Recommended Way to Implement Digital Crown Zoom + Drag for Images on watchOS

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Created 3d

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I’m trying to implement smooth zoom and drag interactions for an image on watchOS—similar to the Photos app. DTS recommended using digitalCrownRotation + scaleEffect in SwiftUI, and ChatGPT also suggests a similar approach. However, the experience still isn’t as smooth or polished as the Photos app.

Before I commit fully to this direction, I want to confirm: 1. Is SwiftUI with digitalCrownRotation, scaleEffect, and DragGesture the officially recommended approach for zoom + pan on watchOS? 2. Is there any public API that provides built-in Photos-style behavior, or is a custom SwiftUI implementation expected? 3. Are there best-practice patterns for smooth scaling, maintaining image bounds, and constrained panning?

Thanks for any guidance

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Answer 1

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

2d

Yeah, SwiftUI is the officially recommended UI framework for watchOS app development. This is mentioned in TN3157.

I don't see any system-provided API that provides a view behaving like Photos. That's something you need to implement in your app.

Regarding the best practices, folks who have something to say may weigh in, but I think the ask is quite broad. I guess you might go ahead to create a prototype, and follow up here if you see any specific issue along the path.

Best,
——
Ziqiao Chen
 Worldwide Developer Relations.

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