What is new for UIKit in 2024?

Generated on 8/8/2024

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In 2024, UIKit has introduced several new features and enhancements in iOS 18. Here are the key updates:

  1. Document Launch Experience:

    • Redesigned launch experience for document-based apps, allowing full control over launch views and design.
    • First-class support for template document creation to guide users in creating their first document while maintaining a great browsing experience.

  2. Tabs and Sidebar Updates:

    • Major updates to tabs and sidebar, including a new API to better describe your app hierarchy to UITabBarController.
    • New syntax in SwiftUI for TabView to catch common errors at build time and ensure consistent selection types.

  3. Fluid Transitions:

    • Support for new fluid transitions across the system, enhancing the sense of continuity in your app by keeping the same UI elements on screen during transitions.

  4. SwiftUI and UIKit Interoperability:

    • Enhanced interoperability between SwiftUI and UIKit, making it easier to use them interchangeably in apps.
    • Ability to use SwiftUI animation types to animate UIKit views, including custom animations and gesture-driven animations.

  5. Gesture Recognizers:

    • Gesture recognition has been factored out of UIKit, allowing the use of built-in or custom UI gesture recognizers in SwiftUI view hierarchies.

  6. Automatic Trait Tracking:

    • Automatic trait tracking to help manage and adapt to different environments and user settings.

  7. List Improvements:

    • Various improvements to list handling and presentation.

  8. UIUpdateLink:

    • Introduction of UIUpdateLink for more efficient and responsive UI updates.

  9. SF Symbol Animations:

    • New animations for SF Symbols to enhance visual feedback and interactivity.

  10. Sensory Feedback:

    • Enhanced sensory feedback capabilities to provide a more immersive user experience.

  11. Text Improvements:

    • Various improvements to text handling and rendering.

  12. Menu Actions:

    • Enhanced support for menu actions to provide more interactive and context-aware options.

  13. Apple Pencil Pro and PencilKit:

    • New features and improvements for Apple Pencil Pro and PencilKit, enhancing the drawing and note-taking experience.

For more detailed information, you can watch the session What’s new in UIKit.

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