SwiftUI Gestures (iOS 26+)

Review, write, and fix SwiftUI gesture interactions. Apply modern gesture APIs with correct composition, state management, and conflict resolution using Swift 6.3 patterns.

Contents

• Gesture Overview
• TapGesture
• LongPressGesture
• DragGesture
• MagnifyGesture (iOS 17+)
• RotateGesture (iOS 17+)
• Gesture Composition
• @GestureState
• Adding Gestures to Views
• Custom Gesture Protocol
• Common Mistakes
• Review Checklist
• References

Gesture Overview

Discrete gestures fire once (.onEnded). Continuous gestures stream updates (.onChanged, .onEnded, .updating).

TapGesture

Recognizes one or more taps. Use the count parameter for multi-tap.

// Single, double, and triple tap
TapGesture()            .onEnded { tapped.toggle() }
TapGesture(count: 2)    .onEnded { handleDoubleTap() }
TapGesture(count: 3)    .onEnded { handleTripleTap() }

// Shorthand modifier
Text("Tap me").onTapGesture(count: 2) { handleDoubleTap() }

LongPressGesture

Succeeds after the user holds for minimumDuration. Fails if finger moves beyond maximumDistance.

// Basic long press (0.5s default)
LongPressGesture()
    .onEnded { _ in showMenu = true }

// Custom duration and distance tolerance
LongPressGesture(minimumDuration: 1.0, maximumDistance: 10)
    .onEnded { _ in triggerHaptic() }

With visual feedback via @GestureState + .updating():

@GestureState private var isPressing = false

Circle()
    .fill(isPressing ? .red : .blue)
    .scaleEffect(isPressing ? 1.2 : 1.0)
    .gesture(
        LongPressGesture(minimumDuration: 0.8)
            .updating($isPressing) { current, state, _ in state = current }
            .onEnded { _ in completedLongPress = true }
    )

Shorthand: .onLongPressGesture(minimumDuration:perform:onPressingChanged:).

DragGesture

Tracks finger movement. Value provides startLocation, location, translation, velocity, and predictedEndTranslation.

@State private var offset = CGSize.zero

RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: 16)
    .fill(.blue)
    .frame(width: 100, height: 100)
    .offset(offset)
    .gesture(
        DragGesture()
            .onChanged { value in offset = value.translation }
            .onEnded { _ in withAnimation(.spring) { offset = .zero } }
    )

Configure minimum distance and coordinate space:

DragGesture(minimumDistance: 20, coordinateSpace: .global)

MagnifyGesture (iOS 17+)

Replaces the deprecated MagnificationGesture. Tracks pinch-to-zoom scale.

@GestureState private var magnifyBy = 1.0

Image("photo")
    .resizable().scaledToFit()
    .scaleEffect(magnifyBy)
    .gesture(
        MagnifyGesture()
            .updating($magnifyBy) { value, state, _ in
                state = value.magnification
            }
    )

With persisted scale:

@State private var currentScale = 1.0
@GestureState private var gestureScale = 1.0

Image("photo")
    .scaleEffect(currentScale * gestureScale)
    .gesture(
        MagnifyGesture(minimumScaleDelta: 0.01)
            .updating($gestureScale) { value, state, _ in state = value.magnification }
            .onEnded { value in
                currentScale = min(max(currentScale * value.magnification, 0.5), 5.0)
            }
    )

RotateGesture (iOS 17+)

RotateGesture is the newer alternative to RotationGesture. Tracks two-finger rotation angle.

@State private var angle = Angle.zero

Rectangle()
    .fill(.blue).frame(width: 200, height: 200)
    .rotationEffect(angle)
    .gesture(
        RotateGesture(minimumAngleDelta: .degrees(1))
            .onChanged { value in angle = value.rotation }
    )

With persisted rotation:

@State private var currentAngle = Angle.zero
@GestureState private var gestureAngle = Angle.zero

Rectangle()
    .rotationEffect(currentAngle + gestureAngle)
    .gesture(
        RotateGesture()
            .updating($gestureAngle) { value, state, _ in state = value.rotation }
            .onEnded { value in currentAngle += value.rotation }
    )

Gesture Composition