First things first, I’m curious as to what extent the guidelines are enforced when it comes to third party applications on Apple devices. User expectations and design sensibilities aside, app developers should be able to make the interface appear however they choose. A lot of these rules are in line with Apple’s minimal aesthetic, which is fine for overarching design principles like how icons appear on a home screen. But their rules for more copy related things like what case, size, and length the text in buttons should be are absolutely unnecessary.

I also found it interesting that though the standards were developed to suit the ability of most people, there was no leeway for developing for people outside of that mindset of ergonomic streamlining. I feel as though soft grey on white backgrounds, tiny lettering with very little differentiation between letters vertically, and the way in which folders are visualized as walls of text in the finder can be hard for the visually impaired, dyslexic people, and those with learning disabilities to navigate.

However, I should not that I also just think Apple's design standards are joyless, so I may be a little biased.