I installed iOS 26.1 Beta 4, hoping the SpriteKit issues were fixed. But alas, they're still there. You can try this additional test: on any SpriteKit scene with a running animation, place a SwiftUI Menu on top. Each time the menu is opened, SpriteKit drops frames. This makes SwiftUI unusable alongside SpriteKit when the scene is animated or live-recorded. SpriteKit used to run predictably and efficiently. iOS 26 has broken too much in terms of performance and usability. The current state of things isn’t reassuring at all.

Hi, Try adding CADisableMinimumFrameDurationOnPhone to the project's property list, set its value to true, then use preferredFramesPerSecond.

Done, I have filed report FB20287404 as "SpriteKit performance regression on iOS 26". Long live SpriteKit.

I also use SF Symbols with SpriteKit for quick UI and icon prototyping. I have an SKTexture extension to create SpriteKit textures from SF Symbol on iOS: extension SKTexture { convenience init?(systemName: String, pointSize: CGFloat, weight: UIImage.SymbolWeight = .regular) { let config = UIImage.SymbolConfiguration(pointSize: pointSize, weight: weight) guard let symbol = UIImage(systemName: systemName)?.applyingSymbolConfiguration(config) else { return nil } let rect = CGRect(origin: .zero, size: symbol.size) UIGraphicsBeginImageContextWithOptions(rect.size, false, 0) guard let context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext() else { return nil } /// Flip the coordinate system context.translateBy(x: 0, y: rect.size.height) context.scaleBy(x: 1, y: -1) /// Generate a white image UIColor.white.setFill() context.fill(rect) context.setBlendMode(.destinationIn) if let cgImage = symbol.cgImage { context.draw(cgImage, in: rect) } else { return nil } guard let result = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext() else { return nil } self.init(image: result) } } Usage example: let iconTexture = SKTexture(systemName: "play.fill", pointSize: 17, weight: .bold) let sprite = SKSpriteNode(texture: iconTexture) sprite.colorBlendFactor = 1 sprite.color = .systemBlue addChild(sprite)

I have a similar issue with Xcode 16.3. Readjusting the preview pane every time is not okay. I switched back to Xcode 16.2, which we can download separately from Apple or Xcodes app.

Interested in a solution to this issue as well. override func didMove(to view: SKView) { scaleMode = .resizeFill view.contentMode = .center // This is the closest working solution indeed. But not quite there yet. } The documentation of setNeedsDisplay() method says: If your view is backed by a CAEAGLLayer object, this method has no effect. A CAEAGLLayer is "a layer that supports drawing OpenGL content." SpriteKit probably used that, then moved to Metal, and the same limitation still applies. But this is only speculation. Source: setNeedsDisplay() CAEAGLLayer