现在在测试版4中，他们为Swift添加了访问修饰符。

from Xcode 6 beta 4 realese notes:

Swift access control has three access levels: private entities can only be accessed from within the source file where they are defined. internal entities can be accessed anywhere within the target where they are defined. public entities can be accessed from anywhere within the target and from any other context that imports the current target’s module. By default, most entities in a source file have internal access. This allows application developers to largely ignore access control while allowing framework developers full control over a framework's API.

Swift 3.0提供了5种不同的访问控制:

开放 公共 内部 fileprivate 私人

Open access and public access enable entities to be used within any source file from their defining module, and also in a source file from another module that imports the defining module. You typically use open or public access when specifying the public interface to a framework. Internal access enables entities to be used within any source file from their defining module, but not in any source file outside of that module. You typically use internal access when defining an app’s or a framework’s internal structure. File-private access restricts the use of an entity to its own defining source file. Use file-private access to hide the implementation details of a specific piece of functionality when those details are used within an entire file. Private access restricts the use of an entity to the enclosing declaration. Use private access to hide the implementation details of a specific piece of functionality when those details are used only within a single declaration. Open access is the highest (least restrictive) access level and private access is the lowest (most restrictive) access level.

默认访问级别

如果您自己没有明确指定访问级别，那么代码中的所有实体(除了少数特定的例外)都有一个默认的内部访问级别。因此，在许多情况下，您不需要在代码中指定显式的访问级别。

关于该主题的发布说明:

Classes declared as public can no longer be subclassed outside of their defining module, and methods declared as public can no longer be overridden outside of their defining module. To allow a class to be externally subclassed or a method to be externally overridden, declare them as open, which is a new access level beyond public. Imported Objective-C classes and methods are now all imported as open rather than public. Unit tests that import a module using an @testable import will still be allowed to subclass public or internal classes as well as override public or internal methods. (SE-0117)

更多信息和细节: Swift编程语言(访问控制)

Swift 3和4也为变量和方法的访问级别带来了很多变化。Swift 3和4现在有4个不同的访问级别，其中开放/公共访问是最高(限制最少)的访问级别，私有访问是最低(限制最多)的访问级别:

private functions and members can only be accessed from within the scope of the entity itself (struct, class, …) and its extensions (in Swift 3 also the extensions were restricted) fileprivate functions and members can only be accessed from within the source file where they are declared. internal functions and members (which is the default, if you do not explicitly add an access level key word) can be accessed anywhere within the target where they are defined. Thats why the TestTarget doesn't have automatically access to all sources, they have to be marked as accessible in xCode's file inspector. open or public functions and members can be accessed from anywhere within the target and from any other context that imports the current target’s module.

有趣:

与其将每个单独的方法或成员标记为“private”，你可以在类/结构的扩展中覆盖一些方法(例如典型的helper函数)，并将整个扩展标记为“private”。

class foo { }

private extension foo {
    func somePrivateHelperFunction01() { }
    func somePrivateHelperFunction02() { }
    func somePrivateHelperFunction03() { }
}

为了获得更好的可维护代码，这可能是一个好主意。你可以很容易地切换到非私有(例如单元测试)，只需要改变一个词。

苹果公司的文档

你可以使用的一个选项是将实例创建包装到一个函数中，并在构造函数中提供适当的getter和setter:

class Counter {
    let inc: () -> Int
    let dec: () -> Int

    init(start: Int) {
        var n = start

        inc = { ++n }
        dec = { --n }
    }
}


let c = Counter(start: 10)

c.inc()  // 11
c.inc()  // 12
c.dec()  // 11

Swift 4 / Swift 5

正如Swift文档-访问控制中提到的，Swift有5个访问控制:

开放和公共:可以从它们的模块实体和导入定义模块的任何模块实体中访问。 Internal:只能从其模块的实体中访问。这是默认的访问级别。 文件私有和私有:只能在您定义的有限范围内进行有限访问。

open和public的区别是什么?

open和之前版本的Swift中的public是一样的，它们允许来自其他模块的类使用和继承它们，即:它们可以从其他模块继承子类。此外，它们允许来自其他模块的成员使用和重写它们。同样的逻辑也适用于它们的模块。

Public允许来自其他模块的类使用它们，但不能继承它们，即:它们不能从其他模块子类化。此外，它们允许来自其他模块的成员使用它们，但不允许重写它们。对于它们的模块，它们具有相同的open's逻辑(它们允许类使用和继承它们;它们允许成员使用和重写它们)。

文件私有和私有的区别是什么?

私有文件可以从他们的整个文件访问。

Private只能从它们的单个声明和同一文件中该声明的扩展进行访问;例如:

// Declaring "A" class that has the two types of "private" and "fileprivate":
class A {
    private var aPrivate: String?
    fileprivate var aFileprivate: String?

    func accessMySelf() {
        // this works fine
        self.aPrivate = ""
        self.aFileprivate = ""
    }
}

// Declaring "B" for checking the abiltiy of accessing "A" class:
class B {
    func accessA() {
        // create an instance of "A" class
        let aObject = A()

        // Error! this is NOT accessable...
        aObject.aPrivate = "I CANNOT set a value for it!"

        // this works fine
        aObject.aFileprivate = "I CAN set a value for it!"
    }
}

Swift 3和Swift 4的访问控制有什么不同?

正如在SE-0169提案中提到的，Swift 4唯一的改进是私有访问控制范围被扩展，可以从同一文件中的声明扩展中访问;例如:

struct MyStruct {
    private let myMessage = "Hello World"
}

extension MyStruct {
    func printMyMessage() {
        print(myMessage)
        // In Swift 3, you will get a compile time error:
        // error: 'myMessage' is inaccessible due to 'private' protection level

        // In Swift 4 it should works fine!
    }
}

因此，不需要将myMessage声明为文件私有以在整个文件中可访问。

希望为那些想要类似保护方法的人节省一些时间:

与其他答案一样，swift现在提供了“private”修饰符——它是按文件定义的，而不是像Java或c#那样按类定义的。这意味着如果你想要受保护的方法，如果它们在同一个文件中，你可以使用swift私有方法

创建一个基类来保存“受保护的”方法(实际上是私有的) 子类化这个类以使用相同的方法 在其他文件中，您不能访问基类方法，即使您创建了子类

文件1:

class BaseClass {
    private func protectedMethod() {
        
    }
}

class SubClass : BaseClass {
    func publicMethod() {
        self.protectedMethod()  //this is ok as they are in same file
    }
}

文件2:

func test() {
    var a = BaseClass()
    a.protectedMethod() //ERROR


    var b = SubClass()
    b.protectedMethod() //ERROR
}

class SubClass2 : BaseClass {
    func publicMethod() {
        self.protectedMethod() //ERROR
    }
}