Small lag/jitter when tapping the screen - ios

Question

So my game is almost complete... but there's this little glitch or jitter that occurs when I press and hold my finger on the screen which, now I've noticed, I can't un-notice...
It happens really fast, and only happens when a function is called to handle tap&holds (long press). This happens after 0.2seconds have passed using a timer.
I've tried breakpointing it to pin down where exactly the jitter happens in the code, but it seems I can not fine tune it enough to locate it.
My update method is typical:
override func update(currentTime: CFTimeInterval) {
//calc delta time
if lastUpdateTime > 0 {
dt = currentTime - lastUpdateTime
} else {
dt = 0
}
lastUpdateTime = currentTime
//timer for handleLongPress
if touched {
longTouchTimer += dt
}
if longTouchTimer >= 0.2 && !canLongPressNow {
canLongPressNow = true
handleLongPress()
} else {
canLongPressNow = false
}
...
//switch GameSate
//switch CharacterState
}
My function to handleLongPress is this:
func handleLongPress() {
//switch gameState
//if in gameplay gamestate
if canLongPressNow {
//rotate player
//change character state
startPlayerAnimation_Sliding()
}
touched = false
longTouchTimer = 0
}
The startPlayerAnimation_Sliding() just iterates a texture array of the playerNode.
func startPlayerAnimation_Sliding() {
var textures: Array<SKTexture> = []
for i in 0..<KNumSlideFrames{
textures.append(SKTexture(imageNamed: "slide\(i)"))
}
let playerAnimation = SKAction.animateWithTextures(textures, timePerFrame: 0.3)
player.runAction(SKAction.repeatActionForever(playerAnimation), withKey: "sliding")
}
Is there anything noticeable that may be causing this?
update
I've removed this from my update(..) method, and it seems smooth again... and I have no idea why...? Maybe because it's removing a key (explosion) that hasn't been created yet? or the fact it's removing these keys every frame... Doesn't make sense though... But I'm calling it a night, and looking at this again tomorrow. Thanks for your help so far. Have a good evening. (will update tomorrow)
//for animations
switch characterState {
case .Running:
player.removeActionForKey("exploding")
player.removeActionForKey("sliding")
break
case .Sliding:
player.removeActionForKey("running")
player.removeActionForKey("exploding")
break
case .Exploding:
player.removeActionForKey("running")
player.removeActionForKey("sliding")
break
}

Answer 1

Yikes, how you create textures is what is slowing you down a lot, you are creating new textures every time a touch happens, this is not needed. Instead do:
var textures: Array<SKTexture> = []
var playerAnimation : SKAction?
func loadingPhase() //however this is defined for you
{
for i in 0..<KNumSlideFrames{
textures.append(SKTexture(imageNamed: "slide\(i)"))
}
playerAnimation = SKAction.repeatActionForever(SKAction.animateWithTextures(textures, timePerFrame: 0.3))
}
func startPlayerAnimation_Sliding() {
player.runAction(playerAnimation!, withKey: "sliding")
}