axiom-swiftui-26-ref_skill

Overview

This skill documents SwiftUI features and platform refinements introduced for iOS 26+ (and related xOS releases), focused on practical APIs and migration patterns. It covers Liquid Glass design adoption, controls and toolbar updates, Slider and safeAreaBar improvements, WebView and rich text editing, 3D/visionOS layout, performance gains, and Swift concurrency integration. Use it as a concise reference when upgrading apps to iOS 26 and adopting new UI affordances.

How this skill works

The skill inspects new SwiftUI APIs and platform behaviors introduced in iOS 26+, explaining what changes automatically when you recompile and which APIs require explicit use. It summarizes UI primitives (ToolbarSpacer, DefaultToolbarItem, glass effects, new button roles/sizing), control enhancements (Slider ticks, enabledBounds, thumb visibility), search and toolbar behavior changes, scene/bridge patterns, and performance/security improvements like compile-time concurrency safety. It highlights migration notes and availability guards to maintain backward compatibility.

When to use it

• Recompiling an app to adopt the Liquid Glass design system and related visual defaults
• Implementing rich text editing with AttributedString or embedding web content via WebView/WebPage
• Adding advanced sliders (ticks, constrained ranges, current value labels) or sticky safe area bars with blur
• Optimizing large lists, nested scroll views, and preparing for SwiftUI performance profiling
• Building visionOS 3D spatial layouts, bridging SwiftUI scenes to UIKit/AppKit, or adding 3D charts/widgets
• Using new toolbar APIs (ToolbarSpacer, toolbar(id:), DefaultToolbarItem) and user-customizable toolbars

Best practices

• Recompile with iOS 26 SDK to get automatic Liquid Glass adoption; remove conflicting presentationBackground customizations
• Wrap iOS-26-only APIs in availability checks to preserve compatibility with older OS targets
• Use toolbar(id:) and ToolbarItem(id:) for stable toolbar animations across navigation transitions
• Prefer SliderTickContentForEach only when value types match; map custom model values to numeric stops when needed
• Use GlassEffectContainer when multiple glass elements are adjacent to avoid sampling artifacts
• Profile large lists and complex view bodies with the new SwiftUI Performance instrument before optimizing by hand

Example use cases

• Mail app: morphing bottom toolbars with toolbar(id:) so compose button remains stable across pushes
• Audio player: hide slider thumb, show progress ticks, and constrain selection with enabledBounds
• Reader app: AttributedString rich text editing and in-app web pages with prefersInApp openURL behavior
• Photo gallery: nested horizontal carousels with LazyHStack + vertical lazy stacks to improve memory and scroll responsiveness
• visionOS: build spatial 3D layouts and charts with Chart3D and bridge scenes from existing UIKit views