Get the current first responder without using a private API

Question

I submitted my app a little over a week ago and got the dreaded rejection email today. It tells me that my app cannot be accepted because I'm using a non-public API; specifically, it says,

The non-public API that is included in your application is firstResponder.

Now, the offending API call is actually a solution I found here on SO:

UIWindow *keyWindow = [[UIApplication sharedApplication] keyWindow]; UIView   *firstResponder = [keyWindow performSelector:@selector(firstResponder)]; 

How do I get the current first responder on the screen? I'm looking for a way that won't get my app rejected.

Answer 1

If your ultimate aim is just to resign the first responder, this should work: [self.view endEditing:YES]

Answer 2

In one of my applications I often want the first responder to resign if the user taps on the background. For this purpose I wrote a category on UIView, which I call on the UIWindow.

The following is based on that and should return the first responder.

@implementation UIView (FindFirstResponder) - (id)findFirstResponder {     if (self.isFirstResponder) {         return self;             }     for (UIView *subView in self.subviews) {         id responder = [subView findFirstResponder];         if (responder) return responder;     }     return nil; } @end 

iOS 7+

- (id)findFirstResponder {     if (self.isFirstResponder) {         return self;     }     for (UIView *subView in self.view.subviews) {         if ([subView isFirstResponder]) {             return subView;         }     }     return nil; } 

Swift:

extension UIView {     var firstResponder: UIView? {         guard !isFirstResponder else { return self }          for subview in subviews {             if let firstResponder = subview.firstResponder {                 return firstResponder             }         }          return nil     } } 

Usage example in Swift:

if let firstResponder = view.window?.firstResponder {     // do something with `firstResponder` }