UITapGestureRecognizer tap on self.view but ignore subviews

I need to implement a feature that will invoke some code when I double tap on the self.view (view of UIViewCotroller). But the problem that I have other UI object on this view and I don't want to attach any recognizer object to all of them. I found this method below how to make gesture on my view and I know how it works. Right now I am in front of handicap which way to choose for create this recognizer ignoring subview. Any ideas? Thanks.

UITapGestureRecognizer *doubleTap = [[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:self action:@selector(handleDoubleTap:)];
[doubleTap setNumberOfTapsRequired:2];
[self.view addGestureRecognizer:doubleTap];

You should adopt the UIGestureRecognizerDelegate protocol inside the self object and call the below method for checking the view. Inside this method, check your view against touch.view and return the appropriate bool (Yes/No). Something like this:

- (BOOL)gestureRecognizer:(UIGestureRecognizer *)gestureRecognizer shouldReceiveTouch:(UITouch *)touch
{
    if ([touch.view isDescendantOfView:yourSubView]) {
        return NO;
    }
    return YES;
}

Edit: Please, also check @Ian's answer!

Swift 5

// MARK: UIGestureRecognizerDelegate methods, You need to set the delegate of the recognizer
func gestureRecognizer(_ gestureRecognizer: UIGestureRecognizer, shouldReceive touch: UITouch) -> Bool {
     if touch.view?.isDescendant(of: tableView) == true {
        return false
     }
     return true
}

Another approach is to just compare if the view of the touch is the gestures view, because descendants won't pass the condition. A nice, simple one-liner:

func gestureRecognizer(_ gestureRecognizer: UIGestureRecognizer, shouldReceive touch: UITouch) -> Bool {
	return touch.view == gestureRecognizer.view
}

And for the Swift variant:

func gestureRecognizer(gestureRecognizer: UIGestureRecognizer, shouldReceiveTouch touch: UITouch) -> Bool {
    if touch.view.isDescendantOfView(yourSubView){
        return false
    }
    return true
}

Good to know, isDescendantOfView returns a Boolean value indicating whether the receiver is a subview of a given view or identical to that view.

With Swift 5 and iOS 12, UIGestureRecognizerDelegate has a method called gestureRecognizer(_:shouldReceive:). gestureRecognizer(_:shouldReceive:) has the following declaration:

> Ask the delegate if a gesture recognizer should receive an object representing a touch.

optional func gestureRecognizer(_ gestureRecognizer: UIGestureRecognizer, shouldReceive touch: UITouch) -> Bool

---

The complete code below shows a possible implementation for gestureRecognizer(_:shouldReceive:). With this code, a tap on a subview of the ViewController's view (including imageView) won't trigger the printHello(_:) method.

import UIKit

class ViewController: UIViewController, UIGestureRecognizerDelegate {

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        let tapGestureRecognizer = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(printHello))
        tapGestureRecognizer.delegate = self
        view.addGestureRecognizer(tapGestureRecognizer)

        let imageView = UIImageView(image: UIImage(named: "icon")!)
        imageView.frame = CGRect(x: 50, y: 50, width: 100, height: 100)
        view.addSubview(imageView)

        // ⚠️ Enable user interaction for imageView so that it can participate to touch events.
        // Otherwise, taps on imageView will be forwarded to its superview and managed by it.
        imageView.isUserInteractionEnabled = true
    }

    func gestureRecognizer(_ gestureRecognizer: UIGestureRecognizer, shouldReceive touch: UITouch) -> Bool {
        // Prevent subviews of a specific view to send touch events to the view's gesture recognizers.
        if let touchedView = touch.view, let gestureView = gestureRecognizer.view, touchedView.isDescendant(of: gestureView), touchedView !== gestureView {
            return false
        }
        return true
    }

    @objc func printHello(_ sender: UITapGestureRecognizer) {
        print("Hello")
    }

}

---

An alternative implementation of gestureRecognizer(_:shouldReceive:) can be:

func gestureRecognizer(_ gestureRecognizer: UIGestureRecognizer, shouldReceive touch: UITouch) -> Bool {
    return gestureRecognizer.view === touch.view
}

Note however that this alternative code does not check if touch.view is a subview of gestureRecognizer.view.

Complete swift solution (delegate must be implemented AND set for recognizer(s) ):

class MyViewController: UIViewController UIGestureRecognizerDelegate {

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        let doubleTapRecognizer = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(onBaseTapOnly))
        doubleTapRecognizer.numberOfTapsRequired = 2
        doubleTapRecognizer.delegate = self
        self.view.addGestureRecognizer(doubleTapRecognizer)
    }

    func gestureRecognizer(gestureRecognizer: UIGestureRecognizer, shouldReceiveTouch touch: UITouch) -> Bool {
        if touch.view.isDescendantOfView(self.view){
            return false
        }
        return true
    }

    func onBaseTapOnly(sender: UITapGestureRecognizer) {
        if sender.state == .Ended {
            //react to tap
        }
    }
}

Variant using CGPoint you touch (SWIFT 4.0)

class MyViewController: UIViewController, UIGestureRecognizerDelegate {

  func gestureRecognizer(_ gestureRecognizer: UIGestureRecognizer, shouldReceive touch: UITouch) -> Bool {
    
// Get the location in CGPoint
    let location = touch.location(in: nil)

// Check if location is inside the view to avoid
    if viewToAvoid.frame.contains(location) {
        return false
    }
            
    return true
  }
}

Clear Swift way

func gestureRecognizer(_ gestureRecognizer: UIGestureRecognizer, shouldReceive touch: UITouch) -> Bool {
    return touch.view == self.view
}

Note that the gestureRecognizer API has changed to:

gestureRecognizer(_:shouldReceive:)

Take particular note of the underscore (skip) indicator for the first parameter's external label.

Using many of the examples provided above, I was not receiving the event. Below is a an example that works for current versions of Swift (3+).

public func gestureRecognizer(_ gestureRecognizer: UIGestureRecognizer, shouldReceive touch: UITouch) -> Bool {
	var shouldReceive = false
	if let clickedView = touch.view {
		if clickedView == self.view {
			shouldReceive = true;
		}
	}
	return shouldReceive
}

Plus the above solutions, do not forget to check User Interaction Enabled of your sub-view.

I had to prevent the gesture on the child view. The only thing that worked is to allow and keep the first view and prevent gesture in all the next views:

   var gestureView: UIView? = nil
    
    func gestureRecognizer(_ gestureRecognizer: UIGestureRecognizer, shouldReceive touch: UITouch) -> Bool {
        if (gestureView == nil || gestureView == touch.view){
            gestureView = touch.view
            return true
        }
        return false
     }

Swift 4:

touch.view is now an optional, so based on @Antoine's answer:

func gestureRecognizer(_ gestureRecognizer: UIGestureRecognizer, shouldReceive touch: UITouch) -> Bool {
    if let touchedView = touch.view, touchedView.isDescendant(of: deductibleBackgroundView) {
        return false
    }
    return true
}

If you don't want your 'double-tap recogniser' to conflict with your buttons and/or other controls, you can set self as UIGestureRecognizerDelegate and implement:

func gestureRecognizer(_ gestureRecognizer: UIGestureRecognizer, shouldReceive touch: UITouch) -> Bool
{
    return !(touch.view is UIControl)
}