SwiftUI 26 Features

Overview

Comprehensive guide to new SwiftUI features in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe, watchOS 26, and visionOS 26. From the Liquid Glass design system to rich text editing, these enhancements make SwiftUI more powerful across all Apple platforms.

Core principle From low level performance improvements all the way up through the buttons in your user interface, there are some major improvements across the system.

When to Use This Skill

• Adopting the Liquid Glass design system
• Implementing rich text editing with AttributedString
• Embedding web content with WebView
• Optimizing list and scrolling performance
• Using the @Animatable macro for custom animations
• Building 3D spatial layouts on visionOS
• Bridging SwiftUI scenes to UIKit/AppKit apps
• Implementing drag and drop with multiple items
• Creating 3D charts with Chart3D
• Adding widgets to visionOS or CarPlay
• Customizing slider appearance for media controls
• Creating sticky safe area bars with blur effects
• Opening URLs in in-app browser
• Using system-styled close and confirm buttons
• Applying glass button styles (iOS 26.1+)
• Controlling button sizing behavior
• Implementing compact search toolbars

System Requirements

iOS 26+, iPadOS 26+, macOS Tahoe+, watchOS 26+, visionOS 26+

---

Liquid Glass Design System

For comprehensive Liquid Glass coverage, see

• liquid-glass skill — Design principles, implementation, variants, design review pressure
• liquid-glass-ref skill — App-wide adoption guide (app icons, controls, navigation, menus, windows)

Overview

The new design system provides "a bright and fluid experience that's consistent across Apple platforms." Apps automatically adopt the new appearance upon recompilation - navigation containers, tab bars, and toolbars update automatically.

Key visual elements

• Glassy sidebars on iPad/macOS that reflect surrounding content
• Compact tab bars on iPhone
• Liquid Glass toolbar items with morphing transitions
• Blur effects on scroll edges

Automatic Adoption

// No code changes required - recompile and get new design
NavigationSplitView {
    List {
        // Sidebar automatically gets glassy appearance on iPad/macOS
    }
} detail: {
    // Detail view
}

// Tab bars automatically compact on iPhone
TabView {
    // Tabs get new appearance
}

Toolbar Customization

Toolbar Spacer API

.toolbar {
    ToolbarItemGroup(placement: .topBarTrailing) {
        Button("Up") { }
        Button("Down") { }

        // Fixed spacer separates button groups
        Spacer(.fixed)

        Button("Settings") { }
    }
}

Prominent Tinted Buttons in Liquid Glass

Button("Add Trip") {
    addTrip()
}
.buttonStyle(.borderedProminent)
.tint(.blue)
// Liquid Glass toolbars support tinting for prominence

Scroll Edge Effects

Automatic blur on scroll edges

ScrollView {
    // When content scrolls under toolbar/navigation bar,
    // blur effect automatically ensures bar content remains legible
    ForEach(trips) { trip in
        TripRow(trip: trip)
    }
}
// No code required - automatic scroll edge blur

Bottom-Aligned Search

iPhone ergonomics

NavigationSplitView {
    List { }
        .searchable(text: $searchText)
}
// Placement on NavigationSplitView automatically:
// - Bottom-aligned on iPhone (more ergonomic)
// - Top trailing corner on iPad

Search Tab Role

See swiftui-nav-ref Section 5.5 for Tab(role: .search) patterns.

Glass Effect for Custom Views

struct PhotoGalleryView: View {
    var body: some View {
        CustomPhotoGrid()
            .glassBackgroundEffect() // Reflects surrounding content
    }
}

System Controls Updates

Controls now have the new design automatically:

• Toggles
• Segmented pickers
• Sliders

Reference "Build a SwiftUI app with the new design" (WWDC 2025) for adoption best practices and advanced customizations.

---

New View Modifiers

sliderThumbVisibility

Hide slider thumb for minimal interfaces

struct MediaControlView: View {
    @State private var progress: CGFloat = 0.5

    var body: some View {
        Slider(value: $progress)
            .sliderThumbVisibility(.hidden)
            .padding(.horizontal, 16)
    }
}

Use cases

• Media player progress indicators
• Read-only value displays
• Minimal UI designs where slider acts as progress view
• Interactive sliders where visual focus should be on track, not thumb

safeAreaBar

Sticky bars with progressive blur

struct ContentView: View {
    var body: some View {
        NavigationStack {
            List {
                ForEach(1...20, id: \.self) { index in
                    Text("\(index). Item")
                }
            }
            .safeAreaBar(edge: .bottom) {
                Text("Bottom Action Bar")
                    .padding(.vertical, 15)
            }
            .scrollEdgeEffectStyle(.soft, for: .bottom)
            // Alternative: .scrollEdgeEffectStyle(.hard, for: .bottom)
        }
    }
}

Features

• Works like safeAreaInset but with integrated blur
• Progressive blur (.soft) or hard blur (.hard) via scrollEdgeEffectStyle
• Automatically respects safe areas
• Bar remains fixed while content scrolls beneath

Use cases

• Action bars that remain visible while scrolling
• Fixed controls at screen edges
• Bottom toolbars with scroll blur

onOpenURL Enhancement

Open links in in-app browser

struct LinkView: View {
    @Environment(\.openURL) var openURL

    var body: some View {
        let website = URL(string: "https://example.com")!

        VStack {
            // Old style - opens in Safari
            Link(destination: website) {
                Text("Open in Safari")
            }

            // New style - opens in-app (iOS 26+)
            Button("Open In-App") {
                openURL(website, prefersInApp: true)
            }
            .buttonStyle(.borderedProminent)
        }
    }
}

Key difference

• Default Link opens in Safari app
• openURL(url, prefersInApp: true) opens in SFSafariViewController-style in-app browser
• Keeps users in your app
• Preserves navigation flow

Button Roles (.close and .confirm)

System-styled close and confirm buttons

struct ModalView: View {
    @State private var showSheet = false

    var body: some View {
        Button("Show Sheet") {
            showSheet.toggle()
        }
        .sheet(isPresented: $showSheet) {
            NavigationStack {
                VStack {}
                    .navigationTitle("Info")
                    .toolbar {
                        ToolbarSpacer(.flexible, placement: .topBarTrailing)

                        ToolbarItem(placement: .topBarTrailing) {
                            Button(role: .close) {
                                showSheet = false
                            }
                        }
                    }
            }
            .presentationDetents([.medium])
        }
    }
}

Features

• Button(role: .close) renders as X icon with glass effect in toolbars
• Button(role: .confirm) provides system-styled confirmation button
• No custom label needed
• Consistent with system modals and sheets

Use cases

• Modal dismissal
• Sheet close buttons
• Confirmation dialogs
• Native-looking dismiss actions

GlassButtonStyle (iOS 26.1+)

Glass button variations

struct GlassButtonExample: View {
    var body: some View {
        ZStack {
            Image(.background)
                .resizable()
                .aspectRatio(contentMode: .fill)
                .ignoresSafeArea()

            VStack(spacing: 16) {
                Button("Clear Glass") {}
                    .buttonStyle(GlassButtonStyle(.clear))

                Button("Regular Glass") {}
                    .buttonStyle(GlassButtonStyle(.glass))

                Button("Tinted Glass") {}
                    .buttonStyle(GlassButtonStyle(.tint))
                    .tint(.blue)
            }
            .fontWeight(.bold)
            .foregroundStyle(.white)
            .buttonSizing(.flexible)
            .font(.title)
            .padding()
        }
    }
}

Variants

• .clear — Transparent glass effect
• .glass — Standard glass appearance
• .tint — Colored glass (use with .tint() modifier)

Requires iOS 26.1+ (not available in initial iOS 26.0 release)

buttonSizing

Control button layout behavior

struct ButtonLayoutExample: View {
    var body: some View {
        VStack(spacing: 16) {
            Button("Fit Content") {}
                .buttonSizing(.fit)
            // Button shrinks to label size

            Button("Stretch Full Width") {}
                .buttonSizing(.stretch)
            // Button expands to fill available space

            Button("Flexible") {}
                .buttonSizing(.flexible)
            // Balanced between fit and stretch
        }
        .padding()
    }
}

Options

• .fit — Button fits label size
• .stretch — Button fills available width
• .flexible — Balanced sizing (context-dependent)

Works with

• Plain text buttons
• Custom labels (icon + text, HStack/VStack)
• All button styles

searchToolbarBehavior

Compact search that expands on focus

struct SearchView: View {
    @State private var searchText = ""

    var body: some View {
        NavigationStack {
            List {
                Text("User 1")
                Text("User 2")
                Text("User 3")
            }
            .navigationTitle("Search Users")
            .searchable(text: $searchText)
            .searchToolbarBehavior(.minimize)
            .toolbar {
                ToolbarSpacer(.flexible, placement: .bottomBar)
                DefaultToolbarItem(kind: .search, placement: .bottomBar)
            }
        }
    }
}

Behavior

• .minimize — Search field compact when unfocused, expands on tap
• Similar to Tab Bar search pattern
• Saves toolbar space
• Cleaner UI when search not in use

Use cases

• List/content-heavy screens
• Crowded navigation bars
• Tab bar style search on regular screens

searchPresentationToolbarBehavior (iOS 17.1+)

Prevent title hiding during search

.searchable(text: $searchText)
.searchPresentationToolbarBehavior(.avoidHidingContent)

Behavior

• By default, navigation title hides when search becomes active
• .avoidHidingContent keeps title visible during search
• Maintains context while searching

Note This modifier was introduced in iOS 17.1, not iOS 26, but complements the new searchToolbarBehavior modifier.

---

iPad Enhancements

Menu Bar

Access common actions via swipe-down menu

.commands {
    TextEditingCommands() // Same API as macOS menu bar

    CommandGroup(after: .newItem) {
        Button("Add Note") {
            addNote()
        }
        .keyboardShortcut("n", modifiers: [.command, .shift])
    }
}
// Creates menu bar on iPad when people swipe down

Resizable Windows

Fluid resizing on iPad

// MIGRATION REQUIRED:
// Remove deprecated property list key in iPadOS 26:
// UIRequiresFullscreen (entire key deprecated, all values)

// For split view navigation, system automatically shows/hides columns
// based on available space during resize
NavigationSplitView {
    Sidebar()
} detail: {
    Detail()
}
// Adapts to resizing automatically

Reference "Elevate the design of your iPad app" (WWDC 2025)

---

macOS Window Enhancements

Synchronized Window Resize Animations

.windowResizeAnchor(.topLeading) // Tailor where animation originates

// SwiftUI now synchronizes animation between content view size changes
// and window resizing - great for preserving continuity when switching tabs

---

Performance Improvements

List Performance (macOS Focus)

Massive gains for large lists

• 6x faster loading for lists of 100,000+ items on macOS
• 16x faster updates for large lists
• Even bigger gains for larger lists
• Improvements benefit all platforms (iOS, iPadOS, watchOS)

List(trips) { trip in // 100k+ items
    TripRow(trip: trip)
}
// Loads 6x faster, updates 16x faster on macOS (iOS 26+)

Scrolling Performance

Reduced dropped frames

SwiftUI has improved scheduling of user interface updates on iOS and macOS. This improves responsiveness and lets SwiftUI do even more work to prepare for upcoming frames. All in all, it reduces the chance of your app dropping a frame while scrolling quickly at high frame rates.

Nested ScrollViews with Lazy Stacks

Photo carousels and multi-axis scrolling

ScrollView(.horizontal) {
    LazyHStack {
        ForEach(photoSets) { photoSet in
            ScrollView(.vertical) {
                LazyVStack {
                    ForEach(photoSet.photos) { photo in
                        PhotoView(photo: photo)
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
// Nested scrollviews now properly delay loading with lazy stacks
// Great for building photo carousels

SwiftUI Performance Instrument

New profiling tool in Xcode

Available lanes:

• Long view body updates — Identify expensive body computations
• Platform view updates — Track UIKit/AppKit bridging performance
• Other performance problem areas

Reference "Optimize SwiftUI performance with instruments" (WWDC 2025)

Cross-reference SwiftUI Performance — Master the SwiftUI Instrument

---

Swift Concurrency Integration

Compile-Time Data Race Safety

@Observable
class TripStore {
    var trips: [Trip] = []

    func loadTrips() async {
        trips = await TripService.fetchTrips()
        // Swift 6 verifies data race safety at compile time
    }
}

Benefits Find bugs in concurrent code before they affect your app

References

• "Embracing Swift concurrency" (WWDC 2025)
• "Explore concurrency in SwiftUI" (WWDC 2025)

Cross-reference Swift Concurrency — Swift 6 strict concurrency patterns

---

@Animatable Macro

Overview

Simplifies custom animations by automatically synthesizing animatableData property.

Before (@Animatable macro)

struct HikingRouteShape: Shape {
    var startPoint: CGPoint
    var endPoint: CGPoint
    var elevation: Double
    var drawingDirection: Bool // Don't want to animate this

    // Tedious manual animatableData declaration
    var animatableData: AnimatablePair<CGPoint.AnimatableData,
                        AnimatablePair<Double, CGPoint.AnimatableData>> {
        get {
            AnimatablePair(startPoint.animatableData,
                          AnimatablePair(elevation, endPoint.animatableData))
        }
        set {
            startPoint.animatableData = newValue.first
            elevation = newValue.second.first
            endPoint.animatableData = newValue.second.second
        }
    }
}

After (@Animatable macro)

@Animatable
struct HikingRouteShape: Shape {
    var startPoint: CGPoint
    var endPoint: CGPoint
    var elevation: Double

    @AnimatableIgnored
    var drawingDirection: Bool // Excluded from animation

    // animatableData automatically synthesized!
}

Key benefits

• Delete manual animatableData property
• Use @AnimatableIgnored for properties to exclude
• SwiftUI automatically synthesizes animation data

Cross-reference SwiftUI Animation — Comprehensive animation guide covering VectorArithmetic, Animatable protocol, @Animatable macro, animation types, Transaction system, and performance optimization

---

3D Spatial Layout (visionOS)

Alignment3D

Depth-based layout

struct SunPositionView: View {
    @State private var timeOfDay: Double = 12.0

    var body: some View {
        HikingRouteView()
            .overlay(alignment: sunAlignment) {
                SunView()
                    .spatialOverlay(alignment: sunAlignment)
            }
    }

    var sunAlignment: Alignment3D {
        // Align sun in 3D space based on time of day
        Alignment3D(
            horizontal: .center,
            vertical: .top,
            depth: .back
        )
    }
}

Manipulable Modifier

Interactive 3D objects

Model3D(named: "WaterBottle")
    .manipulable() // People can pick up and move the object

Scene Snapping APIs

@Environment(\.sceneSnapping) var sceneSnapping

var body: some View {
    Model3D(named: item.modelName)
        .overlay(alignment: .bottom) {
            if sceneSnapping.isSnapped {
                Pedestal() // Show pedestal for items snapped to table
            }
        }
}

References

• "Meet SwiftUI spatial layout" (WWDC 2025)
• "Set the scene with SwiftUI in visionOS" (WWDC 2025)
• "What's new in visionOS" (WWDC 2025)

---

Scene Bridging

Overview

Scene bridging allows your UIKit and AppKit lifecycle apps to interoperate with SwiftUI scenes. Apps can use it to open SwiftUI-only scene types or use SwiftUI-exclusive features right from UIKit or AppKit code.

Supported Scene Types

From UIKit/AppKit apps, you can now use

• MenuBarExtra (macOS)
• ImmersiveSpace (visionOS)
• RemoteImmersiveSpace (macOS → Vision Pro)
• AssistiveAccess (iOS 26)

Scene Modifiers

Works with scene modifiers like:

• .windowStyle()
• .immersiveEnvironmentBehavior()

RemoteImmersiveSpace

Mac app renders stereo content on Vision Pro

// In your macOS app
@main
struct MyMacApp: App {
    var body: some Scene {
        WindowGroup {
            ContentView()
        }

        RemoteImmersiveSpace(id: "stereoView") {
            // Render stereo content on Apple Vision Pro
            // Uses CompositorServices
        }
    }
}

Features

• Mac app renders stereo content on Vision Pro
• Hover effects and input events supported
• Uses CompositorServices and Metal

Reference "What's new in Metal rendering for immersive apps" (WWDC 2025)

AssistiveAccess Scene

Special mode for users with cognitive disabilities

@main
struct MyApp: App {
    var body: some Scene {
        WindowGroup {
            ContentView()
        }

        AssistiveAccessScene {
            SimplifiedUI() // UI shown when iPhone is in AssistiveAccess mode
        }
    }
}

Reference "Customize your app for Assistive Access" (WWDC 2025)

---

AppKit Integration Enhancements

SwiftUI Sheets in AppKit

// Show SwiftUI view in AppKit sheet
let hostingController = NSHostingController(rootView: SwiftUISettingsView())
presentAsSheet(hostingController)
// Great for incremental SwiftUI adoption

NSGestureRecognizerRepresentable

// Bridge AppKit gestures to SwiftUI
struct AppKitPanGesture: NSGestureRecognizerRepresentable {
    func makeNSGestureRecognizer(context: Context) -> NSPanGestureRecognizer {
        NSPanGestureRecognizer()
    }

    func updateNSGestureRecognizer(_ recognizer: NSPanGestureRecognizer, context: Context) {
        // Update configuration
    }
}

NSHostingView in Interface Builder

NSHostingView can now be used directly in Interface Builder for gradual SwiftUI adoption.

---

RealityKit Integration

Observable Entities

@Observable
class RealityEntity {
    var position: SIMD3<Float>
    var rotation: simd_quatf
}

struct MyView: View {
    @State private var entity = RealityEntity()

    var body: some View {
        // SwiftUI views automatically observe changes
        Text("Position: \(entity.position.x)")
    }
}

SwiftUI Popovers from RealityKit

// New component allows presenting SwiftUI popovers from RealityKit entities
entity.components[PopoverComponent.self] = PopoverComponent {
    VStack {
        Text("Next photo location")
        Button("Mark Favorite") { }
    }
}

Additional Improvements

• Enhanced coordinate conversion API
• Attachment components
• Synchronizing animations
• Binding to components
• New sizing behaviors for RealityView

Reference "Better Together: SwiftUI & RealityKit" (WWDC 2025)

---

WebView & WebPage

Overview

WebKit now provides full SwiftUI APIs for embedding web content, eliminating the need to drop down to UIKit.

WebView

Display web content

import WebKit

struct ArticleView: View {
    let articleURL: URL

    var body: some View {
        WebView(url: articleURL)
    }
}

WebPage (Observable Model)

Rich interaction with web content

import WebKit

struct BrowserView: View {
    @State private var webPage = WebPage()

    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            // Show page title
            Text(webPage.title ?? "Loading...")

            WebView(page: webPage)

            HStack {
                Button("Back") {
                    webPage.goBack()
                }
                .disabled(!webPage.canGoBack)

                Button("Forward") {
                    webPage.goForward()
                }
                .disabled(!webPage.canGoForward)
            }
        }
    }
}

WebPage features

• Programmatic navigation (goBack(), goForward())
• Access page properties (title, url, canGoBack, canGoForward)
• Observable — SwiftUI views update automatically

Advanced WebKit Features

• Custom user agents
• JavaScript execution
• Custom URL schemes
• And more

Reference "Meet WebKit for SwiftUI" (WWDC 2025)

---

TextEditor with AttributedString

Overview

SwiftUI's new support for rich text editing is great for experiences like commenting on photos. TextView now supports AttributedString!

Note The WWDC transcript uses "TextView" as editorial language. The actual SwiftUI API is TextEditor which now supports AttributedString binding for rich text editing.

Rich Text Editing

struct CommentView: View {
    @State private var comment = AttributedString("Enter your comment")

    var body: some View {
        TextEditor(text: $comment)
            // Built-in text formatting controls included
            // Users can apply bold, italic, underline, etc.
    }
}

Features

• Built-in text formatting controls (bold, italic, underline, colors, etc.)
• Binding to AttributedString preserves formatting
• Automatic toolbar with formatting options

Advanced AttributedString Features

Customization options

• Paragraph styles
• Attribute transformations
• Constrain which attributes users can apply

Reference "Cook up a rich text experience in SwiftUI with AttributedString" (WWDC 2025)

Cross-reference App Intents Integration — AttributedString for Apple Intelligence Use Model action

---

Drag and Drop Enhancements

Multiple Item Dragging

Drag multiple items based on selection

struct PhotoGrid: View {
    @State private var selection: Set<Photo.ID> = []
    let photos: [Photo]

    var body: some View {
        LazyVGrid(columns: columns) {
            ForEach(photos) { photo in
                PhotoCell(photo: photo)
                    .draggable(photo) // Individual item
            }
        }
        .dragContainer { // Container for multiple items
            // Return items based on selection
            selection.map { id in
                photos.first { $0.id == id }
            }
            .compactMap { $0 }
        }
    }
}

Lazy Drag Item Loading

.dragContainer {
    // Items loaded lazily when drop occurs
    // Great for expensive operations like image encoding
    selectedPhotos.map { photo in
        photo.transferRepresentation
    }
}

DragConfiguration

Customize supported operations

.dragConfiguration(.init(supportedOperations: [.copy, .move, .delete]))

Observing Drag Events

.onDragSessionUpdated { session in
    if case .ended(let operation) = session.phase {
        if operation == .delete {
            deleteSelectedPhotos()
        }
    }
}

Drag Preview Formations

.dragPreviewFormation(.stack) // Items stack nicely on top of one another

// Other formations:
// - .default
// - .grid
// - .stack

Complete Example

struct PhotoLibrary: View {
    @State private var selection: Set<Photo.ID> = []
    let photos: [Photo]

    var body: some View {
        LazyVGrid(columns: columns) {
            ForEach(photos) { photo in
                PhotoCell(photo: photo)
            }
        }
        .dragContainer {
            selectedPhotos
        }
        .dragConfiguration(.init(supportedOperations: [.copy, .delete]))
        .dragPreviewFormation(.stack)
        .onDragSessionUpdated { session in
            if case .ended(.delete) = session.phase {
                deleteSelectedPhotos()
            }
        }
    }
}

---

3D Charts

Overview

Swift Charts now supports three-dimensional plotting with Chart3D.

Basic Usage

import Charts

struct ElevationChart: View {
    let hikingData: [HikeDataPoint]

    var body: some View {
        Chart3D {
            ForEach(hikingData) { point in
                LineMark3D(
                    x: .value("Distance", point.distance),
                    y: .value("Elevation", point.elevation),
                    z: .value("Time", point.timestamp)
                )
            }
        }
        .chartXScale(domain: 0...10)
        .chartYScale(domain: 0...3000)
        .chartZScale(domain: startTime...endTime) // Z-specific modifier
    }
}

Features

• Chart3D container
• Z-axis specific modifiers (.chartZScale(), .chartZAxis(), etc.)
• All existing chart marks with 3D variants

Reference "Bring Swift Charts to the third dimension" (WWDC 2025)

---

Widgets & Controls

Controls on watchOS and macOS

watchOS 26

struct FavoriteLocationControl: ControlWidget {
    var body: some ControlWidgetConfiguration {
        StaticControlConfiguration(kind: "FavoriteLocation") {
            ControlWidgetButton(action: MarkFavoriteIntent()) {
                Label("Mark Favorite", systemImage: "star")
            }
        }
    }
}
// Access from watch face or Shortcuts

macOS

Controls now appear in Control Center on Mac.

Widgets on visionOS

Level of detail customization

struct CountdownWidget: Widget {
    var body: some WidgetConfiguration {
        StaticConfiguration(kind: "Countdown") { entry in
            CountdownView(entry: entry)
        }
    }
}

struct CountdownView: View {
    @Environment(\.levelOfDetail) var levelOfDetail
    let entry: CountdownEntry

    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            Text(entry.date, style: .timer)

            if levelOfDetail == .expanded {
                // Show photos when close to widget
                PhotoCarousel(photos: entry.recentPhotos)
            }
        }
    }
}

Widgets on CarPlay

Live Activities on CarPlay

Live Activities now appear on CarPlay displays for glanceable information while driving.

Additional Widget Features

• Push-based updating API
• New relevance APIs for watchOS

Reference "What's new in widgets" (WWDC 2025)

---

Migration Checklist

Deprecated APIs

❌ Remove in iPadOS 26

<key>UIRequiresFullscreen</key>
<!-- Entire property list key is deprecated (all values) -->

Apps must support resizable windows on iPad.

Automatic Adoptions (Recompile Only)

✅ Liquid Glass design for navigation, tab bars, toolbars ✅ Bottom-aligned search on iPhone ✅ List performance improvements (6x loading, 16x updating) ✅ Scrolling performance improvements ✅ System controls (toggles, pickers, sliders) new appearance

Manual Adoptions (Code Changes)

🔧 Toolbar spacers (.fixed) 🔧 Tinted prominent buttons in toolbars 🔧 Glass effect for custom views (.glassBackgroundEffect()) 🔧 Search tab role (.tabRole(.search)) 🔧 iPad menu bar (.commands) 🔧 Window resize anchor (.windowResizeAnchor()) 🔧 @Animatable macro for custom shapes/modifiers 🔧 WebView for web content 🔧 TextEditor with AttributedString binding 🔧 Enhanced drag and drop with .dragContainer 🔧 Slider thumb visibility (.sliderThumbVisibility()) 🔧 Safe area bars with blur (.safeAreaBar() + .scrollEdgeEffectStyle()) 🔧 In-app URL opening (openURL(url, prefersInApp: true)) 🔧 Close and confirm button roles (Button(role: .close)) 🔧 Glass button styles (GlassButtonStyle — iOS 26.1+) 🔧 Button sizing control (.buttonSizing()) 🔧 Compact search toolbar (.searchToolbarBehavior(.minimize))

---

Best Practices

Performance

DO

• Profile with new SwiftUI performance instrument
• Use lazy stacks in nested ScrollViews
• Trust automatic list performance improvements

DON'T

• Over-optimize - let framework improvements help first
• Ignore long view body updates in profiler

Liquid Glass Design

DO

• Recompile and test automatic appearance
• Use toolbar spacers for logical grouping
• Apply glass effect to custom views that benefit from reflections

DON'T

• Fight the automatic design - embrace consistency
• Over-tint toolbars (use for prominence only)

Layout & Spacing

DO

• Use .safeAreaPadding() for edge-to-edge content (iOS 17+)
• Combine .safeAreaPadding() with Liquid Glass materials extending edge-to-edge
• Use .padding() for internal spacing between views

DON'T

• Use .padding() when content extends to screen edges (ignores notch/home indicator)
• Manually calculate safe area insets with GeometryReader on iOS 17+ (use .safeAreaPadding() instead)

Reference: See swiftui-layout-ref skill for complete .safeAreaPadding() vs .padding() guide, or liquid-glass-ref for Liquid Glass-specific safe area patterns.

Rich Text

DO

• Use AttributedString binding for TextEditor
• Constrain attributes if needed for your use case
• Consider localization with rich text

DON'T

• Use plain String and lose formatting
• Allow all attributes without considering UX

Spatial Layout (visionOS)

DO

• Use Alignment3D for depth-based layouts
• Enable .manipulable() for objects users should interact with
• Check scene snapping state for context-aware UI

DON'T

• Use 2D alignment APIs for 3D layouts
• Make all objects manipulable (only what makes sense)

---

Troubleshooting

Issue: Liquid Glass appearance not showing

Symptom App still has old design after updating to iOS 26 SDK

Solution

1. Clean build folder (Shift-Cmd-K)
2. Rebuild with Xcode 16+ targeting iOS 26 SDK
3. Check deployment target is iOS 26+

Issue: Bottom-aligned search not appearing on iPhone

Symptom Search remains at top on iPhone

Solution

// ✅ CORRECT: searchable on NavigationSplitView
NavigationSplitView {
    List { }
        .searchable(text: $query)
}

// ❌ WRONG: searchable on List directly in non-navigation context
List { }
    .searchable(text: $query)

Issue: @Animatable macro not synthesizing animatableData

Symptom Compile error "Type does not conform to Animatable"

Solution

// Ensure all properties are either:
// 1. VectorArithmetic conforming types (Double, CGFloat, CGPoint, etc.)
// 2. Marked with @AnimatableIgnored

@Animatable
struct MyShape: Shape {
    var radius: Double // ✅ VectorArithmetic
    var position: CGPoint // ✅ VectorArithmetic

    @AnimatableIgnored
    var fillColor: Color // ✅ Ignored (Color is not VectorArithmetic)
}

Issue: AttributedString formatting lost in TextEditor

Symptom Rich text formatting disappears

Solution

// ✅ CORRECT: Binding to AttributedString
@State private var text = AttributedString("Hello")
TextEditor(text: $text)

// ❌ WRONG: Binding to String
@State private var text = "Hello"
TextEditor(text: $text) // Plain String loses formatting

Issue: Drag and drop delete not working

Symptom Dragging to Dock trash doesn't delete items

Solution

// Must include .delete in supported operations
.dragConfiguration(.init(supportedOperations: [.copy, .delete]))

// And observe the delete event
.onDragSessionUpdated { session in
    if case .ended(.delete) = session.phase {
        deleteItems()
    }
}

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Related WWDC Sessions

Core SwiftUI

• What's new in SwiftUI (WWDC 2025-256) — This skill's primary source
• Build a SwiftUI app with the new design
• Optimize SwiftUI performance with instruments
• Explore concurrency in SwiftUI

Platform-Specific

• Elevate the design of your iPad app
• Meet SwiftUI spatial layout (visionOS)
• Set the scene with SwiftUI in visionOS
• What's new in visionOS

Integration

• Meet WebKit for SwiftUI
• Better Together: SwiftUI & RealityKit
• What's new in Metal rendering for immersive apps
• Customize your app for Assistive Access

Advanced Topics

• Cook up a rich text experience in SwiftUI with AttributedString
• Bring Swift Charts to the third dimension
• What's new in widgets
• Embracing Swift concurrency

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Cross-References

Axiom Skills

• SwiftUI Performance — Master the SwiftUI Instrument
• Liquid Glass — Apple's material design system
• Swift Concurrency — Swift 6 strict concurrency
• App Intents Integration — AttributedString for Apple Intelligence

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Resources

Apple Documentation

• SwiftUI Overview
• WebKit Framework
• AttributedString
• Swift Charts

WWDC 2025 Sessions

• What's new in SwiftUI (Session 256)

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Last Updated Based on WWDC 2025-256 "What's new in SwiftUI" Version iOS 26+, iPadOS 26+, macOS Tahoe+, watchOS 26+, visionOS 26+