How to recolor UIImages using template images and withRenderingMode()

Paul Hudson    September 15th 2016    @twostraws

Template images are the iOS 7.0 way of tinting any kind of image when it's inside a UIImageView. This is usually used to mimic the tinting of button images (as seen in toolbars and tab bars) but it works anywhere you want to dynamically recolor an image.

To get started, load an image then call withRenderingMode() on it, like this:

if let myImage = UIImage(named: "myImage") {
    let tintableImage = myImage.withRenderingMode(.alwaysTemplate)
    imageView.image = tintableImage
}

The tint color of a UIImageView is the standard iOS 7 blue by default, but you can change it easily enough:

imageView.tintColor = UIColor.red

Available from iOS 7.0

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