According to TechCrunch, Sebastiaan de With, the co-founder of Lux which makes the popular iPhone camera apps Halide and Kino, announced on Wednesday, December 18, that he has joined Apple’s design team. This marks de With’s second stint at Apple, having previously worked on iCloud and Find My before co-founding Lux with Ben Sandofsky in 2016. In a post on X, de With said he was excited to work with the “very best team” on his favorite products. Meanwhile, Sandofsky confirmed on Reddit that Halide development will continue at Lux, which just released a public preview of Halide Mark III focusing on a new “Looks” feature for film camera aesthetics. This hiring comes during a period of significant change for Apple’s design division, following the departure of UI design chief Alan Dye to Meta in December and a recent Bloomberg report that John Ternus took over hardware and software design late last year.
A design team in flux
So, de With is going back to the mothership. And he’s walking into a pretty interesting situation. Look, Apple‘s design team hasn’t had the smoothest ride lately. The Liquid Glass design in iOS 26 was… let’s say, not universally adored. Then Alan Dye, the big boss of UI design, left for Meta. And now, with John Ternus—the guy reportedly in line to succeed Tim Cook—taking a more direct hand in design, it feels like the whole philosophy might be up for reevaluation. Hiring someone like de With, who has spent the last eight years building critically acclaimed, pro-level camera apps outside of Apple’s walls, is a fascinating move. It’s like they’re bringing in an elite special forces operator who knows the terrain but has been fighting a different war.
What about Halide?
Here’s the thing every Halide user is immediately wondering: is my favorite camera app doomed? Ben Sandofsky’s Reddit post is pretty clear that development continues. They’re even pushing forward with Halide Mark III and its “Looks” feature. But let’s be real. The soul of Halide, its meticulous attention to the photographer’s experience, is heavily tied to de With’s design ethos. Can it maintain that unique magic without its co-founder and design lead? That’s the big question. It’s a testament to the app that it has a dedicated user base and a co-founder still at the helm, but this is undoubtedly a transition.
Why this hire matters
This isn’t just about getting a good designer. It’s a signal. Apple’s native Camera app is powerful, but it’s also famously complex and, for pros, sometimes limiting. Halide proved there’s a massive appetite for a more intentional, controllable shooting experience on iPhone. By bringing de With in-house, Apple isn’t just acquiring talent; it’s potentially aiming to absorb that philosophy. Think about it. Could the default Camera app get a “Halide mode”? Could we see deeper manual controls trickle down from the pro apps to the mainstream one? de With’s post about working on his “favorite products” sure makes it sound like he’ll be touching the core iOS camera experience. If that happens, this hire could eventually impact hundreds of millions of users, baking pro-level design thinking right into the most used camera in the world.
