TEAM LICENSES: Save money and learn new skills through a Hacking with Swift+ team license >>

UIImageWriteToSavedPhotosAlbum(): how to write to the iOS photo album

Swift version: 5.6

Paul Hudson    @twostraws   

It's not hard to save an image straight to the user's photo library, but I have to admit the syntax isn't immediately obvious! iOS has a function called UIImageWriteToSavedPhotosAlbum() that takes four parameters: parameter one is the image to save, parameters two and three set a delegate and selector to send when the image has been written successfully, and parameter four is any additional context information you wan to send.

For example, you might use it like this:

UIImageWriteToSavedPhotosAlbum(yourImage, self, #selector(image(_:didFinishSavingWithError:contextInfo:)), nil)

That will write the image to the photo library, then call a method when it completes. That method needs to be named very precisely, which is where it's easy to go wrong. Using the call above, you need to write your callback method like this:

@objc func image(_ image: UIImage, didFinishSavingWithError error: NSError?, contextInfo: UnsafeRawPointer) {
    if let error = error {
        // we got back an error!
        let ac = UIAlertController(title: "Save error", message: error.localizedDescription, preferredStyle: .alert)
        ac.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "OK", style: .default))
        present(ac, animated: true)
    } else {
        let ac = UIAlertController(title: "Saved!", message: "Your altered image has been saved to your photos.", preferredStyle: .alert)
        ac.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "OK", style: .default))
        present(ac, animated: true)
    }
}
Hacking with Swift is sponsored by RevenueCat.

SPONSORED Take the pain out of configuring and testing your paywalls. RevenueCat's Paywalls allow you to remotely configure your entire paywall view without any code changes or app updates.

Learn more here

Sponsor Hacking with Swift and reach the world's largest Swift community!

Available from iOS 2.0 – see Hacking with Swift tutorial 13

Similar solutions…

About the Swift Knowledge Base

This is part of the Swift Knowledge Base, a free, searchable collection of solutions for common iOS questions.

BUY OUR BOOKS
Buy Pro Swift Buy Pro SwiftUI Buy Swift Design Patterns Buy Testing Swift Buy Hacking with iOS Buy Swift Coding Challenges Buy Swift on Sundays Volume One Buy Server-Side Swift Buy Advanced iOS Volume One Buy Advanced iOS Volume Two Buy Advanced iOS Volume Three Buy Hacking with watchOS Buy Hacking with tvOS Buy Hacking with macOS Buy Dive Into SpriteKit Buy Swift in Sixty Seconds Buy Objective-C for Swift Developers Buy Beyond Code

Was this page useful? Let us know!

 
Unknown user

You are not logged in

Log in or create account
 

Link copied to your pasteboard.