How to detect edge swipes

Paul Hudson    September 20th 2017    @twostraws

Detecting pan gestures is easy enough with a regular UIPanGestureRecognizer, but there's a special gesture recognizer to use if you want to detect the user swiping from the edge of their screen. The example below demonstrates detecting the user swiping from the left edge of the screen:

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()

    let edgePan = UIScreenEdgePanGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(screenEdgeSwiped))
    edgePan.edges = .left

    view.addGestureRecognizer(edgePan)
}

@objc func screenEdgeSwiped(_ recognizer: UIScreenEdgePanGestureRecognizer) {
    if recognizer.state == .recognized {
        print("Screen edge swiped!")
    }
}

Available from iOS 7.0

Did this solution work for you? Please pass it on!

Tweet

Other people are reading…

• How to customize swipe edit buttons in a UITableView
• How to respond to the device being shaken
• How to use UIKeyCommand to add keyboard shortcuts
• How to hide the tab bar when a view controller is shown
• How to ask users to review your app using SKStoreReviewController

About the Swift Knowledge Base

This is part of the Swift Knowledge Base, a free, searchable collection of solutions for common iOS questions.