self.view.backgroundColor = [UIColor redColor];

UIColor *background = [[UIColor alloc] initWithPatternImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"anImage.png"]];
self.view.backgroundColor = background;
[background release];

34 thoughts on “iPhone – Set Background Image for UIView”

1. Amin November 5, 2010 at 10:40

   Thx a lot.

   Reply ↓
   1. ykyuen Post authorNovember 5, 2010 at 10:57

      you are welcome =)

      Reply ↓
2. sai November 10, 2010 at 21:38

   Thanks

   Reply ↓
   1. ykyuen Post authorNovember 11, 2010 at 00:19

      =)

      Reply ↓
3. Nirbhay January 24, 2011 at 18:15

   hey ykyuen thanx for the post.

   I problem I am getting is images are not taking transparency in uiview.

   Reply ↓
   1. ykyuen Post authorJanuary 24, 2011 at 23:08

      did you set the uiview.opague to NO and change the uiview.alpha value?

      UIView Class Reference

      Reply ↓
4. David July 15, 2011 at 02:53

   Holy cow. That’s awesome. Thank you.

   Reply ↓
   1. ykyuen Post authorJuly 15, 2011 at 09:09

      haha~~ you are welcome =D

      Reply ↓
5. Eduardo August 30, 2011 at 12:32

   hey buddy, thank you so much!

   Reply ↓
   1. ykyuen Post authorAugust 30, 2011 at 12:40

      you are welcome. =)

      Reply ↓
6. Saurabh September 11, 2011 at 18:47

   This did not work for my iPad view, what could be the problem ? I am doing this in viewDidLoad() …

   Reply ↓
   1. ykyuen Post authorSeptember 12, 2011 at 16:39

      Is the following work?

      self.view.backgroundColor = [UIColor redColor];
      

      If yes, then i think there should be some problem when initializing a UIColor instance with image. Check if the image is loaded without problem.

      Reply ↓
7. Giordano October 7, 2011 at 08:49

   This worked great for me, just one issue…the image being displayed on my iPhone’s screen is coming out lighter/duller looking than the original png. Any thoughts on what the cause of this might be?

   Reply ↓
   1. ykyuen Post authorOctober 10, 2011 at 13:13

      i didn’t look into this issue before. do u have anything on top of the background? if you are working with table view, the following tutorial may help but i am not sure if that is ur problem.

      How To Add A Nice Background Image To Your Grouped Table View

      Reply ↓
8. Prasad March 3, 2012 at 20:28

   Yes. You are right to set background image. But i have some doubt in it. When we apply pinch gestureRecognizer on view , the background image is also increasing with view but here only increase the view and not on background image. Is it possible ? if yes then please replay to me how to solve it.

   Reply ↓
   1. ykyuen Post authorMarch 4, 2012 at 01:57

      so you only want to increase the view size but not the background image?

      do you think using a UIImageView instead of setting the background image of a UIView could solve your problem?
      StackOverflow – GestureRecognizer on UIImageView

      Reply ↓
9. Vanja April 24, 2012 at 21:58

   Hello!
   I`d like to ask, is there any method to scale background image to UIView size. I`ve done like here, but my image is too big for view. Do U know such ? Thanks.

   Reply ↓
   1. ykyuen Post authorApril 25, 2012 at 03:16

      Maybe you could try this

      self.view.backgroundColor=[UIColor colorWithPatternImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"anImage.png"]];
      

       

      Reference:

      • StackOverflow – iOs UIView Background Image
      • StackOverflow – The simplest way to resize an UIImage?

      Reply ↓
10. Ryan Grey (@ryanggrey) June 6, 2012 at 22:15

    Just wanted to say how great this little tip is! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply ↓
    1. ykyuen Post authorJune 7, 2012 at 00:24

       Thanks for your comment and good to know that i could help.

       Reply ↓
11. vaishali December 31, 2012 at 14:55

    Thanks for the article. I just want to ask that how to set background image to table view??

    Reply ↓
    1. ykyuen Post authorJanuary 1, 2013 at 20:27

       Try this

       UIImageView *imageView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"picture.png"]];
       
       self.tableView.backgroundView = imageView;
       [imageView release];
       

       Reference: StackOverflow – iPhone – Setting background on UITableViewController

       Reply ↓
       1. vaishalitekale January 1, 2013 at 20:34

          This works for me…
          Thanks
       2. ykyuen Post authorJanuary 1, 2013 at 20:42

          You are welcome =)
12. Wang January 19, 2013 at 22:09

    Hello, your method is very good. Thanks a lot.

    But I have a problem now.
    My image is large than my iphone simulator screen,I can’t see the whole image.
    How can I do?

    Reply ↓
    1. ykyuen Post authorJanuary 19, 2013 at 23:58

       Does it help?

       UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(self.view.frame.size);
       [[UIImage imageNamed:@"image.png"] drawInRect:self.view.bounds];
       UIImage *image = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();
       UIGraphicsEndImageContext();
       
       self.view.backgroundColor = [UIColor colorWithPatternImage:image];
       

       Reference: StackOverflow – How to fill background image of an UIView

       Reply ↓
       1. Wang January 21, 2013 at 18:06

          Yes, it works. Thank you.
          But I find another method.
          How do you think?

          UIImage *bg = [UIImage imageNamed:@"image.png"];
          UIImageView *menu_bg = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:bg];
              
          CGSize screenSize = [UIScreen mainScreen].bounds.size;    
                 
          menu_bg.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0,screenSize.width ,screenSize.height );
          [self.view addSubview:menu_bg];
          
       2. ykyuen Post authorJanuary 21, 2013 at 22:08

          I am not very familiar with iOS development so i couldn’t comment on which one is better. Your approach should have no problem i think,

          Anyway, thanks for providing your solution here. =)
13. sakthivv March 9, 2013 at 17:22

    can that image be stretchable image ? i used this property to stretch image “stretchableImageWithLeftCapWidth” but its not working .. how do set a stretchable image as background ?

    Reply ↓
    1. ykyuen Post authorMarch 9, 2013 at 20:23

       Try this

       UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(self.view.frame.size);
       [[UIImage imageNamed:@"image.png"] drawInRect:self.view.bounds];
       UIImage *image = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();
       UIGraphicsEndImageContext();
       
       self.view.backgroundColor = [UIColor colorWithPatternImage:image];
       

       Reference: StackOverflow – How to fill background image of an UIView

       Reply ↓
14. Brett Lee March 11, 2013 at 15:14

    i want to place an background image of my view, which is already a designed view…
    for example i develop my login screen with fields email,pwd,confirm pwd,submit button..
    how can i add an image as my view’s background…????
    pls answer me

    Reply ↓
    1. ykyuen Post authorMarch 12, 2013 at 15:36

       Have you tried to set the background color of the designed view as suggested in this post?

       what problem do u have?

       Reply ↓
15. powertux April 8, 2013 at 22:37

    Hello, all. I have some strange issue:

    // if return color by this method, work in non retina but in retina position of color issue...
    if (!_backgroundPortrait) _backgroundPortrait = [UIColor colorWithPatternImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"background-portrait.jpg"]];
    return _backgroundPortrait;
    
    //if return color by this methods, didn't work at all... (return clear color)
    UIGraphicsBeginImageContextWithOptions(CGSizeMake(660, 976), NO, [UIScreen mainScreen].scale);
    [[UIImage imageNamed:@"background-portrait.png"] drawInRect:CGRectMake(0, 0, 660, 976)];
    UIImage *image = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();
    UIGraphicsEndImageContext();
    _backgroundPortrait = [UIColor colorWithPatternImage:image];
    

    Reply ↓
    1. ykyuen Post authorApril 13, 2013 at 16:37

       The following post should help you to deal with the retina devices.
       StackOverflow – iOS Retina display: images double size

       Reply ↓