The “One Screen” Illusion: Rethinking Navigation in SwiftUI

We’ve all been there—mid-refactor on a SwiftUI view, trying to simplify the user experience by keeping everything on one screen. The idea sounds elegant: fewer transitions, fewer states, a simpler mental model.

But three nested if lets and a rogue ZStack later, you realize your “unified view” is a Swiss Army knife wrapped in a spaghetti bowl.

Last month, I hit this exact wall while building a customer intake flow for a client’s onboarding app. The goal? One screen to rule them all—basic info, product selection, appointment scheduling, and a signature field. Clean and fast.

But as edge cases rolled in, so did:

• Conditional rendering tangles

• Input validation hacks

• Overloaded view logic

Then came the turning point:

I asked the Swiftly community.

Here’s what I learned—and what ultimately saved the build:

1. Embrace Coordinators (Yes, Even in SwiftUI)

While SwiftUI avoids view controllers by design, introducing lightweight view coordinators brought clarity to the onboarding flow. It became easier to manage progress, handle retries, and support back navigation—without tangled bindings.

2. Decompose by Outcome, Not Just UI 

One contributor shared a game-changing perspective:

Group your views by logical outcomes, not layout.

Instead of organizing by visual sections (e.g., headers, forms), I began splitting the experience into purposeful units like:

• “Validate Identity”

• “Select Package”

• “Capture Consent” 

It completely shifted how I thought about reuse and testing.

3. NavigationStack + State Machine = 🔥

Pairing a NavigationStack with a basic state machine allowed wizard-like flow without relying on isActive flags or environment hacks.

The code felt declarative. The behavior felt intentional.

And debugging? So much easier.

The Final Outcome 

The end result wasn’t a “one screen” solution—it was three focused screens with:

• Smooth transitions

• Composable state

• Better testability

• Improved accessibility 

And it all started with a simple DM.

Now, Your Turn!

Have you ever over-engineered a SwiftUI view trying to make it “just one screen”?

Or cracked the code for better onboarding architecture?

💬 Share your story in the comments or tag us @swiftly_develop.