Frame

Rapidly prototyped native iPadOS product

A spare iPad becomes
an ambient dashboard.

Frame turns an unused iPad into a calm, persistent view of what matters right now: the time, the weather, the next event, and one view into home.

See Frame in use Portfolio context
< 2 weeksHand sketch to downloadable app
SwiftUIState-driven interface
Local firstNo recording or upload
FRAME / REAL HOMEKIT CAPTURE Doorbell feed
Frame dashboard showing a real Doorbell camera feed alongside HomeKit controls and weather
Frame keeps context small and the viewing canvas large. This capture shows a connected Doorbell feed with HomeKit controls around it.

The premise

Information earns its place by helping you decide what to do next.

Most dashboards ask you to manage a collection of widgets. Frame asks a quieter question: what would be useful to notice from across the room?

01

Ambient first

Time, greeting, weather, and the next relevant change are available at a glance, without turning the iPad into another inbox.

02

One view, not a wall of widgets

The camera or Mirror canvas gets the largest surface. Supporting information stays quiet until it earns a tap.

03

Useful even when a source is not

Permission denied, offline, empty, and unavailable are designed states. The interface says what happened and keeps the rest of the day visible.

Original Frame concept sketch showing a wall-mounted iPad, a dashboard layout, and notes about camera feeds and home context
01 / Hand sketchA spare iPad becomes a window into the home, not another destination to open.
Early Keynote mockup of Frame showing updates, weather, greeting, and a swipeable home feed on an iPad
02 / Keynote mockupThe first interface pass established the information hierarchy and swipeable feed before implementation.

Rapid prototype · Under two weeks

Move quickly from idea to evidence.

The original idea began with a hand sketch and a physical situation: if an iPad is already present on the wall, it can mediate between the room and the person without asking for the ritual of picking up a phone.

In under two weeks, that sketch became a Keynote/Figma interaction mockup, then a downloadable SwiftUI app with an ambient header, prioritized Updates, a swipeable feed carousel, and persistent settings.

The product surface

One calm surface, different moments.

Frame is intentionally progressive: the default dashboard is glanceable, while a tap opens the detail needed for calendars, home controls, music, or settings.

Frame map view showing an upcoming event, driving estimate, calendar updates, and ambient music
01 / Follow what’s nextA real map and Updates state brings an upcoming event, route estimate, and music together.
Frame map view with an upcoming destination and a focused HomeKit controls panel
02 / Reveal the homeHomeKit controls stay accessible beside the active map view.
Frame Updates feed beside a map, combining calendar events, weather, travel time, and home context
03 / Bring updates togetherUpdates combines calendar, weather, travel time, sleep, and more into one timely feed.

Current evidence: the lead captures above show real HomeKit and map/Updates examples. The supporting captures are deterministic demo states; camera, Photos, permissions, rotation, and prolonged-display behavior still need physical-iPad verification.

Frame map view beside Settings for greeting, dynamic waves, color themes, photos, and screensaver behavior
04 / Make it yoursLong-lived choices live in one focused settings surface.
Frame dashboard showing Now Playing, album artwork, and music playback controls
05 / Keep music closeNow Playing and transport controls stay within reach without taking over the dashboard.
Frame screensaver showing a dim moving clock with date and weather on a black background
06 / Settle when idleA dim, slowly moving clock keeps time, date, and weather visible without demanding attention.

Four rules for an always-on screen

Stay visible.
Stay quiet.

Frame is not trying to win a notification arms race. It is a small piece of household infrastructure that should make the next useful action easier to see.

  1. 01
    Glanceable

    Readable from several feet away in a few seconds.

  2. 02
    Camera-first

    One focused feed, with snapshots and pagination instead of a video wall.

  3. 03
    Permission-legible

    Access boundaries and unavailable states are part of the design.

  4. 04
    Progressive

    Keep the ambient layer simple; put detail one tap away.

Built as a product, not a rendering

The interface is a state machine with a point of view.

Frame’s external services sit behind protocols, so the same surface can be demonstrated with deterministic mock data and connected to real Apple capabilities without rewriting the interaction model.

One main-actor dashboard model coordinates the selected feed, the ambient mode, the Updates summary, and each integration’s loading, denied, empty, stale, offline, and failed states.

That architecture matters because a persistent display cannot disappear every time one service is unavailable. The last useful state stays visible while the app explains what is restoring.

SwiftUI surfaceDashboard modelProtocol-backed services
WeatherKitCurrent conditions and daily range
EventKitNext relevant calendar context
HomeKitAuthorized home feeds and controls
AVFoundationLocal front-camera Mirror view
HealthKitOptional sleep-aware ambient mode
MusicKitOptional ambient music overlay

The quiet part is a boundary

Frame shows what it is allowed to know.

The Mirror feed is local AVFoundation capture. The prototype does not record, upload, analyze, or persist camera frames. Updates are limited to approved sources such as Calendar, Weather, HomeKit, Health, Music, and Frame-owned state.

Current status

A working prototype, ready for the next round of evidence.

The core flow is in place: cached-first startup, an ambient dashboard, a feed carousel, Updates detail, settings, music overlay, and designed permission/offline states. The next design pass belongs on the physical iPad where camera, HomeKit, rotation, brightness, and distance can be tested as one system.

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