Sebastiaan de With, the co-founder behind the award-winning camera app Halide, has officially joined Apple’s Design Team. De With announced this on X, expressing his excitement to work on the products he loves alongside a team he considers the best in the world. Early in his career, he contributed to the design of foundational Apple services, including iCloud, MobileMe, and the Find My app. Since then, he has built a massive reputation in the indie developer scene. His work with Lux Optics—the studio behind Halide, Kino, and Spectre—has set the gold standard for how professional-grade tools can feel intuitive and tactile on a touchscreen.
The timing of this hire is particularly interesting given the recent shakeups in Apple’s design leadership. Late last year, longtime Human Interface chief Alan Dye departed for Meta, leaving a vacancy filled by veteran Stephen Lemay. With John Ternus now reportedly overseeing the broader design organization, bringing in de With suggests a renewed focus on craft and user-centric interfaces.
Many fans are already speculating about what de With’s influence could bring to future versions of iOS and macOS. Given his expertise with Halide, there is a strong hope that he might help revitalize the native Camera app, which has faced criticism for becoming overly complex.
The team at Lux has clarified that Halide remains in excellent hands and will continue to receive updates, including the recently launched Halide Mark III. While de With moves on to influence the products we use every day at the OS level, his legacy of independent innovation continues.
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