Xcode 9 UITextView links no longer clickable

Question

Prior to Xcode 9 and iOS 11 I had a UITextView within a UITableViewCell that contained multiple links. Each link worked as expected, however since

Answer 1

Turns out there wasn't a problem after all. Changes in the way UITextView responds to touches in iOS11 means that clicking links requires more of a press rather than just a tap which previously worked in iOS10. I think this may be something to do with the fact that in iOS11 you can now press links and drag them which also displays details of URL. So a firmer press is needed for the UITextView to register the link being tapped.

Answer 2

Specifically in iOS 11.0 and 11.1 (not later in 11.2+, not earlier in 10.x), textView(_:shouldInteractWith:in:interaction) from UITextViewDelegate is called from an interaction with a UILongPressGestureRecognizer instead of a UITapGestureRecognizer.

For those two iOS versions, user needs a small delay long press instead of a tap for a native interaction with UITextView links.

If the callback doesn't get called at all for those two iOS versions, even on a long press, you've likely been messing with gesture recognizers by subclassing your UITextView and overriding gestureRecognizerShouldBegin(_) to return false when it shouldn't.

Here is an example of quick partial workaround for gestureRecognizerShouldBegin(_) that will disable loupe/magnifier long press (if that's the desired intent of the override), but still allow long press on links:

override func gestureRecognizerShouldBegin(_ gestureRecognizer: UIGestureRecognizer) -> Bool {
    if gestureRecognizer is UIPanGestureRecognizer {
        // required for compatibility with isScrollEnabled
        return super.gestureRecognizerShouldBegin(gestureRecognizer)
    }
    if let tapGestureRecognizer = gestureRecognizer as? UITapGestureRecognizer,
        tapGestureRecognizer.numberOfTapsRequired == 1 {
        // allowing taps for links
        return super.gestureRecognizerShouldBegin(gestureRecognizer)
    }
    if let longPressGestureRecognizer = gestureRecognizer as? UILongPressGestureRecognizer,
        // allowing small delay long press for links (required for iOS 11.0-11.1)
        // average comparison value is used to distinguish between:
        // 0.12 (smallDelayRecognizer)
        // 0.5 (textSelectionForce and textLoupe)
        longPressGestureRecognizer.minimumPressDuration < 0.325 {
        return super.gestureRecognizerShouldBegin(gestureRecognizer)
    }
    gestureRecognizer.isEnabled = false
    return false
}

An alternative is to fully disallow both UILongPressGestureRecognizer and UITapGestureRecognizer except for a self-made UITapGestureRecognizer that you would have build yourself to interact with links.