# activeAppearance A property that indicates whether a scene has an active appearance. ``` var activeAppearance: UIUserInterfaceActiveAppearance { get } ``` ## Discussion `activeAppearance` describes whether a scene is frontmost; it doesn’t describe a scene’s life-cycle state. A scene that isn’t frontmost can remain in the [`UIScene.ActivationState.foregroundActive`](/documentation/UIKit/UIScene/ActivationState-swift.enum/foregroundActive) activation state as long as it can still receive user interaction. Its activation state changes to [`UIScene.ActivationState.foregroundInactive`](/documentation/UIKit/UIScene/ActivationState-swift.enum/foregroundInactive) only when a system interruption takes over interaction. This can happen because of Control Center, an alert, Siri, App Switcher, or another app’s window covering it in windowed apps. Use [`UIScene.ActivationState`](/documentation/UIKit/UIScene/ActivationState-swift.enum) to decide when to save view state, and use `activeAppearance` to detect when a scene is no longer frontmost. Because `activeAppearance` belongs to a scene’s trait collection, each scene has its own value, even in apps that support multiple scenes. To detect when a scene becomes frontmost, register for changes to this trait by calling [`registerForTraitChanges(_:handler:)`](/documentation/UIKit/UITraitChangeObservable-67e94/registerForTraitChanges(_:handler:)) on the window scene, or on any view or view controller in its hierarchy. In Mac apps built with Mac Catalyst, Stage Manager on iPad, and a windowed app on iPad, the value is `.active` when the window is focused (the key window) and `.inactive` when it isn’t. A window that another app’s window covers keeps an `.active` appearance as long as it remains the focused window. In iOS and in a full-screen app on iPad, the value reflects whether the app itself is in the foreground (`.active`) or not (`.inactive`). --- Copyright © 2026 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. | [Terms of Use](https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/terms/site.html) | [Privacy Policy](https://www.apple.com/privacy/privacy-policy)