According to MacRumors, Sebastiaan de With, the co-founder of the popular iPhone camera app Halide, announced today that he has joined the Human Interface Design team at Apple. He expressed excitement about working on his favorite products with the best team in the world. This is actually a return to Apple for de With, who previously worked on projects like iCloud, MobileMe, and the Find My app before co-founding Halide. His move comes during a period of notable change for Apple’s design leadership, following the departure of former software design chief Alan Dye to Meta last year and reports that hardware engineering chief John Ternus was tapped to oversee all hardware and software design teams towards the end of 2023. In related news, Halide’s parent company Lux just launched a public preview of Halide Mark III, the next-generation version of its flagship app.
A Homecoming With Implications
Look, this is a fascinating hire. Sebastiaan de With isn’t just some random designer. He’s a well-known figure in both the Apple and photography communities, and he built a third-party app that many pros consider essential for unlocking the iPhone camera’s full potential. Basically, he’s been on the outside, pushing the boundaries of what Apple’s hardware can do. Now he’s going back inside. That perspective is incredibly valuable. He knows exactly where users feel limited by the stock Camera app and what power users crave. I think Apple is smartly bringing in someone who deeply understands both their platform and the competitive landscape of mobile photography.
Design Team In Flux
Here’s the thing: de With is joining a team that’s been reshuffling its deck for a while. The departure of legends like Jony Ive in 2019 started a brain drain to his LoveFrom firm, and then losing Alan Dye to Meta last year was another big hit. So Apple’s design leadership has needed fresh, respected blood. Tapping John Ternus to oversee design was a signal that engineering and design are becoming even more intertwined. Bringing in de With feels like a specific move to bolster the software design side, especially for the camera and photography experience—a huge selling point for iPhones. It’s a statement that they’re serious about refining their core apps.
What It Means For Halide And Users
So what happens to Halide? Well, the app isn’t going anywhere. His co-founder and the team at Lux are moving forward, as evidenced by the launch of the Halide Mark III public preview. But de With’s departure from day-to-day work there is undeniable. For users, the long-term hope is that his insights lead to a better native Camera app for everyone. The risk, of course, is that the unique, opinionated vision of Halide gets diluted. But the potential upside is huge: imagine if the stock app eventually incorporated some of Halide’s powerful manual controls or computational photography ideas. That would be a win for the average user who’d never buy a separate camera app.
A Signal Of Apple’s Priorities
This hire sends a clear message. Apple is investing heavily in the design of its core human interfaces, and it values people who have real-world experience challenging Apple’s own conventions. De With publicly documented his design philosophy and camera expertise for years. He’s not a secretive corporate designer. He announced this move himself on Threads. That itself is a bit of a shift. In a way, it feels like Apple is acknowledging that great design ideas can come from anywhere—even from a successful app that competed with their own first-party tools. Now, can he navigate the big-company machinery to make a tangible difference? That’s the real question. But it’s a promising sign.
