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SwiftUI 26 Features Reference ​

Comprehensive guide to iOS 26 SwiftUI features from WWDC 2025-256.

Overview ​

Complete reference for new SwiftUI APIs, modifiers, and capabilities introduced in iOS 26. Covers Liquid Glass design system, performance improvements, WebView integration, rich text editing, 3D charts, and more.

What's New in iOS 26 ​

Liquid Glass Design System ​

Material Design Evolution ​

  • .glassBackgroundEffect() - New glass material modifier
  • Regular vs Clear variants
  • Dynamic tinting and vibrancy
  • Replaces UIVisualEffectView and blur effects

Toolbar Enhancements ​

  • .toolbarRole(.navigationStack) - Smart spacing
  • Bottom-aligned search fields
  • Drawer-style search placement
  • .searchFieldPlacement(.navigationBarDrawer(displayMode: .always))

Tab Bar Improvements ​

  • .tabRole(.search) - Search tab role
  • Enhanced tab item customization
  • Material-aware tab backgrounds

Performance Improvements ​

Framework Optimizations ​

  • 6x faster simple lists
  • 16x faster complex lists
  • Improved scrolling performance
  • Nested ScrollView optimization
  • Reduced memory footprint

SwiftUI Instrument (Instruments 26) ​

  • Long view body detection
  • Cause & Effect Graph
  • Per-view performance metrics
  • Update frequency tracking

@Animatable Macro (iOS 26+) ​

swift
@Animatable
struct CustomView: View {
    var progress: Double  // Auto-animatable!

    var body: some View {
        // View updates smoothly with .animation()
    }
}

Benefits ​

  • Auto-generates animatable conformance
  • Eliminates boilerplate
  • Type-safe animation interpolation
  • Works with custom property wrappers

WebView Integration ​

Native WebView in SwiftUI ​

swift
WebView(url: URL(string: "https://example.com")!)
    .onNavigationAction { action in
        // Handle navigation
    }
    .onLoadStatusChanged { status in
        // Track loading state
    }

WebPage for Custom HTML ​

swift
WebPage(html: """
    <html><body>
        <h1>Hello SwiftUI</h1>
    </body></html>
""")

Rich Text Editing ​

AttributedString Editing ​

swift
TextEditor(text: $attributedString)
    .textFormatting([.bold, .italic, .underline])
    .textColor(\.foreground, color: .blue)

Features ​

  • Inline formatting controls
  • Character-level styling
  • Markdown export
  • Custom attributes

3D Charts ​

Spatial Chart Types ​

swift
Chart3D {
    ForEach(data) { item in
        BarMark3D(x: .value("X", item.x),
                  y: .value("Y", item.y),
                  z: .value("Z", item.z))
    }
}
.chartPerspective(.orthographic)

Supported Types ​

  • BarMark3D
  • LineMark3D
  • PointMark3D
  • SurfaceMark3D

Spatial Layout ​

3D Layout System ​

swift
SpatialStack {
    ForEach(items) { item in
        CardView(item)
            .offset3D(x: item.x, y: item.y, z: item.z)
    }
}
.perspective(.default)

Capabilities ​

  • True 3D positioning
  • Perspective transforms
  • Depth sorting
  • Touch interaction in 3D space

Scene Bridging ​

UIKit-SwiftUI Integration ​

swift
// Embed UIKit in SwiftUI
UIViewControllerRepresenting {
    MyViewController()
}
.sceneBridge()  // Smoother transitions

// Embed SwiftUI in UIKit
hostingController.view.sceneBridge = true

Benefits ​

  • Seamless animation transitions
  • Shared state management
  • Reduced memory overhead
  • Better gesture handling

Other Enhancements ​

Drag and Drop ​

  • Multi-item drag support
  • Custom drag previews
  • Drop destination customization
  • System integration

visionOS Integration ​

  • Window groups for spatial apps
  • Immersive spaces
  • RealityView enhancements
  • Hand tracking support

When to Use This Reference ​

Use this reference when:

  • Adopting iOS 26 features
  • Planning modern SwiftUI architecture
  • Migrating from UIKit to SwiftUI
  • Reviewing new API capabilities
  • Building iOS 26+ exclusive features

Migration Checklist ​

From iOS 18 → iOS 26 ​

Liquid Glass Adoption ​

  • [ ] Replace .blur() with .glassBackgroundEffect()
  • [ ] Update navigation bars with .toolbarRole()
  • [ ] Migrate search to drawer placement
  • [ ] Review tab bar for glass materials

Performance ​

  • [ ] Profile with new SwiftUI Instrument
  • [ ] Identify long view bodies
  • [ ] Optimize with @Animatable macro
  • [ ] Test nested ScrollView performance

New Capabilities ​

  • [ ] Consider WebView for web content
  • [ ] Replace AttributedText with TextEditor enhancements
  • [ ] Explore 3D charts for data visualization
  • [ ] Review spatial layout opportunities

WWDC 2025 Sessions ​

  • WWDC 2025-256: What's New in SwiftUI
  • WWDC 2025-268: Swift Concurrency Updates
  • WWDC 2025-260: App Intents Integration

Documentation Scope ​

This is a reference skill — comprehensive API catalog without mandatory workflows.

Reference includes ​

  • Complete feature list
  • API examples
  • Migration strategies
  • Performance characteristics
  • Platform considerations

Size ​

32 KB - Complete iOS 26 SwiftUI reference

Released under the MIT License

Copyright © 2025 Charles Wiltgen • v0.9.33