WWDC 2026's "What's new in SwiftData" session is a tight, practical one. There's no sweeping redesign here, just four targeted additions that fill gaps developers have been working around for a while. If you've ever fought SwiftData to group a list, store a type you don't own, or react to data changes outside a SwiftUI view, this release is for you.
Here's everything that's new and how to use it.
1. Sectioned fetching with @Query
Grouping a list by some property used to mean fetching everything flat and then partitioning it yourself in the view. Now @Query does it for you.
You pass a key path to the new sectionBy: parameter. The key path starts at the model root and points to the property you want to group on:
