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wtf is smartrefreshcontrol?

scwang90/smartrefreshcontrol — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-07-20 · repo last pushed 2022-07-07

80Objective-CAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5DormantSetup · easy

TL;DR

A free iOS library that gives developers dozens of polished pull-to-refresh animations, spinners, playful graphics, game-style headers, so an app can feel fun and professional without building the interaction from scratch.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Pull to refresh
      Many animations
      Demo app included
    Tech stack
      Objective C
      Swift demo
      iOS
    Use cases
      Update feeds
      Load new content
      Polish app feel
    Audience
      iOS developers
      Founders and PMs
    Status
      Work in progress
      Not production ready

Code map

Detail Auto

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filefunction / class

Why would anyone build with this?

REASON 1

Add a polished pull-to-refresh animation to an iOS app's feed or list.

REASON 2

Let users pull down to load new articles or updates in a table view.

REASON 3

Try out different refresh header styles in the included demo app to pick a favorite.

REASON 4

Experiment with custom loading animations during app prototyping.

What's in the stack?

Objective-CSwiftiOSUIKit

How it stacks up

scwang90/smartrefreshcontrolabdullahselek/vipercjurre/mogo-ios
Stars808040
LanguageObjective-CObjective-CObjective-C
Last pushed2022-07-072024-05-142014-04-07
MaintenanceDormantDormantDormant
Setup difficultyeasyeasymoderate
Complexity2/52/53/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you spin it up?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 30min

It is an iOS library so you need Xcode and a Mac, and the creator warns it is still a work in progress not recommended for production apps.

The explanation does not mention a license, so the terms of use are unclear, check the repository for licensing details before using it.

Wtf does this do

SmartRefreshControl is a library for iOS apps that gives developers a ready-made, visually polished "pull to refresh" feature. You know that animation you see when you drag a list down with your finger to load new content, and a little spinner or graphic plays before the list updates? This project provides a whole collection of those animations, from classic spinners to playful game-style headers, so an app can feel polished and fun without building that interaction from scratch. It is the iOS counterpart to a very popular Android library called SmartRefreshLayout, created by the same developer. He built it to bring the same variety of refresh animations and the same design philosophy to iPhone and iPad apps. At a practical level, a developer adds the library to their project, attaches one of the provided header components to a list or table, and writes a small piece of code that tells the app what to do when the user pulls down, like fetching new articles or updating a feed. The main audience is iOS developers who want to add a stylish, custom-looking refresh animation to their app quickly. A founder or product manager working with an iOS developer might point to this library as a way to get a variety of professional-looking loading animations without paying a designer to build them from scratch. The project includes a demo app written in Swift to show how the different animations look and feel in action. The creator notes that this iOS version is still a work in progress. He describes it as not yet fully stable and explicitly says it is not recommended for use in production apps. It represents over a year of effort to port the Android concept over, but developers should be aware it is currently best for experimentation rather than shipping to real users.

Yoink these prompts

Prompt 1
Add SmartRefreshControl to my iOS project and attach a classic spinner header to my UITableView so users can pull down to refresh the feed.
Prompt 2
Show me how to use one of the playful game-style refresh headers from SmartRefreshControl in Swift, including the code that triggers when the pull-to-refresh completes.
Prompt 3
Build a demo iOS screen in Swift that lets me switch between three different SmartRefreshControl header animations so I can compare how each one looks.
Prompt 4
Wire up SmartRefreshControl on my UICollectionView so that pulling down calls my fetchNewItems function and stops the refresh animation when it finishes.

Frequently asked questions

wtf is smartrefreshcontrol?

A free iOS library that gives developers dozens of polished pull-to-refresh animations, spinners, playful graphics, game-style headers, so an app can feel fun and professional without building the interaction from scratch.

What language is smartrefreshcontrol written in?

Mainly Objective-C. The stack also includes Objective-C, Swift, iOS.

Is smartrefreshcontrol actively maintained?

Dormant — no commits in 2+ years (last push 2022-07-07).

What license does smartrefreshcontrol use?

The explanation does not mention a license, so the terms of use are unclear, check the repository for licensing details before using it.

How hard is smartrefreshcontrol to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is smartrefreshcontrol for?

Mainly developer.

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