How to disable the overlay color for images inside Button and NavigationLink

Paul Hudson @twostraws October 4th 2019

Fully updated for Xcode 11 GM

By default, an image drawn inside a NavigationLink or a Button will almost certainly not behave as you expect: the whole image will be be covered with an opaque blue color, or whatever accent color you have in your view.

There are two ways you can fix this; which you choose depends on the behavior you want.

First, you can use the buttonStyle() modifier with PlainButtonStyle(), like this:

NavigationView {
    NavigationLink(destination: Text("Detail view here")) {
        Image("YourImage")
    }
    .buttonStyle(PlainButtonStyle())
}

Or like this for plain buttons:

Button(action: {
    // your action here
}) {
    Image("YourImage")
}
.buttonStyle(PlainButtonStyle())

With that modifier in place, your original image will be visible as you expected.

As an alternative, you can also use the renderingMode() mode modifier to achieve a slightly different result:

NavigationView {
    NavigationLink(destination: Text("Detail view here")) {
        Image("YourImage")
            .renderingMode(.original)
    }
}

The difference is subtle, but important: if you are using a Button inside a List, using .buttonStyle(PlainButtonStyle()) will mean that only the space directly around the button’s content can be tapped, whereas if you use .renderingMode(.original) then the whole cell remains tappable.

How to disable the overlay color for images inside Button and NavigationLink

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