What is the @Published property wrapper? >

What is the @StateObject property wrapper?

Paul Hudson @twostraws December 1st 2022

Updated for Xcode 14.2

SwiftUI’s @StateObject property wrapper is designed to fill a very specific gap in state management: when you need to create a reference type inside one of your views and make sure it stays alive for use in that view and others you share it with.

As an example, consider a simple User class such as this one:

class User: ObservableObject {
    var username = "@twostraws"
}

If you want to use that inside various views, you either need to create it externally to SwiftUI and inject it in, or create it inside one of your SwiftUI views and use @StateObject, like this:

struct ContentView: View {
    @StateObject var user = User()

    var body: some View {
        Text("Username: \(user.username)")
    }
}

That will make sure the User instance does not get destroyed when the view updates.

Previously you might have used @ObservedObject to get the same result, but that was dangerous – sometimes, and only sometimes, @ObservedObject could accidentally release the object it was storing, because it wasn’t designed to be the ultimate source of truth for the object. This won’t happen with @StateObject, so you should use it instead.

Important: You should use @StateObject only once per object, which should be in whichever view is responsible for creating the object. All other views that share your object should use @ObservedObject.

Sponsor Hacking with Swift and reach the world's largest Swift community!

What is the @StateObject property wrapper?

Similar solutions…