SwiftUI in 2025: The Complete Guide from Beginner to Expert

Published on · 47 min

Wlad
Wlad
Founder & Swift Tech Lead
Swift SwiftUI iOS Apple UI Frontend Mobile

SwiftUI has come a long way since its surprise announcement at WWDC 2019. Six years later, Apple's declarative framework has established itself as the go-to reference for building interfaces across the entire Apple ecosystem. But is it really production-ready? When should you adopt it? How do you use it effectively? This comprehensive guide answers all these questions, from your first Text("Hello") to the most advanced performance optimizations.

Why SwiftUI Changed Everything

The Problem Apple Wanted to Solve

Before SwiftUI, developing an iOS interface meant using UIKit — a powerful but verbose framework inherited from the Objective-C era. Creating a simple login screen required dozens of lines of code: instantiating views, configuring Auto Layout constraints, wiring up delegates, manually managing state updates.

UIKit follows an imperative paradigm: you describe how to build and modify the interface step by step. SwiftUI takes the opposite approach, a declarative paradigm: you describe what the interface should display, and the framework handles the rest.

The difference is striking: 50+ lines vs 20, zero manual constraint management, and most importantly, code that reads like a description of the interface.

The Concrete Benefits of SwiftUI

1. Increased Productivity Interface development time is reduced by 30-50% according to community feedback. Less boilerplate means fewer bugs and more time for business logic.

2. Real-time Preview Xcode instantly displays the rendering of your views without full compilation. You modify the code, you see the result. This ultra-fast feedback loop radically changes the way you work.

3. Automatic Animations SwiftUI automatically animates state transitions. Add .animation(.spring(), value: isExpanded) and the framework elegantly interpolates between the two states.

4. Native Accessibility SwiftUI components are accessible by default. VoiceOver, Dynamic Type, contrast — everything works without extra effort in most cases.

5. True Multi-platform The same SwiftUI code can target iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS. Not a marketing promise: a technical reality with automatic per-platform adaptations.

Timeline of Major Evolutions (2019-2025)

iOS 13 (2019): The Birth

SwiftUI 1.0 was promising but limited. The foundations were solid — the state management system, property wrappers @State, @Binding, @ObservedObject — but the gaps were numerous:

  • No LazyVStack/LazyHStack (catastrophic performance on long lists)

  • Very basic List, without customizable swipe actions

  • Primitive navigation with inflexible NavigationView

  • No TextField with programmatic focus

  • No native SearchBar

  • Laborious UIKit interoperability

Verdict 2019: Usable only for secondary screens or prototypes.

iOS 14 (2020): Foundations Solidify

Apple listened to feedback and delivered major improvements:

Key additions:

  • LazyVStack, LazyHStack, LazyVGrid, LazyHGrid

  • @StateObject for instantiating ObservableObjects

  • App protocol and @main (goodbye AppDelegate for simple apps)

  • ScrollViewReader for programmatic scrolling

  • Widgets with WidgetKit (SwiftUI only)

Verdict 2020: Viable for complete apps but with frequent workarounds.

iOS 15 (2021): Maturity Approaches

Key additions:

  • @FocusState for keyboard focus

  • Native .searchable

  • .refreshable for pull-to-refresh

  • .task for async operations

  • AsyncImage for remote image loading

  • Customizable swipe actions on List

  • Canvas for performant drawing

  • Material backgrounds (.ultraThinMaterial, etc.)

Verdict 2021: Production-ready for most apps, with some UIKit workarounds for complex cases.

iOS 16 (2022): NavigationStack Revolutionizes Navigation

This is THE release that changed the game for complex apps:

Key additions:

  • NavigationStack and NavigationSplitView replace NavigationView

  • Programmatic navigation with NavigationPath

  • Integrated Swift Charts

  • Layout protocol for custom layouts

  • ViewThatFits for adaptive layouts

  • Grid for complex grids

  • Major improvements to TextField and TextEditor

Verdict 2022: SwiftUI becomes viable for all apps, including the most complex ones.

iOS 17 (2023): The Tipping Point

iOS 17 marks a decisive turning point. Apple introduced the @Observable macro, drastically simplifying state management:

Key additions:

  • @Observable macro (radically simplifies state management)

  • #Preview macro (replaces PreviewProvider)

  • Phase animations (phaseAnimator)

  • scrollTransition for scroll effects

  • contentMargins for content margins

  • ScrollView improvements (pagination, position)

  • TipKit for user hints

  • Sensory feedback (declarative haptics)

Verdict 2023: SwiftUI is officially production-ready. Recommended tipping point.

iOS 18/26 (2024): Refinements and visionOS

Important note: Since September 2025, Apple has unified the versioning of all its operating systems to version 26 (iOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, visionOS 26). iOS 18 therefore corresponds to versions deployed between June 2024 and September 2025.

Key additions:

  • MeshGradient for complex gradients

  • Zoom navigation transitions

  • Custom controls in Control Center

  • Accessibility improvements

  • Performance optimizations

iOS 26 (2025): Current State

In 2025, with the alignment to iOS 26, SwiftUI includes:

  • Full visionOS and spatial computing support

  • Continuous performance improvements

  • Increasingly complete APIs

  • Deep integration with Swift 6 and its concurrency model

When to Adopt SwiftUI in Production?

My Recommendation: iOS 17+ as Baseline

After six years of evolution and dozens of projects, here's my clear opinion:

iOS 17 is the ideal tipping point for several reasons:

  • @Observable changes everything: No more @Published, @ObservedObject, @StateObject boilerplate. Code is 30% more concise and infinitely more readable.

  • API maturity: NavigationStack (iOS 16), Charts, Layout protocol — everything that was missing is now stable.

  • Native performance: Accumulated optimizations mean SwiftUI rivals UIKit in raw performance.

  • Market coverage: In 2025, iOS 17+ represents approximately 85-90% of active devices.

Exceptions Where UIKit Remains Relevant

  • Apps with very specific accessibility needs requiring fine-grained control over UIAccessibility

  • Advanced text editors (Notion-type) — UIKit's TextKit 2 remains more complete

  • Massive existing apps — progressive migration via UIHostingController

  • iOS 15 support constraints (rare case in 2025)

State Management: From Beginner to Expert

Beginner Level: The Basics

SwiftUI uses property wrappers to manage state. Here are the fundamentals:

Golden rule: @State for local state, @Binding for sharing with children.

Intermediate Level: Shared State

For state shared between multiple views that aren't directly related:

Advanced Level: Clean MVVM Architecture

Advanced Navigation

Complete Programmatic Navigation

Deep Linking

Advanced Animations

Interactive Animations

UIKit Interoperability

Integrating UIKit into SwiftUI

Integrating SwiftUI into UIKit

Performance and Optimization

Identifying Performance Issues

Essential Optimizations

Common Pitfalls and Solutions

1. Closure Capture in Views

2. Excessive NavigationLink Instantiation

3. Incorrect Shared State

4. Task Cancellation

5. Environment Overuse

Best Practices 2025

Recommended Architecture

  • MVVM with @Observable: Simple, testable, performant

  • Injected services: Protocols for testability

  • Centralized navigation: Router with NavigationPath

  • Minimal state: Only what drives the UI

Naming Conventions

Recommended File Structure

Going Further

Official Apple Documentation

Essential WWDC Sessions

  • WWDC 2023: "Discover Observation in SwiftUI" — Introduction to @Observable

  • WWDC 2022: "The SwiftUI cookbook for navigation" — NavigationStack in depth

  • WWDC 2022: "Compose custom layouts with SwiftUI" — Layout protocol

  • WWDC 2021: "Demystify SwiftUI" — Understanding the rendering engine

  • WWDC 2020: "Structure your app for SwiftUI previews" — Code organization

Community Resources

SwiftUI in 2025 is a mature, performant, and complete framework. The era of compromises and UIKit workarounds is over for the vast majority of projects. If you're starting a new iOS, macOS, or multi-platform Apple project, SwiftUI with iOS 17+ as baseline is the obvious choice.

In an upcoming article, we'll explore the SwiftUI features announced at WWDC 2025 and their impact on our architectures.