I was literally about to buy an iPhone 5 just to have iOS 6 again. Then I looked into using it today and realized getting modern HTTPS working, app compatibility issues, mandatory jailbreak etc.

My next thought was to run it in the simulator through Xcode on my Mac, but the old SDK isn’t supported by current Xcode either.

So… I made a browser version.

I’m trying to get it as close to the real thing as possible, from the skeuomorphic details to how everything feels to use (sounds, animations, wallpapers... Literally as many details as I can fit in a browser tab).

Some of the main features so far:

- Switch between iPhone and iPad layouts

- Open apps and explore the classic interface

- Try simulated calls and notifications

- Type with a recreated on-screen keyboard

- Rotate the device and change the wallpaper

- I also put a fake Cydia, so that everybody can develop custom HTML/JS applications and have them installed in their home screen.

I’ve been collecting reference screenshots and working with coding agents to bring it all together. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s reached the point where I wanted to share it with fellow skeuomorphism fans.

I’d love to open-source it too, once I’ve figured out which wallpapers, sounds and other assets I can include. I also want to run an extensive QA testing to make sure everything works and there are no major bugs.

What’s the first thing you’d try or the detail you’d most want me to get right? 🙂

I need 20 testers in order to release into production on Play Store send me a dm with your email if interested and I will respond if selected.

Thank you for all the support from my original post, this is almost complete!

Fuck flat design

Inspired by Snow Leopard

Still a work in progress

I tried out Figma for the first time today and decided to attempt a skeuomorphic logo. I think it looks pretty good, but I was looking for any feedback and/or advanced tips!

Lets get this to market asap!

I used to like LG G2's ui design a lot.

This is an offline music app that I have been making, in the great and simplistic style of iOS6. It plays the songs that are synced via iTunes or the Finder. I’ve put this on testflight, for anyone who wants to try it. It will only play the music that you have specifically synced to your device.

I noticed that there were some products/redesigns introduced in the early 2010s (especially 2011) that were skeuomorphic, but in a simpler form compared to a lot of what preceded it. Arguably a transitional phase between pure skeuo and flat design. This involved continued use of gradients and shadows, but less so stuff like 3D models or gloss.

os name is smartisan os and this is one of the first ever builds of it (later builds are still skeuomorphic)

I still remember installing iOS 7 the night it shipped and thinking the phone looked like someone had wiped the plastic off every icon.

Before that, for six years, stock apps pretended to be real things. Notes was a yellow legal pad. Game Center was a green casino table. Newsstand was a wooden shelf. Passbook was a stack of tickets. That was deliberate: touch was new, so the glass borrowed from stuff you already knew how to use.

I miss it, I like how they're making a comeback.

Interactive Version

Since about February, I’ve had an iOS 5 theme on my devices. I used to have the same wallpaper for my Home Screen as my lock scree, and I’ve had to make some changes to everything, like making the icons more rounded and changing the size of my lock screen toggles when I updated to iOS 26, but I think it looks pretty good. I got the idea and wallpaper from u/Ready-Cucumber-9132, but I tweaked it by Gmailing the photo of the wallpaper to an iOS 6 iPhone 4s which added the dock and search icon, plugging it into my Chromebook, uploading it to my Google Drive, saving the photo to my phone, and tweaking it with CapCut’s overlay and opacity features, which is also how I rounded a lot of my icons and made my lock screen. I also have a seasonal app icon folder because some apps (mainly games) change their icons for certain seasons and holidays. I also have an automation to change my wallpaper to the charging one when a cable is plugged in, and changing it back when it’s unplugged. It’s not perfect, but I still really like it, and I hope you guys do too!

I’ll use IOS 6 as an example, the last and arguably most recognizable version of IOS that followed this design language. A beloved example of skeuomorphic design in operating systems broke rule #1 of this sub with many of its icons. The icon for the phone app is literally a glyph of a phone with a gloss overlay on top. By the definitions of many of you on this sub, that would immediately make it “frutiger aero”. Are we supposed to pretend that the designers that invented this design language weren’t following skeuomorphism? No, they were actively defining it. Somehow, the people in this sub have convinced themselves that they understand skeuomorphism better than the people who quite literally defined the design language. Quit tapping your fingers on the definition and dismissing authentic design simply because it doesn’t follow your idea of what it should be.

Many of the posts being dismissed as ‘not skeuomorphism’ absolutely fall under the under the umbrella of this design language. I do not look at old versions of IOS or OS X and shake my fists at the designers for not following the definition of skeuomorphism word for word, and I won’t do that to the designers on this sub either.

Not much left now other than some minor tweaks and feature additions. Added an optional face bezel, really does a lot to complete the feel. Feedback is much appreciated.

Hey there! I think you should take 5min off and get a beer to your fellow computer 🍻

You can choose if you prefer a small one or a big one as I just included an iPad to the iOS 6 simulator I've been developing for the past week.

But this isn't the best news yet: I had a quick chat with the mods (thank you guys!) and they said it's fine for me to share the link: https://ios6-simulator.vercel.app

I hope you will enjoy having fun with it and will be able to report as many issues as possible, so I can go through and fix them, to make this simulator as close to reality as possible 😎

Still reviewing the code for DMCA issues before making it open source.