Who is Alan Dye? Apple's key design executive behind liquid glass, Apple Watch UI, iOS7, poached by Meta

Apple's key design executive behind some of the company's most iconic rollouts since the Steve Jobs era, Alan Dye, is leaving the company to join tech rival Meta Platforms, according to Bloomberg and CNBC reports.
Notably, Bloomberg was the first to report the poaching by Mark Zuckerberg's company. His departure from Apple has since been confirmed by a spokesperson, who confirmed that longtime designer Stephen Lemay will now take on the task.
On Lemay replacing Dye, Apple in an official statement from CEO Tim Cook told Bloomberg News: “Steve Lemay has played a key role in the design of every major Apple interface since 1999. He has always set an extraordinarily high bar for excellence and embodies Apple’s culture of collaboration and creativity.”
“Design is fundamental to who we are at Apple, and today, we have an extraordinary design team working on the most innovative product lineup in our history,” his statement added.
Apple shares slipped nearly 1% to $284.15 in New York on 3 December, while Meta fell 1.2% to $639.60, Bloomberg reported.
Who is Alan Dye, iconic Apple designer set to leave company?
Alan Dye joined the company in 2006, with Steve Jobs at the helm, and worked on the company's packaging and unboxing experience. Apple Design's official account, in a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on 4 December, said this “helped shape Apple's first impressions”.
In 2013, with Tim Cook at the helm, Dye helped lead redesign of iOS7 flat user interface (UI), new icons, typography and layout.
In 2015, he was appointed as head of Apple’s user interface design team. He was the “core leader of Apple Watch UI”, Apple Design said, adding that this included the watch faces, small screen user experience (UX) and UI.
In 2022, he co-led the creation of Apple's Dynamic Island, which the company said, “blurred the line between hardware and software”.
In 2023, he led UI design for spatial computing UI and “made Vision Pro wearer's eyes visible to the outside world”, it added.
In 2024, Dye was involved in the Apple Vision Pro launch and helped with “integrating eye / hand interactions and immersion”, the design team said.
In 2025, Dye led the design of Liquid Glass, “Apple's biggest cross-platform UI refresh”, and helped unify the design language for iOS, iPadoS, MacOS, watchos and tvos, the company added.
Apple Design posted a tribute to Alan Dye's time at the company, stating: “Alan Dye’s Apple Journey: A mind behind Apple boxes to iOS 7 flat design to Dynamic Island to Liquid Glass,” it stated.
What will Alan Dye do at Meta?
The report noted that Meta has put Dye in charge of design for hardware, software and AI integration for its interfaces. In a social media post on 3 December, Mark Zuckerberg welcomed Dye to the company and said that he would lead up a new creative studio, adding that the plan is to “elevate design within Meta”. He did not share specifics.
Starting from December 31 as chief design officer, Dye’s major focus will be revamping Meta’s consumer devices with AI features, the report said, adding that he will report to Meta's Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, who also oversees Reality Labs that develops Meta's wearable devices (smart glasses and VR headsets).
Also joining Dye at Meta is another colleague from Apple — Billy Sorrentino, a senior director on Apple’s design team since 2016. And Meta’s current design leaders — Joshua To, Jason Rubin and Peter Bristol, who will report to Dye.
Meta snags Alan Dye, in “major coup”
The Bloomberg report noted that Dye's move to Meta is a “major coup” that reinforces the company's push into AI integrated consumer devices.
It added that for Apple, this comes as yet another blow after legendary executive Jony Ive, exited the company in 2019. Notably, it added that Dye had taken a more prominent role in the wake of Ive's departure, so the loss will be felt. The CNBC report said that Ive is now working with Sam Altman at OpenAI on AI hardware alongside.
In November this year, the company's chief operating officer since 2015, Jeff Williams retired; and AI head John Giannandrea also announced his departure this week. In 2024, Apple’s former hardware chief Dan Riccio also retired.
Besides this, CEO Tim Cook is nearing retirement age, while other prominent names Johny Srouji (Apple’s silicon chief), and Lisa Jackson (Apple’s head of government environment initiatives), are “evaluating their futures at the company”, the Bloomberg report said.