iOS 13: Swift - 'Set application root view controller programmatically' does not work

I have following code in my AppDelegate.swift to setup root view controller for an iOS application. But it does not work. It follows Target structure (defined under General tab) and ignores this code.

(Xcode 11, Swift 5.1, iOS 13)

class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {

    var window: UIWindow?

    func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {

        window = UIWindow(frame: UIScreen.main.bounds)
        guard let rootVC = UIViewController() else {
            print("Root VC not found")
            return true
        }
        let rootNC = UINavigationController(rootViewController: rootVC)
        window?.rootViewController = rootNC
        window?.makeKeyAndVisible()

        return true
    }
}

Unable to understand where is the issue.

I tried following references also but no luck:

• Swift ios set a new root view controller
• Root View Controller Swift
• iOS: Root Controller Navigation

To choose a previous approach to the one supported by SwiftUI, from a project created in Xcode 11, you can follow these steps.

I tried following two options and both of these working for me. With iOS-13 (Xcode 11) a new file SceneDelegate.swift with the concept of UIWindowScene is enabled by default.

class SceneDelegate: UIResponder, UIWindowSceneDelegate {

    var window: UIWindow?


    func scene(_ scene: UIScene, willConnectTo session: UISceneSession, options connectionOptions: UIScene.ConnectionOptions) {

        guard let windowScene = (scene as? UIWindowScene) else { return }


        self.window = UIWindow(windowScene: windowScene)
        //self.window =  UIWindow(frame: UIScreen.main.bounds)

        let storyboard = UIStoryboard(name: "MyStoryboardName", bundle: nil)
        guard let rootVC = storyboard?.instantiateViewController(identifier: "ViewControllerIdentifierName") as? ViewController else {
            print("ViewController not found")
            return
        }
        let rootNC = UINavigationController(rootViewController: rootVC)
        self.window?.rootViewController = rootNC
        self.window?.makeKeyAndVisible()
    }
}

Alternate:

class SceneDelegate: UIResponder, UIWindowSceneDelegate {

    var window: UIWindow?


    func scene(_ scene: UIScene, willConnectTo session: UISceneSession, options connectionOptions: UIScene.ConnectionOptions) {
        let windowScene = UIWindowScene(session: session, connectionOptions: connectionOptions)
        self.window = UIWindow(windowScene: windowScene)
        //self.window =  UIWindow(frame: UIScreen.main.bounds)
        let storyboard = UIStoryboard(name: "MyStoryboardName", bundle: nil)
        guard let rootVC = storyboard?.instantiateViewController(identifier: "ViewControllerIdentifierName") as? ViewController else {
            print("ViewController not found")
            return
        }
        let rootNC = UINavigationController(rootViewController: rootVC)
        self.window?.rootViewController = rootNC
        self.window?.makeKeyAndVisible()

    }
}

I don't know, why and how it works but it resolved my problem.

Reference docs that helped me:

• init(windowScene:)
• UIWindow
• rootViewController