Why Does the App Look Cleaner on Apple Products Compared to Other Platforms?

User Research User Studies
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I’ve noticed that the design of this app varies quite a bit across different platforms. I recently updated to iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia, and I also use Windows 11, Android, and the web version.

On Apple products, the app feels cleaner and more modern, but on other platforms—especially the web—it doesn’t quite have the same look and feel. I’m curious about the reasons behind these differences. Are there specific design considerations for each platform, or is it just a matter of style?

I’d love to hear from anyone who knows more about this! It’s always interesting to learn why design choices are made, and I appreciate any insights. :blush:

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@JayP1 Hi!

I don’t know the specific differences in design of the different OS… but in general:

  • I guess on your iOS, you already have the new native mobile app installed, which was completely rewritten in native code for the OS and got a first small UI refresh thereby – here you can see the latest release for iOS: Releases · bitwarden/ios · GitHub
  • On Android, the latest stable release is still the old non-native mobile app (the release for the native mobile app is expected next week, possibly) – here you can see, that the latest new native version is still Pre-Release/Beta: Releases · bitwarden/android · GitHub (the last stable release of the old non-native mobile app is 2024.7.1, which is still on my Android phone…)
  • So that could already explain the current (and more or less temporary) differences in iOS and Android (temporary because, maybe smaller differences because of the different OS may exist “until the end of the universe”)
  • Here is a blog article about the new native mobile apps: Bitwarden releases phased beta for native mobile apps | Bitwarden Blog
  • Then, there is currently developement (“UI refresh”) on the browser extensions (see here: Bringing intuitive workflows and visual updates to the Bitwarden browser extension | Bitwarden Blog), which is expected around the end of this year to be released
  • Based on this “UI refresh” of the browser extensions, the new native mobile apps get also a UI refresh.
  • “… but on other platforms—especially the web—it doesn’t quite have the same look and feel. …” If you’re speaking of the web vault / web app, that is “logging in on the website”, I guess that should be platform independent (it shouldn’t matter that much whether you access your vault via a browser on the Mac or Windows…) (web vault ≠ browser extensions!)
  • and I guess, after the browser extensions and the new native mobile apps get their UI refreshs, the desktop apps and web vault also get adapted to the new design, so that possibly everything is more or less “the same look and feel”
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