Liquid Glass and modern SwiftUI

The current landscape

Two releases matter right now, and knowing which is which decides your deployment target.

Everything below is marked with the version it needs.

Liquid Glass (iOS 26+)

Text("Now playing")
    .padding()
    .glassEffect()

The default is .regular. .clear is more transparent, for use over imagery.

.glassEffect(.regular, in: .capsule)
.glassEffect(.clear.interactive(), in: .rect(cornerRadius: 20))

.interactive() adds the scale and shimmer response on touch. Apply the effect after layout and styling modifiers — it works on the final shape of the view. Order it wrong and you can see why: .glassEffect().padding() pours the material over the bare label and then pads outside it — a tight glass pill floating in empty inset — while .padding().glassEffect() pours it over the padded control, the full-size bar you meant. Same modifiers, two different pieces of glass.

GlassEffectContainer

When several glass elements sit near each other, wrap them so they sample the same backdrop and blend as one material rather than stacking:

GlassEffectContainer(spacing: 12) {
    HStack(spacing: 12) {
        Button { } label: { Image(systemName: "backward.fill") }
            .glassEffect()
        Button { } label: { Image(systemName: "play.fill") }
            .glassEffect()
        Button { } label: { Image(systemName: "forward.fill") }
            .glassEffect()
    }
}

Without the container, three separate glass layers overlap and the result looks muddy. With it, they merge — and morph into one another when they move close.

Toolbars (iOS 27)

The 2026 additions exist because iPhone apps became resizable, so a toolbar has to survive widths it was never designed for.

.toolbar {
    ToolbarItemGroup(placement: .topBarTrailing) {
        Button("Share") { }
            .visibilityPriority(.high)      // keep this one visible longest
        Button("Duplicate") { }
        Button("Info") { }
    }
    ToolbarOverflowMenu {                   // always in the "…" menu
        Button("Export") { }
        Button("Print") { }
    }
}
.toolbarMinimizeBehavior(.onScrollDown, for: .navigationBar)

• visibilityPriority(_:) — which items survive as space shrinks.
• ToolbarOverflowMenu — items that live in the overflow menu permanently.
• .topBarPinnedTrailing — a placement that is never collapsed.
• .toolbarMinimizeBehavior(.onScrollDown,for:) — collapse the bar while scrolling down.

Tabs

TabView {
    Tab("Home", systemImage: "house") { HomeView() }
    Tab("Search", systemImage: "magnifyingglass", role: .search) { SearchView() }
    Tab("Create", systemImage: "plus", role: .prominent) { CreateView() }   // iOS 27
}
.tabViewStyle(.sidebarAdaptable)

The Tab builder replaced .tabItem in iOS 18. role: .search gets the system search treatment; role: .prominent (iOS 27) visually elevates a primary action.

Reorderable containers (iOS 27)

Drag-to-reorder used to require List and onMove. Now any container can do it:

LazyVGrid(columns: columns) {
    ForEach(items) { item in
        ItemCell(item: item)
    }
    .reorderable()
}
.reorderContainer(for: Item.self) { difference in
    difference.apply(to: &items)
}

AsyncImage caching (iOS 27)

AsyncImage now respects standard HTTP cache headers with no code change — a real fix for the long-standing complaint that it re-downloaded on every appearance. For finer control:

.asyncImageURLSession(URLSession(configuration: myConfiguration))

Scroll effects (iOS 17–18 — older than they look)

ScrollView {
    ForEach(items) { item in
        Row(item: item)
            .scrollTransition { content, phase in
                content
                    .opacity(phase.isIdentity ? 1 : 0.4)
                    .scaleEffect(phase.isIdentity ? 1 : 0.9)
            }
    }
}
.scrollTargetBehavior(.viewAligned)
.onScrollGeometryChange(for: CGFloat.self) { geometry in
    geometry.contentOffset.y
} action: { _, offset in
    isScrolled = offset > 0
}

scrollTransition gives per-item entry and exit effects; onScrollGeometryChange replaces the GeometryReader-in-a-ScrollView hacks people used to write. Availability worth knowing for target decisions: scrollTransition and .scrollTargetBehavior(.viewAligned) are iOS 17, onScrollGeometryChange is iOS 18 — none of this needs a modern target, it is just underused.

@State becomes a macro (Xcode 27)

In Xcode 27, @State is a macro rather than a dynamic property. This is a compiler change, not an OS one — it back-deploys to the iOS 17 era, so it does not raise your deployment target. The practical effect: a class stored in @State is initialised lazily, once per view lifetime, instead of on every body evaluation.

@State private var model = DataModel()   // now constructed once, on first use

There is one migration trap. Giving a property a default value and assigning it again in init behaves differently under the macro — keep one or the other: either the inline default, or the assignment in init, not both.