Increase Contrast reduces List selection contrast in dark appearance in SwiftUI NavigationSplitView

[Submitted as FB22200608]

With Increase Contrast turned on, the selected row highlight in a List behaves inconsistently between light and dark appearance on iPad. In light appearance the blue selection highlight correctly becomes darker, but in dark appearance it becomes lighter instead. The text contrast ratio drops from about 3:1 to about 1.5:1, well below accessibility guidelines.

This reproduces both in the simulator and on a physical device. The sample uses a standard SwiftUI List inside NavigationSplitView with built-in selection styling. No custom colors or styling are applied.

REPRO STEPS

  1. Create a new Multiplatform project.
  2. Replace ContentView with code below.
  3. Build and run on iPad.
  4. Select an item in the list.
  5. Turn on Dark appearance (Cmd-Shift-A in Simulator).
  6. Turn on Increase Contrast (Cmd-Control-Shift-A in Simulator).
  7. Observe the selected row highlight.

ACTUAL

In light appearance, the blue selection highlight becomes darker when Increase Contrast is on, improving contrast as expected.

In dark appearance, the blue selection highlight becomes lighter when Increase Contrast is on, reducing contrast between the selection background and the white text.

EXPECTED

Increase Contrast should consistently increase contrast. In dark appearance, the selection highlight should become darker—or otherwise increase contrast with the foreground text—not lighter.

SAMPLE CODE

struct ContentView: View {
    @State private var selection: String?
    
    var body: some View {
        NavigationSplitView {
            Text("Sidebar")
        } content: {
            List(selection: $selection) {
                Text("Item One")
                    .tag("One")
                Text("Item Two")
                    .tag("Two")
            }
        } detail: {
            if let selection {
                Text(selection)
            } else {
                Text("Select an item")
            }
        }
    }
}

SCREEN RECORDING

CONTACTS

The Contacts app behaves correctly. When Increase Contrast is turned on, the selection blue becomes darker, improving contrast.

PASSWORDS

The Passwords app, however, exhibits the issue. With Increase Contrast turned on, the selection blue becomes lighter instead of darker, reducing contrast.

Thank you for reporting and providing examples,

Are you looking for a workaround?

In the meantime, updates will be provided in Feedback Assistant.

 Travis

Hey @DTS Engineer Travis,

A workaround would be helpful, but ideally this would be fixed in the framework so it benefits all affected apps, not just mine.

I've already had to implement quite a few workarounds with iOS 26. Looking at my open feedbacks and posts here, several remain unresolved. I have workarounds for most, but could clean up my code if they weren't necessary.

Increase Contrast reduces List selection contrast in dark appearance in SwiftUI NavigationSplitView
 
 
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