Animating Icons with symbolEffect

symbolEffect is a new modifier in SwiftUI that allows you to apply animations to system icons. This can be useful for adding visual feedback to user interactions, or for creating more engaging UIs. Keep in mind that this is an iOS 17 feature so you will need to be targeting iOS 17 to use it.

Basic Usage

The basic usage of symbolEffect is to apply a single animation to an icon. Here's an example:

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1struct AnimationView3: View {
2    @State private var isAnimating = false
3    
4    var body: some View {
5        Button {
6            isAnimating.toggle()
7        } label: {
8            Image(systemName: "heart.fill")
9                .symbolEffect(.bounce, value: isAnimating)
10        }
11    }
12}

In this example, the bounce effect is applied to the heart icon. When the button is tapped, the isAnimating state variable is toggled, which causes the icon to bounce.

Customizing Animations

You can customize the animation applied by symbolEffect by passing in options. Here's an example:

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1struct AnimationView3: View {
2    @State private var isAnimating = false
3    
4    var body: some View {
5        Button {
6            isAnimating.toggle()
7        } label: {
8            Label("Heart", systemImage: "heart.fill")
9                .symbolEffect(.pulse, options: .speed(2).repeat(2), value: isAnimating)
10        }
11    }
12}

In this example, the pulse effect is applied to the heart icon, with a speed of 2 and a repeat count of 2. When the button is tapped, the isAnimating state variable is toggled, which causes the icon to pulse twice as fast as the default speed(the default multiplier is 1.0), and will repeat twice.

Using with State

You can also use symbolEffect with state to create more dynamic animations. Here's an example of a simple counter View that implements symbolEffect:

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1struct ContentView: View {
2    @State private var count = 1
3    
4    var body: some View {
5        VStack(spacing: 30) {
6            Text("Count: \(count)")
7
8            Button {
9                count += 1
10            } label: {
11                Image(systemName: "plus")
12                    .symbolEffect(.pulse, value: count)
13            }
14        }
15    }
16}

When the user presses the Button the Image inside will animate in a pulsing fashion!