Prime Highlights:
- Apple has hired Sebastiaan de With, co-founder of the popular iPhone camera app Halide, marking his return to the company’s design team.
- His appointment comes amid changes in Apple’s design leadership and is expected to strengthen the company’s app and photography-focused design capabilities.
Key Facts:
- De With previously worked at Apple on products such as iCloud and Find My before co-founding Lux in 2016.
- Lux confirmed that his move will not affect Halide, which will continue to be developed independently, with Halide Mark III already in public preview.
Background
Apple has hired Sebastiaan de With, co-founder of popular iPhone camera app Halide, to join its design team. De With announced the move, marking his return to the company for a second time.
De With is the co-founder of Lux, the app studio behind photography and video apps such as Halide and Kino. He previously worked at Apple on products including iCloud and Find My before leaving to co-found Lux in 2016 with Ben Sandofsky. Before his first tenure at Apple, de With also worked as a designer for companies such as Sony, T-Mobile, and Mozilla.
Sharing the news on social media platform X, de With said he was excited to work with Apple’s design team and contribute to products he has long admired.
Lux clarified that de With’s move will not affect its apps. In a Reddit post, Sandofsky said Lux will continue to develop Halide independently. The company also released a public preview of Halide Mark III, the next version of the app, which focuses on a new feature called “Looks.” The feature aims to recreate the visual feel of classic film cameras.
De With’s appointment comes at a time of change within Apple’s design leadership. The Liquid Glass design language introduced with iOS 26 received mixed feedback from users and designers. In addition, Apple’s chief of user interface design, Alan Dye, left the company for Meta in December.
Last week, a Bloomberg report said John Ternus, a senior Apple executive seen as a potential successor to CEO Tim Cook, assumed oversight of both hardware and software design toward the end of last year.
Apple has not shared further details about de With’s specific role, but his background in app design and photography tools is expected to add depth to the company’s design efforts.
