what's new with swiftui in ios 18?

In iOS 18, SwiftUI introduces several new features and improvements. Here are some of the key updates:

1. Graphics Capabilities:

   • New mix modifier on color to blend colors by a given amount.
   • Extended custom shader feature with precompilation to avoid frame drops.

2. Scroll View Enhancements:

   • Fine-grained control over scroll views with onScrollGeometryChange.
   • Ability to detect view visibility changes due to scrolling.
   • More programmatic control over scroll positions and content alignment.

3. Swift 6 Language Mode:

   • Compile-time data race safety.
   • Views in SwiftUI are now marked with the @MainActor annotation, ensuring they are isolated to the main actor by default.

4. Custom Containers and Mesh Gradients:

   • New APIs for creating custom containers.
   • Support for beautiful mesh gradients.

5. Improved Interoperability:

   • Gesture recognition and animations have been factored out of UIKit, allowing their use in SwiftUI views.
   • Enhanced integration between SwiftUI and UIKit/AppKit.

6. New Tab View Syntax:

   • Easier to catch common errors at build time.
   • New syntax for declaring tabs with title, image, and content view.

For a detailed overview, you can watch the session What’s new in SwiftUI.

Relevant Sessions

• What’s new in SwiftUI
• Platforms State of the Union