What Changed in SwiftUI

Changes in SwiftUI

New Graphics Capabilities

• Color Mixing: A new mix modifier on Color allows blending colors by a given amount.
• Custom Shaders: Extended custom shader feature with precompilation to avoid frame drops.

Scrolling Enhancements

• Fine-Grained Control: New APIs for better control over scroll views.
• On Scroll Geometry Change: React to changes in content, offsets, and content size.
• Visibility Detection: Detect when a view's visibility changes due to scrolling.
• Programmatic Control: More scroll positions to programmatically scroll to, like the top edge.
• Additional Customizations: Options to turn off bouncing along a given axis, programmatically stop scrolling, and control content alignment.

Swift 6 Language Mode

• Compile-Time Data Race Safety: New language mode for safer code.
• Main Actor Annotation: Views in SwiftUI are now marked with the main actor annotation, isolating them to the main actor by default.

Accessibility Improvements

• Accessibility Labels: Add additional accessibility information without overriding the framework-provided label.
• Conditional Modifier Support: New accessibility features like conditional modifier support and app intent-based accessibility actions.

Xcode Previews

• Dynamic Linking Architecture: Switch between preview and build without rebuilding the project.
• Previewable Macro: Use state directly in previews, reducing boilerplate code.

Text and Selection Management

• Text Selection: Programmatic access to and control of text selection within text editing controls.

Interoperability with UIKit and AppKit

• Gesture and Animation Integration: Use built-in or custom UI gesture recognizers in SwiftUI view hierarchy.
• Animation Setup: Set up animations on UIKit or AppKit views and drive them with SwiftUI.

Customizations and New APIs

• Custom Containers: New options for creating custom containers.
• Mesh Gradients: New gradient options for more complex visual effects.
• Text Renderer API: Enables advanced visual effects and animations.

For a detailed overview, you can watch the session What’s new in SwiftUI starting at 14:17.