SwiftUI vs UIKit: Which One Should You Use for Your Next iOS App?

Learn the pros and cons of each and decide which one fits your project’s needs

Photo by Med Badr Chemmaoui on Unsplash

When it comes to building iOS apps, one of the biggest decisions you’ll have to make is whether to use SwiftUI or UIKit. Both frameworks have their pros and cons, and the decision ultimately depends on your project’s needs.

UIKit has been around for over a decade and has powered some of the most popular iOS apps. It’s a mature and stable framework with a large community and plenty of resources available for developers. SwiftUI, on the other hand, is relatively new, having been introduced in 2019 with the release of Xcode 11. It’s a declarative framework that uses a modern syntax and aims to simplify the process of building UIs.

So, which one should you use for your next iOS app?

Let’s take a closer look at some of the key differences between SwiftUI and UIKit to help you make an informed decision.

Declarative vs. Imperative

The biggest difference between SwiftUI and UIKit is their programming paradigms. UIKit is an imperative framework, which means you define the UI elements and their properties and then manipulate them directly…