Solution: In iOS you can add a gesture to a particular view in all 4 directions left,right,top and bottom. override func viewDidLoad() { super.viewDidLoad() var rightAction= UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: "respondSwipe:") rightAction.direction = UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.Right self.view.addGestureRecognizer(rightAction) var downAction= UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: "respondSwipe:") downAction.direction = UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.Down self.view.addGestureRecognizer(downAction) var leftAction= UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: "respondSwipe:") leftAction.direction = UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.Left self.view.addGestureRecognizer(leftAction) var upAction= UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: "respondSwipe:") upAction.direction = UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.Up self.view.addGestureRecognizer(up