How to get custom colors and transparency with SF Symbols

Paul Hudson @twostraws July 1st 2021

Updated for Xcode 13.0

New in iOS 15

If you use SF Symbols in SwiftUI’s Image view, you can get simple colors using the foregroundColor() attribute, or enable their multicolor variants by using .renderingMode(.original). However, for extra flexibility over individual parts of the image, you can use the hierarchical variant or provide a completely custom palette.

Hierarchical rendering uses opacity to create variations in shade on-screen. For example, this will draw the image in transparency to provide extra depth and clarity:

Image(systemName: "theatermasks")
    .symbolRenderingMode(.hierarchical)
    .font(.system(size: 144))

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A symbol showing a smiling mask in the foreground and a fainter sad mask in background.

Hierarchical rendering works in combination with foreground color, so you can specify both if you need to:

Image(systemName: "theatermasks")
    .symbolRenderingMode(.hierarchical)
    .foregroundColor(.blue)
    .font(.system(size: 144))

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A symbol showing a smiling blue mask in the foreground and a fainter sad blue mask in background.

For even more power, you can use the .palette variant to get complete control over the colors in the image. So, we could render the SharePlay icon both blue and black at the same time, like this:

Image(systemName: "shareplay")
    .symbolRenderingMode(.palette)
    .foregroundStyle(.blue, .black)
    .font(.system(size: 144))

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The Apple Shareplay symbol showing a blue person icon in front of two black arcs.

How those colors are applied depends on each individual symbol – sometimes symbols are defined with two layers and sometimes three, and you’ll need to explore them individually to see how they break down.

For symbols that contain three variants, just add an extra color:

Image(systemName: "person.3.sequence.fill")
    .symbolRenderingMode(.palette)
    .foregroundStyle(.blue, .green, .red)
    .font(.system(size: 144))

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Three slightly overlapping person icons, in blue, green, and red from left to right.

This even works with complex foreground styles, such as providing one gradient for each person in the icon:

Image(systemName: "person.3.sequence.fill")
    .symbolRenderingMode(.palette)
    .foregroundStyle(
        .linearGradient(colors: [.red, .black], startPoint: .top, endPoint: .bottomTrailing),
        .linearGradient(colors: [.green, .black], startPoint: .top, endPoint: .bottomTrailing),
        .linearGradient(colors: [.blue, .black], startPoint: .top, endPoint: .bottomTrailing)
    )
    .font(.system(size: 144))

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Three slightly overlapping person icons, in blue, green, and red from left to right. Each icon's color transitions to black as it approaches the bottom right corner.

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How to get custom colors and transparency with SF Symbols

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