Skip to main content
All CollectionsGetting Started
How to Start Designing in Play
How to Start Designing in Play
Updated over a week ago

Play is a collaborative design software for creating mobile apps. It combines a familiar design canvas with the power of Apple's native iOS elements—from date pickers and maps, to Swift Charts and input text fields. These are built directly into Play, giving you native functionality right out of the box.

Play also levels up your interaction design capabilities. Interactions in Play are performant, interruptible, and use Apple's Core Animation to render your prototype with the same technology as a finished mobile app. This makes designs created in Play feel like real thing, wowing your users and stakeholders.

Play's Product Suite

You'll need to install both our macOS and iOS apps (for free!) to get the most out of Play. Many users start designing on Play for macOS and fine-tune things directly on their iPhone, but you can edit your design across either platform. Even if you prefer to design from your desktop, the iOS app is what will let you view and interact with the prototypes you create in Play.

The App Store version of Play for macOS and iOS is replacing the public beta version that you may have been using in TestFlight. If you were part of our beta, your documents and data will be available in the new App Store version.

The macOS and new iOS App Store versions will also replace the previous App Store version of Play that was available on iOS and iPad.

Play for macOS

Play for macOS combines a familiar canvas with the power of Apple’s native elements, interactions using Core Animation, and generative SwiftUI. You can design, prototype, and collaborate as a team to bring your mobile product to life.

Play for iOS

Play for iOS lets you design, iterate, and collaborate directly from your phone, experiencing your design as you create it. Play for iOS has a real-time sync mode that let’s you view, interact with, and edit any selected object in macOS.

Connecting iOS to macOS

The iOS app lets you view your designs on your phone, the native medium for you design. You can choose to "Play" a specific project or connect your phone to macOS in Play Mode. Anything you select on macOS will be displayed on iOS, where you can interact with it to test each new edit.

Read more about connecting Play for iOS and macOS here.

Start Designing

You can start a new design from scratch, copy your design from Figma, or duplicate a project from our explore section.

We offer video (YouTube) and written (Circle) tutorials for several prototypes, as well as an introduction course called Play 101. If there's something you'd like to learn how to do in Play, DM us or send us an email at [email protected].

Download Play from the App Store here!

Did this answer your question?