SwiftUI Best Practices 2025: Professional Patterns & Tips

By Harjot Singh Panesar | January 8, 2026 | 18 min read

SwiftUI has matured significantly since its introduction. After building numerous production apps with SwiftUI, I've identified the patterns and practices that lead to maintainable, performant, and scalable code. This guide covers everything from architecture to state management to performance optimization.

1. Architecture Patterns for SwiftUI

The right architecture makes your app easier to test, maintain, and extend. Here are the most effective patterns for SwiftUI:

MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel)

MVVM remains the most natural fit for SwiftUI's declarative paradigm:

// Model
struct User: Codable, Identifiable {
    let id: UUID
    var name: String
    var email: String
}

// ViewModel
@MainActor
class UserViewModel: ObservableObject {
    @Published var users: [User] = []
    @Published var isLoading = false
    @Published var error: Error?

    private let userService: UserServiceProtocol

    init(userService: UserServiceProtocol = UserService()) {
        self.userService = userService
    }

    func fetchUsers() async {
        isLoading = true
        defer { isLoading = false }

        do {
            users = try await userService.getUsers()
        } catch {
            self.error = error
        }
    }
}

// View
struct UserListView: View {
    @StateObject private var viewModel = UserViewModel()

    var body: some View {
        List(viewModel.users) { user in
            UserRow(user: user)
        }
        .overlay {
            if viewModel.isLoading {
                ProgressView()
            }
        }
        .task {
            await viewModel.fetchUsers()
        }
    }
}

The Composable Architecture (TCA)

For complex apps, consider TCA for unidirectional data flow:

• Single source of truth for state
• Highly testable with predictable state changes
• Better handling of side effects
• Built-in dependency injection

2. State Management

Choosing the right property wrapper is crucial for performance and correctness:

Common Mistakes to Avoid

// WRONG: Creates new ViewModel on every view update
struct BadView: View {
    @ObservedObject var viewModel = ViewModel() // Don't do this!

    var body: some View { ... }
}

// CORRECT: ViewModel persists across updates
struct GoodView: View {
    @StateObject private var viewModel = ViewModel()

    var body: some View { ... }
}

Observable Macro (iOS 17+)

Use the new @Observable macro for cleaner code:

@Observable
class UserStore {
    var currentUser: User?
    var isLoggedIn: Bool { currentUser != nil }

    func login(email: String, password: String) async throws {
        currentUser = try await authService.login(email: email, password: password)
    }
}

3. View Composition

Breaking down views improves readability, reusability, and performance:

Extract Subviews

// Before: Monolithic view
struct ProfileView: View {
    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            // 200 lines of header code
            // 150 lines of stats code
            // 300 lines of activity code
        }
    }
}

// After: Composed views
struct ProfileView: View {
    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            ProfileHeader(user: user)
            ProfileStats(stats: stats)
            ActivityFeed(activities: activities)
        }
    }
}

ViewBuilder for Custom Containers

struct Card: View {
    let content: Content

    init(@ViewBuilder content: () -> Content) {
        self.content = content()
    }

    var body: some View {
        content
            .padding()
            .background(Color(.systemBackground))
            .cornerRadius(12)
            .shadow(radius: 4)
    }
}

// Usage
Card {
    VStack {
        Text("Title")
        Text("Subtitle")
    }
}

4. Navigation Best Practices

NavigationStack (iOS 16+)

Use the modern navigation API for type-safe, programmatic navigation:

enum Route: Hashable {
    case userDetail(User)
    case settings
    case editProfile
}

struct ContentView: View {
    @State private var path = NavigationPath()

    var body: some View {
        NavigationStack(path: $path) {
            HomeView()
                .navigationDestination(for: Route.self) { route in
                    switch route {
                    case .userDetail(let user):
                        UserDetailView(user: user)
                    case .settings:
                        SettingsView()
                    case .editProfile:
                        EditProfileView()
                    }
                }
        }
    }

    func navigateToUser(_ user: User) {
        path.append(Route.userDetail(user))
    }
}

Deep Linking Support

extension Route {
    init?(url: URL) {
        guard let components = URLComponents(url: url, resolvingAgainstBaseURL: true) else {
            return nil
        }

        switch components.path {
        case "/settings":
            self = .settings
        case let path where path.hasPrefix("/user/"):
            let userId = String(path.dropFirst(6))
            // Fetch user and create route
            self = .userDetail(User(id: userId))
        default:
            return nil
        }
    }
}

5. Performance Optimization

Lazy Loading

Always use lazy containers for large data sets:

// Use LazyVStack instead of VStack for long lists
LazyVStack {
    ForEach(items) { item in
        ItemRow(item: item)
    }
}

// LazyVGrid for grid layouts
LazyVGrid(columns: columns, spacing: 16) {
    ForEach(photos) { photo in
        PhotoThumbnail(photo: photo)
    }
}

Preventing Unnecessary Redraws

// Implement Equatable to prevent unnecessary updates
struct UserRow: View, Equatable {
    let user: User

    static func == (lhs: UserRow, rhs: UserRow) -> Bool {
        lhs.user.id == rhs.user.id &&
        lhs.user.name == rhs.user.name
    }

    var body: some View {
        HStack {
            Text(user.name)
            Spacer()
        }
    }
}

// Use .equatable() modifier
ForEach(users) { user in
    UserRow(user: user)
        .equatable()
}

Drawing Group for Complex Views

// Flatten complex view hierarchies for better GPU performance
ComplexAnimatedView()
    .drawingGroup()

6. Async/Await Integration

Task Modifier

struct ContentView: View {
    @State private var data: [Item] = []

    var body: some View {
        List(data) { item in
            ItemRow(item: item)
        }
        .task {
            // Automatically cancelled when view disappears
            data = await fetchData()
        }
        .refreshable {
            // Pull-to-refresh with async support
            data = await fetchData()
        }
    }
}

Handling Multiple Async Operations

struct DashboardView: View {
    @State private var stats: Stats?
    @State private var recentItems: [Item] = []

    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            // Content
        }
        .task {
            async let fetchedStats = fetchStats()
            async let fetchedItems = fetchRecentItems()

            // Parallel execution
            (stats, recentItems) = await (fetchedStats, fetchedItems)
        }
    }
}

7. Error Handling

Centralized Error Handling

@MainActor
class ErrorHandler: ObservableObject {
    @Published var currentError: AppError?
    @Published var showError = false

    func handle(_ error: Error) {
        currentError = AppError(from: error)
        showError = true
    }
}

struct ContentView: View {
    @StateObject private var errorHandler = ErrorHandler()

    var body: some View {
        MainContent()
            .environmentObject(errorHandler)
            .alert("Error", isPresented: $errorHandler.showError) {
                Button("OK") { }
            } message: {
                Text(errorHandler.currentError?.message ?? "Unknown error")
            }
    }
}

8. Testing SwiftUI Views

ViewInspector for Unit Tests

import ViewInspector

func testUserRowDisplaysName() throws {
    let user = User(id: UUID(), name: "John Doe", email: "john@example.com")
    let view = UserRow(user: user)

    let text = try view.inspect().hStack().text(0).string()
    XCTAssertEqual(text, "John Doe")
}

func testViewModelFetchesUsers() async {
    let mockService = MockUserService()
    mockService.usersToReturn = [User(id: UUID(), name: "Test")]

    let viewModel = UserViewModel(userService: mockService)
    await viewModel.fetchUsers()

    XCTAssertEqual(viewModel.users.count, 1)
    XCTAssertEqual(viewModel.users.first?.name, "Test")
}

9. Accessibility

SwiftUI makes accessibility easier, but you still need to be intentional:

struct ProductCard: View {
    let product: Product

    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            AsyncImage(url: product.imageURL)
            Text(product.name)
            Text(product.price, format: .currency(code: "USD"))
        }
        .accessibilityElement(children: .combine)
        .accessibilityLabel("\(product.name), \(product.price.formatted(.currency(code: "USD")))")
        .accessibilityHint("Double tap to view details")
        .accessibilityAddTraits(.isButton)
    }
}

10. Project Organization

A well-organized project scales better:

Project/
├── App/
│   ├── AppDelegate.swift
│   └── MyApp.swift
├── Features/
│   ├── Authentication/
│   │   ├── Views/
│   │   ├── ViewModels/
│   │   └── Models/
│   ├── Home/
│   └── Profile/
├── Core/
│   ├── Network/
│   ├── Storage/
│   └── Extensions/
├── Components/
│   ├── Buttons/
│   ├── Cards/
│   └── Forms/
└── Resources/
    ├── Assets.xcassets
    └── Localizable.strings

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