Written by Paul Hudson @twostraws
Core Image has a filter that resample an image down to 1x1 pixels so you can read the average color, although it’s a weirdly hard to use.
To simplify things, here’s an extension on UIImage that returns an optional UIColor – it will be nil only if something went wrong while reading your image, but otherwise it will contain the average color for the entire image:
extension UIImage {
var averageColor: UIColor? {
guard let inputImage = CIImage(image: self) else { return nil }
let extentVector = CIVector(x: inputImage.extent.origin.x, y: inputImage.extent.origin.y, z: inputImage.extent.size.width, w: inputImage.extent.size.height)
guard let filter = CIFilter(name: "CIAreaAverage", withInputParameters: [kCIInputImageKey: inputImage, kCIInputExtentKey: extentVector]) else { return nil }
guard let outputImage = filter.outputImage else { return nil }
var bitmap = [UInt8](repeating: 0, count: 4)
let context = CIContext(options: [kCIContextWorkingColorSpace: kCFNull])
context.render(outputImage, toBitmap: &bitmap, rowBytes: 4, bounds: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 1, height: 1), format: kCIFormatRGBA8, colorSpace: nil)
return UIColor(red: CGFloat(bitmap[0]) / 255, green: CGFloat(bitmap[1]) / 255, blue: CGFloat(bitmap[2]) / 255, alpha: CGFloat(bitmap[3]) / 255)
}
}Available from iOS 9.0
Did this solution work for you? Please pass it on!
Other people are reading…
About the Swift Knowledge Base
This is part of the Swift Knowledge Base, a free, searchable collection of solutions for common iOS questions.
Get six books for only $150
The Swift Power Pack includes my first six books for one low price, helping you jumpstart a new career in iOS development – check it out!