How to show different images and other views in light or dark mode

Paul Hudson    @twostraws    December 1st 2022

Updated for Xcode 14.2

SwiftUI can load light and dark mode images directly from your asset catalog depending on the user’s current appearance setting, but if you aren’t using an asset catalog – for example if you downloaded the images or generated them locally – you need to do a little extra work.

The simplest solution is to create a new view that handles both light and dark mode images, like this:

struct AdaptiveImage: View {
    @Environment(\.colorScheme) var colorScheme
    let light: Image
    let dark: Image

    @ViewBuilder var body: some View {
        if colorScheme == .light {
            light
        } else {
            dark
        }
    }
}

That allows you to pass both images in, and SwiftUI will automatically select the correct one for both light and dark mode:

struct ContentView: View {
    var body: some View {
        AdaptiveImage(light: Image(systemName: "sun.max"), dark: Image(systemName: "moon"))
    }
}

That works great if you just want to flip between light and dark mode images, but if we add a little extra code we can create a wrapper view able to display completely different content depending on light and dark mode:

struct AdaptiveView<T: View, U: View>: View {
    @Environment(\.colorScheme) var colorScheme
    let light: T
    let dark: U

    init(light: T, dark: U) {
        self.light = light
        self.dark = dark
    }

    init(light: () -> T, dark: () -> U) {
        self.light = light()
        self.dark = dark()
    }

    @ViewBuilder var body: some View {
        if colorScheme == .light {
            light
        } else {
            dark
        }
    }
}

That retains the same simple initializer, but now adds alternatives that accept closures. So, with that more advanced version we can now flip between more complicated layouts:

struct ContentView: View {
    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            AdaptiveView {
                VStack {
                    Text("Light mode")
                    Image(systemName: "sun.max")
                }
            } dark: {
                HStack {
                    Text("Dark mode")
                    Image(systemName: "moon")
                }
            }
            .font(.largeTitle)
        }
    }
}

Similar solutions…

• How to preview your layout in light and dark mode
• How to detect dark mode
• How to use images and other views as a backgrounds
• How to layer views on top of each other using ZStack
• How to draw images using Image views