Apps & Consumer
Apple hires Halide co-founder Sebastiaan de With
Lux co-founder Sebastiaan de With has joined Apple’s design team, marking a return to the company as it navigates a significant leadership transition in its design division.
Sebastiaan de With, the co-founder of the app development company Lux, announced on Wednesday that he has joined Apple’s design team. De With, whose company is known for developing consumer iOS applications such as the iPhone camera app Halide and the video app Kino, expressed his enthusiasm for the new role. “So excited to work with the very best team in the world on my favorite products,” de With wrote in a post on X.
The appointment marks de With’s second tenure at Apple, where he previously worked on the design of iCloud and Find My. Before co-founding Lux with Ben Sandofsky in 2016, de With completed design work for Sony, T-Mobile, and Mozilla. Despite his transition to Apple, Lux will continue to develop its applications. Sandofsky stated in a Reddit post that Halide will still be developed by Lux. The company recently released a public preview of its new version, Halide Mark III, and announced that it is focusing on “Looks,” a feature designed to recreate the aesthetics of film cameras.
De With’s return to Apple arrives during a period of transition for the company’s design division. The company is currently managing the reception of “Liquid Glass,” the design language introduced with iOS 26, which did not receive the glowing reviews Apple probably expected. The division has also seen departures; Alan Dye, Apple’s former chief of user interface design, left the company to join Meta in December.
These design team changes follow a shift in leadership at the company. Bloomberg reported last week that John Ternus, who is in line to succeed CEO Tim Cook, took over both hardware and software design toward the end of last year. The integration of these design responsibilities under Ternus represents a structural change in how Apple develops its products and operating systems.
Why it matters
De With’s return coincides with a period of significant leadership transition in Apple’s design division, including John Ternus taking over hardware and software design and the departure of UI chief Alan Dye.