SwiftUI-UIKit Interop

Bridge UIKit and SwiftUI in both directions: wrap UIKit views and controllers, embed SwiftUI in UIKit screens, and synchronize state without duplicating lifecycle ownership.

See references/representable-recipes.md for complete wrapping recipes and references/hosting-migration.md for UIKit-to-SwiftUI migration patterns.

Contents

• UIViewRepresentable Protocol
• UIViewControllerRepresentable Protocol
• The Coordinator Pattern
• UIHostingController
• Sizing and Layout
• State Synchronization Patterns
• UIKit Automatic Observation Tracking
• Sendable Considerations
• Common Mistakes
• Review Checklist
• References

UIViewRepresentable Protocol

Use UIViewRepresentable to wrap any UIView subclass for use in SwiftUI.

Required Methods

struct WrappedTextView: UIViewRepresentable {
    @Binding var text: String

    func makeUIView(context: Context) -> UITextView {
        // Called ONCE when SwiftUI inserts this view into the hierarchy.
        // Create and return the UIKit view. One-time setup goes here.
        let textView = UITextView()
        textView.delegate = context.coordinator
        textView.font = .preferredFont(forTextStyle: .body)
        return textView
    }

    func updateUIView(_ uiView: UITextView, context: Context) {
        // Called on EVERY SwiftUI state change that affects this view.
        // Synchronize SwiftUI state into the UIKit view.
        // Guard against redundant updates to avoid loops.
        if uiView.text != text {
            uiView.text = text
        }
    }
}

Lifecycle Timing