:1 contrast — Apple's line for small text is 4.5:1 (and sunlight-readable is our own principle #5). One shade darker fixes every instance at once.
Buttons squish; rows don't. Client rows, threads, calendar days get a pressed tint, and the random gray iOS tap-flash goes away. Long-pressing a button will no longer select its text like a website.
Apple's minimum legible size. Two tiny labels (photo tag, NEW badge) come up to the floor.
Month arrows, the Ask-Solo send, “Text it again,” the on/off switches, toast Undo — all get the full-size (sometimes invisible) hit area we already use elsewhere.
The Ask-Solo box is the one field under 16px — iPhones zoom the whole screen when it's focused. One number fixes it.
An accessibility setting we currently ignore; Apple expects fades instead of movement when it's on. One CSS block.
One quiet date line per cluster — not “Aug 10” under three bubbles in a row.
Apple: “People expect to swipe vertically to dismiss a sheet.” Ours only close by tapping the dim. They get the iOS spring and drag-down-to-dismiss — try it in the feel mockup.
A quick crossfade between tabs (Safari now supports this natively for page loads), automatically off under Reduce Motion.
Apple's tab-bar guidance prefers filled symbols. Inactive tabs keep our stroke icons; the one you're on fills — clearer at a glance.
Job done ✓, payment recorded, send, accept — the phone taps back (native app only; sparingly, per Apple's own rules). Bonus: haptics + push are exactly the “more than a website” evidence App Store review wants from wrapped apps.
Everything you hand-tuned stays: the 16px detail rows, the 16.5 name scale, the spacing laws, the warm palette, the emoji job buttons, Solo's voice. This plan is behavior and polish — zero redesign. Cost: $0, both rounds.