Build for the iPadOS pointer

Updating your app for pointer support

Controls

• many system components have pointer support built-in:

  • controls like UIBarButtonItem, UISegmentedControl, UIMenuController, and more.

  • Scroll views respond to scrolling with two fingers and mouse wheels

  • Scroll views respond to pinching to zoom on the trackpad.

  • Collection and TableView support two finger panning for swipe actions.

  • UITextView and other components that use UITextInteraction support a suite quick text selection and editing gestures, behaving similarly to the Mac.

  • UIDragInteraction allows you to drag quickly via a click and drag instead of requiring a long press as it does with touch.

  • UIContextMenuInteraction lets you invoke its menu in a new compact appearance via a secondary click.

• UIBarButtonItem have pointer support enabled by default

• UIButton offer API that allow you to enable and customize their effects

Interactions

UIPointerInteraction lets your custom UI react to and interact with the pointer: you can choose from one of a collection of system-vended effects to apply to your views, or you can change the pointer’s shape within an area of your app.

Gestures

UIHoverGestureRecognizer lets you customize to the pointer’s motion directly. For more information, see session Handle trackpad and mouse input

UIButton

• set isPointerInteractionEnabled property to true to enable pointer interactions

• set pointerStyleProvider to customize the effect

typealias PointerStyleProvider = (UIButton, UIPointerEffect, UIPointerShape) -> UIPointerStyle?

In this PointerStyleProvider closure, the system offers you a proposed effect and shape that have been determined based on the appearance, size, and contents of the button. Here, you can customize either of these or replace them entirely and construct a new style.

UIPointerStyle fits in two categories:

• Content Effect: causes the pointer to morph into a view in the app and apply some visual treatment to it. This is described via a UIPointerEffect, which describes the visual treatment applied to the view, and UIPointerShape which describes the shape to which the pointer will change

• Shape customization: causes the pointer to morph into the provided shape and is constrained along the specified axes within the current region. This is described via a UIPointerShape and a UIAxis mask

Demo

Apple has provided a demo with all the pointer effects here.