`ContextMenu` and `Menu` Item Layout: Icon/Title Order Discrepancy Between System and Custom Apps (iOS 26)

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I've observed a difference in the layout of menu items within ContextMenu and Menu when comparing system applications to my own SwiftUI app, specifically concerning the order of icons and titles.

On iOS 26, system apps (as shown in the image in the "System App" column) appear to display the item's icon before its title for certain menu items. However, in my SwiftUI app, when I use a Label (e.g. Label("Paste", systemImage: "doc.on.clipboard")) or an HStack containing an Image and Text, the icon consistently appears after the title within both ContextMenu and Menu items.

I'm aiming to achieve the "icon first, then title" layout as seen in system apps. My attempts to arrange this order using HStack directly within the Button's label closure:

Menu {
    Button { /* ... */ } label: {
        HStack {
            Image(systemName: "doc.on.clipboard")
            Text(String(localized: "Paste"))
        }
    }
    // ...
} label: {
    Text("タップミー")
}

seem to be overridden or restricted by the OS, which forces the icon to the leading position (as shown in the image in the "Custom App" column).

System App

Custom App

Is there a specific SwiftUI modifier, or any other setting I might have overlooked that allows developers to control the icon/title order within ContextMenu or Menu items to match the system's behavior? Or is this a system-controlled layout that app developers currently cannot customize, and we need to wait for potential changes from Apple to expose this capability for in-app menus?

Thanks in advance!

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Answer 1

BabyJ OP

5d

The new behaviour in iOS 26 is for labels in system menus to have the icon first then the title. The previous behaviour was a leading title and a trailing icon.

According to your screenshots, "System App" shows the new iOS 26 behaviour and "Custom App" shows the older one.

What iOS version is "Custom App" running on? If it is iOS 26, then make sure you are building new versions with Xcode 26 and also check to see if you've set the UIDesignRequiresCompatibility Info.plist key to YES (and change it to NO or just remove it).

On your other point, there is very little customisation available in menus and the layout is handled by the system, so you can only set simple properties like title and icon.

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