What is the difference between List and ForEach in SwiftUI?

• ForEach is a view that lets you pass a collection of data to its initializer and then creates multiple "subviews" from the closure you provide. It doesn't have any semantics on how the views will be arranged.

  Example:

    ForEach(1..<5) { row in
        Text("Row \(row)")
    }
  

  will create the equivalent off

    Text("Row 1")
    Text("Row 2")
    Text("Row 3")
    Text("Row 4")
  

  wrapped in a single container view.

• List is a view that can compose multiple views together, but not necessarily views of the same type. You can simply add multiple views without any loop.

  Example 1:

    List {
        Image("avatar")
        Text("Title")
        Button(action: {
            print("Button tapped!")
        }) {
            Text("Energize!")
        }
    }
  

  As a convenience, the List initializer allows you to use it just like the ForEach view in case you want to have a list consisting of a single cell type only.
  

  Example 2:

    List(1..<5) { row in
        Text("Row \(row)")
    }
  

  A list has a special appearance, depending on the platform. For example, on iOS a list will appear as a table view and insert separator lines between its vertically stacked views.

  You can use ForEach views inside List views to have both dynamic and static content – a very powerful feature of SwiftUI.
  
  

  Example 3:

    List {
        Text("Food")
        ForEach(meals) { meal in
            Text(meal.name)
        }
        Text("Drinks")
        ForEach(drinks) { drink in
            Text(drink.name)
        }
    }
  

SwiftUI List vs ForEach

List:

• mixed content(also allows to work with collection)
• scrollable
• uses reusing cell pattern (efficient)

ForEach:

• works only with a collection

List + ForEach = super feature. In this case, for example, List uses reusing cell pattern for every view from ForEach. Also you are able to use onMove, onDelete...

Simple explanation:

• List behaves like a UIScrollView (an arbitrarily long scrollable view of views)
• ForEach behaves kind of like a UITableView (where each of the elements gets a cell view, and it's also scrollable)