iOS26, SwiftUI and Accessibility with Natalia Panferova

In this episode, I had the great pleasure of talking with Natalia Panferova, a world-renowned iOS and macOS developer, former member of Apple’s SwiftUI team, and co-founder of Nil Coalescing alongside Matthaus Woolard. We explored what’s new in iOS 26, including the stunning Liquid Glass Material Design, and took a deep dive into accessibility — a topic Natalia is particularly passionate about. The episode also features a live demo of Brève, Natalia’s beautifully crafted app adapted for iOS 26. She walked us through some of the underlying SwiftUI code, sharing insightful tips and tricks that every SwiftUI developer will appreciate. Natalia is also the author of three remarkable books that have quickly become essential reads for the Swift community: 📘 SwiftUI Fundamentals – Updated for iOS 26 and Liquid Glass. 💎 Swift Gems – Enhance your Swift code across all platforms with concise, advanced techniques for experienced developers. 🧩 Integrating SwiftUI into UIKit Apps – A detailed guide on gradually adopting SwiftUI in existing UIKit projects. Link to Nil Coalescing books : https://books.nilcoalescing.com Link to Breve App: https://breve.coffee 🕒 Episode Timeline 00:00 – Introduction to Natalia Panferova and Her Journey 02:34 – Exploring Liquid Glass Design in iOS 26 04:51 – Strategies for Adopting Liquid Glass in Custom UIs 07:24 – Navigating SwiftUI Updates and New APIs 09:44 – The Future of SwiftUI vs UIKit 12:14 – Best Practices and Pitfalls in SwiftUI Development 14:34 – Understanding SwiftUI’s Diffing System 17:28 – Natalia’s Book: SwiftUI Fundamentals 19:51 – Accessibility Challenges in App Development 22:09 – Testing and Supporting Accessibility in Apps 27:59 – Accessibility in Custom Components 29:31 – Introduction to the Brève App 30:14 – Exploring Coffee Recipes with Brève 31:50 – Custom Liquid Glass Components 34:16 – Adapting to Accessibility Settings 37:27 – Testing with VoiceOver and Future Improvements You can follow Natalia’s work here: 🐙 GitHub: https://github.com/nataliapanferova 🐦 X (Twitter): https://x.com/natpanferova 💼 LinkedIn:   / nataliapanferova   📌 Follow Us: 🐙 GitHub: https://github.com/sassiwalid 🐦 Twitter: https://x.com/WalidSASSIIOS 🌐 Website: https://www.walidsassi.com 💼 LinkedIn:   / sassi-walid   📺 YouTube: @swiftwithwalid 🐘 Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@swiftacademy ✍️ Medium:   / sassiwalid   ✍️ Hashnode: https://swiftacademy.hashnode.dev 🟣 Twitch: /swiftacademy #swiftui #ios26 #accessibility #liquidglass