So once I had completed all my iOS 27 and iPhone Duo updates for Elytra and Pockity, I spent three works re-designing every single screen in InTransit, removing a lot of cruft from the app and polish up all the rough edges (there were so many!)

For this redesign, I decided to try the Atomic Design method popularized by Brad Frost. I built several small components (atoms), gradually composing them into larger components (molecules). I then skipped the "organisms" step, directly jumping to templates and pages as Brad describes in his document.

Something else I focused early on were the micro and macro interactions for these molecules. However, unnecessary motion sometimes introduces additional cognitive load for some people. While most people who go through this have "Reduced Motion" enabled on their iPhones, some don't. So to be careful as to not overdo any of the interaction animations, I kept them intentionally subtle.

You'll miss it if you blink… and that's okay

None of these interaction animations convey state, they only animate a molecule from one state to another.

Once these were composed, I wanted to then do a few critical things that always kept me from using InTransit properly, and so naturally other users definitely found it annoying too:

• Search for stations: This was needlessly separated into Stations and Places. The user would need to be mindful of which section they are searching in. Never a good idea. The new design unifies both, matches the name directly, and if nothing matches, it immediately begins to searching for places.
• Configuring a ride: My second pain point: Selecting the departure and arrival stations quickly enough, that I can figure out my next steps in the real world based on the timing information. This is only possible if most of this information is presented to me upfront: i.e. no swiping, no taps, nothing. The app must recognize intent, not just taps.
• The Journey: A lot of stations in India which are above ground are thick metal cages, leading to loss of GPS accuracy. This makes it hard for the app to determine if the user is actually at the station platform, outside of it, or somewhere else entirely. Determining this becomes harder still for underground stations. v2026.9 of InTransit employed motion detection to understand if you're walking or running towards the platform, or if you're in the metro carriages and moving towards your destination. v2026.11 now also uses the same technique to auto-start the journey for you.
• Better Timings: Metro corporations across regions will have different timings, and special timings during civic holidays and festivities. A new timings system coordinates with these dynamic timings and I'll be putting more effort towards improving this information and data.

InTransit's new design was built on top of these foundational molecules and organisms. The new design speaks for itself, feels fresh and causes less cognitive load while interacting with it. It is also now more robust than ever at handling complex inter-line transits.

Thank you for reading this far, if you haven't already do check out the update on the AppStore, and at the time of writing, it's the only app showing the newly active Pink Line from Pune 😉

For those curious about how the two designs and layouts compare, here's a full chart for your exploration:

Name	Old	New
Map
Search
Station Details
Configuring a Ride
Route Info
Trip Details
Live Activity
End Trip
Travelogue

That made me, and several of y’all, use InTransit 4× as much than the summer! And with that in mind, since WWDC 26, I’ve been thinking about and reimagining how InTransit is used by users and how it can be improved for the iOS 27 release!

Today, a new update for InTransit launches on the AppStore, and it brings a lot of improvements to the UI, as well as, improvements to the how the app functions.

Live Activity

One of the better improvements is coming to the Live Activity, which now adopts the glass look, but retains its full character by blending colours between the departure and arrival stations.

This isn’t just a random gradient slapped on the glass with a left-to-right, from-to, logic. It’s a lot more nuanced, especially for blending colours between non-contigous hues. Apple already provides tools for doing this correctly, and InTransit leans into that to provide you the best experience.

Journey Details

The journey is most the important part of metro transit, obviously. The Luna update brings improved visual cues to these cards.

Once you’re on boarded and on your way to the destination station, the Live Activity now pings you when next station approaches, so you need to check less, and continue to enjoy the music, the book, or just the chatter around you.

Full changelog below:

New

• Significantly improved live tracking underground and in other low-signal areas: your progress, next station, and arrival are now tracked correctly through much longer stretches of poor GPS, falling back to your phone's motion sensors to keep boarding detection and your position on the map working when GPS alone isn't enough.
• Added an estimated position marker on the map (shown with a dashed ring so it's clearly marked as an estimate) for when GPS signal drops out entirely.
• Station search now groups results by metro line (sorted by distance) and adds a line filter bar, plus quick picks for your Home and Work stations.
• Continued the visual refresh across the pre-boarding screen, in-navigation bar, bottom sheet, and station details, with improved color contrast, larger-text support, and VoiceOver labels throughout.
• Added a way to back out of the From/To station confirmation screen.
• Polished the onboarding experience with clearer messaging, full support for larger text sizes, and smoother animations for those who prefer reduced motion.

Improvements

• The app now lets you know if background tracking can't stay active because "Always Allow" location access hasn't been granted, so you can fix it before your next trip.
• Redesigned Travelogue into one unified screen — your trips, distance, time, lines ridden, badges, and environmental impact stats together in one place — with a new "See All Trips" screen and a route thumbnail on each trip.
• Polished the Live Activity's colors and visual style, and fixed a display issue on Apple Watch.
• Improved the reliability of live location tracking while navigating a route in the background, so your position on the map stays accurate for longer.
• The app now asks for location access more thoughtfully — only requesting "Always Allow" permission when you actually start navigating a route.

Fixes

• Fixed eco stats (CO2, energy, and trees saved) showing wildly inflated numbers, and a bug where the app could miss your final arrival on routes that include a walk to or from the station.
• Fixed the "Start" journey button getting stuck disabled when boarding from a station with poor GPS reception.
• Fixed a couple of crashes — one opening the search filter bar, another tied to loading your saved app data — plus a bug where filter buttons could trigger on their own without being tapped.

You can download it here, right now, on your iPhone.

Based on some critiques and user feedback, I'm already working on an update, which should arrive by next week. Until then, enjoy your smarter, and now simpler metro travel.

Cheers 🎉