In iOS 16, SwiftUI comes with a brand new view known as ShareLink
. When customers faucet on the share hyperlink, it presents a share sheet for customers to share content material to different purposes or copy the information for later use.
The ShareLink
view is designed to share any varieties of knowledge. On this tutorial, we are going to present you methods to use ShareLink
to let customers share textual content, URL, and pictures.
Primary Utilization of ShareLink
Let’s start with an instance. To create a share hyperlink for sharing a URL, you may write the code like this:
var physique: some View {
VStack {
ShareLink(merchandise: url)
}
}
}
struct ContentView: View { non-public let url = URL(string: “https://www.appcoda.com”)!
var physique: some View { VStack { ShareLink(merchandise: url) } } } |
SwiftUI mechanically renders a Share button with a small icon.

When tapped, iOS brings up a share sheet for customers to carry out additional actions similar to copy and including the hyperlink to Reminders.

To share textual content, as an alternative of URL, you may merely move the a string to the merchandise
parameter.
ShareLink(merchandise: “Take a look at this new characteristic on iOS 16”) |
Customizing the Look of Share Hyperlink
To customise the looks of the hyperlink, you may present the view content material within the closure like this:
ShareLink(merchandise: url) { Picture(systemName: “sq..and.arrow.up”) } |
On this case, SwiftUI solely shows the share icon for the hyperlink.

Alternatively, you may current a label with a system picture or customized picture:
ShareLink(merchandise: url) { Label(“Faucet me to share”, systemImage: “sq..and.arrow.up”) } |
When initializing the ShareLink
occasion, you may embrace two further parameters to supply further details about the shared merchandise:
ShareLink(merchandise: url, topic: Textual content(“Take a look at this hyperlink”), message: Textual content(“If you wish to study Swift, check out this web site.”)) { Picture(systemName: “sq..and.arrow.up”) } |
The topic
parameter permits you to embrace a title concerning the URL or any merchandise to share. The message
parameter means that you can specify the outline of the merchandise. Relying on the actions the person shares to, iOS will current the topic or message or each. Say, in case you add the URL to Reminders, the Reminders app shows the preset message.

Sharing Pictures
Aside from URLs, you may share photographs utilizing ShareLink
. Here’s a pattern code snippet:
var physique: some View {
VStack(alignment: .main, spacing: 10) {
photograph
.resizable()
.scaledToFit()
ShareLink(merchandise: photograph, preview: SharePreview(“Huge Ben”, picture: photograph))
}
.padding(.horizontal)
}
}
struct ContentView: View { non-public let photograph = Picture(“bigben”)
var physique: some View { VStack(alignment: .main, spacing: 10) { photograph .resizable() .scaledToFit()
ShareLink(merchandise: photograph, preview: SharePreview(“Huge Ben”, picture: photograph))
} .padding(.horizontal) } } |
For the merchandise
parameter, you specify the picture to share. And, you present a preview of the picture by passing an occasion of SharePreview
. Within the preview, you specify the title of the picture and the thumbnail. Once you faucet the Share button, iOS brings up a share sheet with the picture preview.

Conforming to Transferable
Aside from URLs, the merchandise
parameter accepts any objects that conforms to the Transferable
protocol. In iOS, the next varieties are the usual Transferable
varieties:
- String
- Knowledge
- URL
- Attributed String
- Picture
Transferable is a protocol that describes how a sort interacts with transport APIs similar to drag and drop or copy and paste.
So what if in case you have a customized object, how are you going to make it transferable? Let’s say, you create the next Photograph
construction:
struct Photograph: Identifiable { var id = UUID() var picture: Picture var caption: String var description: String } |
To let ShareLink
share this object, it’s a must to undertake the Transferable
protocol for Photograph
and implement the transferRepresentation
property:
extension Photograph: Transferable { static var transferRepresentation: some TransferRepresentation { ProxyRepresentation(exporting: .picture) } } |
There are a selection of Switch Representations together with ProxyRepresentation
, CodableRepresentation
, DataRepresentation
, and FileRepresentation
. Within the code above, we use the ProxyRepresentation
which is a switch illustration that makes use of one other sort’s switch illustration as its personal. Right here, we use the Picture
‘s built-in Transferable
conformance.

Since Photograph
now conforms to Transferable
, you may move the Photograph
occasion to ShareLink
:
ShareLink(merchandise: photograph, preview: SharePreview(photograph.caption, picture: photograph.picture)) |
When customers faucet the Share button, the app brings up the share sheet for sharing the photograph.
What’s Subsequent
This tutorial reveals you methods to use ShareLink
for sharing textual content, URL, and pictures. In reality, this new view means that you can share any varieties of knowledge so long as the sort conforms to the Transferable
protocol.
For customized varieties, you undertake the protocol and supply a switch illustration through the use of one of many built-in TransferRepresentation
varieties. We briefly talk about the ProxyRepresentation
sort. If it is advisable to share a file between purposes, you should utilize the FileRepresentation
sort. In later tutorials, we are going to talk about extra on that.