Slides

We recommend Swiper.js if you need a modern touch slider component. It powers our IonSlides component, but we now recommend that developers use Swiper for React directly.

This guide will go over how to get Swiper for React set up in your Ionic Framework application. It will also go over any migration information you may need to move from IonSlides to the official Swiper React integration.

Getting Started#

To get started, install the Swiper dependency in your project:

npm install swiper

Swiping with Style#

Next, we need to import the base Swiper styles. We recommend importing the styles in the component in which Swiper is being used. This ensures that the styles are only loaded when needed:

import 'swiper/swiper-bundle.min.css';

Ionic Framework also provides some default styles, as well as the CSS Variables that were used inside of the old IonSlides. If you would like to continue to use those styles and CSS Variables, be sure to import the ionic-swiper.css file:

import 'swiper/swiper-bundle.min.css';
import '@ionic/react/css/ionic-swiper.css';

Pre-processors (optional)#

For developers using SCSS or Less styles, Swiper also provides imports for those files. The difference here is that each Swiper module is broken out into its own file, so you may have to import multiple stylesheets if you are using modules such as transition effects, zoom, or pagination.

If you wanted to import the base Swiper styles and the pagination styles, you would do the following:

import 'swiper.scss';
import 'swiper/components/pagination/pagination.scss';
import '@ionic/react/css/ionic-swiper.css';

Swiper has a complete list of the stylesheets you can import here: https://swiperjs.com/react#styles.

Using Components#

Swiper exports two components: Swiper and SwiperSlide. The Swiper component is the equivalent of IonSlides, and SwiperSlide is the equivalent of IonSlide.

These components are imported from swiper/react:

import React from 'react';
import { IonContent, IonPage } from '@ionic/react';
import { Swiper, SwiperSlide } from 'swiper/react';

import 'swiper/swiper-bundle.min.css';
import '@ionic/react/css/ionic-swiper.css';

const Home: React.FC = () => {
  return (
    <IonPage>
      <IonContent>
        <Swiper>
          <SwiperSlide>Slide 1</SwiperSlide>
          <SwiperSlide>Slide 2</SwiperSlide>
          <SwiperSlide>Slide 3</SwiperSlide>
        </Swiper>
      </IonContent>
    </IonPage>
  );
};
export default Home;

The IonicSwiper Module#

There are a few edge cases in Ionic Framework where Swiper may not be able to compute the slider dimensions properly. As a result, we have created the IonicSwiper module to resolve some of these issues.

To install it, we first need to import the core Swiper library and the IonicSwiper module:

import SwiperCore from 'swiper';
import { IonicSwiper } from '@ionic/react';

Then we can install the module:

import React from 'react';
import { IonContent, IonPage, IonicSwiper } from '@ionic/react';
import SwiperCore from 'swiper';

import 'swiper/swiper-bundle.min.css';
import '@ionic/react/css/ionic-swiper.css';

SwiperCore.use([IonicSwiper]);

const Home: React.FC = () => {
  return (
    <IonPage>
      <IonContent>
        <Swiper>
          <SwiperSlide>Slide 1</SwiperSlide>
          <SwiperSlide>Slide 2</SwiperSlide>
          <SwiperSlide>Slide 3</SwiperSlide>
        </Swiper>
      </IonContent>
    </IonPage>
  );
};
export default Home;

Additional Modules#

By default, Swiper for React uses the core version of Swiper and does not import any additional modules. To use modules such as Navigation or Pagination, you need to import them first.

IonSlides automatically included the Pagination, Scrollbar, Autoplay, Keyboard, and Zoom modules. If you used any of these features, be sure to import them in your application.

The following example shows how to install the Navigation and Pagination plugins:

import React from 'react';
import { IonContent, IonPage, IonicSwiper } from '@ionic/react';
import SwiperCore, { Navigation, Pagination } from 'swiper';
import { Swiper, SwiperSlide } from 'swiper/react';

Swiper.use([IonicSwiper, Navigation, Pagination]);

import 'swiper/swiper-bundle.min.css';
import '@ionic/react/css/ionic-swiper.css';

const Home: React.FC = () => {
  return (
    <IonPage>
      <IonContent>
        <Swiper
          pagination={{
            clickable: true
          }}
          navigation
        >
          <SwiperSlide>Slide 1</SwiperSlide>
          <SwiperSlide>Slide 2</SwiperSlide>
          <SwiperSlide>Slide 3</SwiperSlide>
        </Swiper>
      </IonContent>
    </IonPage>
  );
};
export default Home;

Importing swiper-bundle.min.css imports styles for all modules. When using the SCSS or Less styles, you will need to import the styles for each module. See https://swiperjs.com/react#styles for a full list of stylesheets.
Properties#

Swiper options are provided as props directly on the <Swiper> component rather than via the options object in IonSlides.

Let's say in an app with IonSlides we had the slidesPerView and loop options set:

<IonSlides
  options={{
    slidesPerView: 3,
    loop: true
  }}
  >
  <IonSlide>Slide 1</IonSlide>
  <IonSlide>Slide 2</IonSlide>
  <IonSlide>Slide 3</IonSlide>
</IonSlides>

To migrate, we would move these options out of the options object and onto the <Swiper> component directly as properties:

<Swiper
  slidesPerView={3}
  loop={true}
  >
  <SwiperSlide>Slide 1</SwiperSlide>
  <SwiperSlide>Slide 2</SwiperSlide>
  <SwiperSlide>Slide 3</SwiperSlide>
</Swiper>

Below is a full list of property changes when going from IonSlides to Swiper Rreact:

Name	Notes
options	Set each option as a property directly on the `<Swiper>` component.
mode	For different styles based upon the mode, you can target the slides with `.ios .swiper-container` or `.md .swiper-container`
pager	Use the `pagination` property instead. Requires installation of the Pagination module.
scrollbar	You can continue to use the `scrollbar` property, just be sure to install the Scrollbar module first.

All properties available in Swiper React can be found at https://swiperjs.com/react#swiper-props.

Events#

Since the Swiper component is not provided by Ionic Framework, event names will not have an onIonSlide prefix to them.

Let's say in an app with IonSlides we used the onIonSlideDidChange event:

<IonSlides
  onIonSlideDidChange={() => onSlideChange()}
>
  <IonSlide>Slide 1</IonSlide>
  <IonSlide>Slide 2</IonSlide>
  <IonSlide>Slide 3</IonSlide>
</IonSlides>

To migrate, we would change the name of the event to onSlideChange:

<Swiper
  onSlideChange={() => onSlideChange()}
>
  <SwiperSlide>Slide 1</SwiperSlide>
  <SwiperSlide>Slide 2</SwiperSlide>
  <SwiperSlide>Slide 3</SwiperSlide>
</Swiper>

Below is a full list of event name changes when going from IonSlides to Swiper React:

IonSlides Event	Swiper Event
onIonSlideWillChange	onSlideChangeTransitionStart
onIonSlideDidChange	onSlideChangeTransitionEnd
onIonSlideDoubleTap	onDoubleTap
onIonSlideDrag	onSliderMove
onIonSlideNextStart	onSlideNextTransitionStart
onIonSlideNextEnd	onSlideNextTransitionEnd
onIonSlidePrevStart	onSlidePrevTransitionStart
onIonSlidePrevEnd	onSlidePrevTransitionEnd
onIonSlideReachStart	onReachBeginning
onIonSlideReachEnd	onReachEnd
onIonSlideTap	onTap
onIonSlideTouchStart	onTouchStart
onIonSlideTouchEnd	onTouchEnd
onIonSlideTransitionStart	onTransitionStart
onIonSlideTransitionEnd	onTransitionEnd
onIonSlidesDidLoad	onInit

All events available in Swiper React can be found at https://swiperjs.com/react#swiper-events.

Methods#

Most methods have been removed in favor of accessing the Swiper props directly.

Accessing these properties can be tricky as you want to access the properties on the Swiper instance itself, not your React component. To do this, we recommend getting a reference to the Swiper instance via onSwiper:

import React, { useState } from 'react';
...
const Home: React.FC = () => {
  const [swiperInstance, setSwiperInstance] = useState();
  return (
    ...
    <Swiper
      onSwiper={(swiper) => setSwiperInstance(swiper)}
    >
      ...
    </Swiper>
  )
};
export default Home;

From here, if you wanted to access a property on the Swiper instance you would access swiperInstance. For example, if you wanted to check the isBeginning property, you could do: swiperInstance.isBeginning. Make sure swiperInstance is defined first though!

Below is a full list of method changes when going from IonSlides to Swiper React:

Name	Notes
getActiveIndex()	Use the `activeIndex` property instead.
getPreviousIndex()	Use the `previousIndex` property instead.
getSwiper()	Get a reference to the Swiper instance using `onSwiper`. See example above.
isBeginning()	Use the `isBeginning` property instead.
isEnd()	Use the `isEnd` property instead.
length()	Use the `slides` property instead. (i.e swiperRef.slides.length)
lockSwipeToNext()	Use the `allowSlidesNext` property instead.
lockSwipeToPrev()	Use the `allowSlidePrev` property instead.
lockSwipes()	Use the `allowSlideNext`, `allowSlidePrev`, and `allowTouchMove` properties instead.
startAutoplay()	Use the `autoplay` property instead.
stopAutoplay()	Use the `autoplay` property instead.

Effects#

If you are using effects such as Cube or Fade, you can install them similar to how you installed the other modules:

import React from 'react';
import { IonContent, IonPage, IonicSwiper } from '@ionic/react';
import SwiperCore, { EffectFade } from 'swiper';
import { Swiper, SwiperSlide } from 'swiper/react';

Swiper.use([IonicSwiper, EffectFade]);

import 'swiper/swiper-bundle.min.css';
import '@ionic/react/css/ionic-swiper.css';

const Home: React.FC = () => {
  return (
    <IonPage>
      <IonContent>
        <Swiper effect="fade">
          <SwiperSlide>Slide 1</SwiperSlide>
          <SwiperSlide>Slide 2</SwiperSlide>
          <SwiperSlide>Slide 3</SwiperSlide>
        </Swiper>
      </IonContent>
    </IonPage>
  );
};
export default Home;

For more information on effects in Swiper, please see https://swiperjs.com/react#effects.

Wrap Up#

Now that you have Swiper installed, there is a whole set of new Swiper features for you to enjoy. We recommend starting with the Swiper React Introduction and then referencing the Swiper API docs.

Where do I file issues?#

Before opening an issue, please consider creating a post on the Swiper Discussion Board or the Ionic Forum to see if your issue can be resolved by the community.

If you are running into problems with the Swiper library, new bugs should be filed on the Swiper repo: https://github.com/nolimits4web/swiper/issues

If you are running into problems with the IonicSwiper module, new bugs should be filed on the Ionic Framework repo: https://github.com/ionic-team/ionic-framework/issues