tableviewcell | Ask WWDC

TableViewCell Updates in WWDC 2024

In the session titled What’s new in UIKit, several updates were introduced for UITableViewCell and related APIs:

Automatic Trait Tracking:
- Automatic trait tracking in iOS 18 simplifies the process of updating views when traits change. This feature is always active within supported update methods, ensuring maximum performance by only creating necessary trait dependencies. This is particularly useful for UITableViewCell as it ensures that cells are updated appropriately when traits like horizontal size class change.
- What’s new in UIKit
List Environment Trait:
- All views in UITableView now have the list environment trait set. This trait describes the style of the list that the view is in, ensuring that cells are styled appropriately. The UIListContentConfiguration and UIBackgroundConfiguration now take advantage of this new trait, automatically adjusting their properties to match the list environment from the configuration state's trait collection.
- What’s new in UIKit
Simplified Cell Configuration:
- The new list environment trait allows for simplified cell configuration. When configurations are applied to a cell, they are updated for the cell's configuration state. This means that the existing cell subtitle, cell, and value cell configurations now automatically update their appearance based on the list environment trait.
- What’s new in UIKit
New Constructors for Background Configuration:
- There are three new constructors for UIBackgroundConfiguration: list cell, list header, and list footer. These configurations also update their appearance automatically from the list environment trait, further simplifying the code needed to style cells.
- What’s new in UIKit

These updates make it easier to manage and style UITableViewCell in iOS 18, reducing the need for manual configuration and ensuring that cells automatically adapt to changes in the list environment.