How to Rotate a UIImage 90 degrees?

I believe the easiest way (and thread safe too) is to do:

//assume that the image is loaded in landscape mode from disk
UIImage * landscapeImage = [UIImage imageNamed:imgname];
UIImage * portraitImage = [[UIImage alloc] initWithCGImage: landscapeImage.CGImage
                                                     scale: 1.0
                                               orientation: UIImageOrientationRight];

Note: As Brainware said this only modifies the orientation data of the image - the pixel data is untouched. For some applications, this may not be enough.

Or in Swift:

guard
    let landscapeImage = UIImage(named: "imgname"),
    let landscapeCGImage = landscapeImage.cgImage
else { return }
let portraitImage = UIImage(cgImage: landscapeCGImage, scale: landscapeImage.scale, orientation: .right)

Check out the simple and awesome code of Hardy Macia at: cutting-scaling-and-rotating-uiimages

Just call

UIImage *rotatedImage = [originalImage imageRotatedByDegrees:90.0];

Thanks Hardy Macia!

Header:

- **(UIImage *)imageAtRect:(CGRect)rect;**
- **(UIImage *)imageByScalingProportionallyToMinimumSize:(CGSize)targetSize;**
- **(UIImage *)imageByScalingProportionallyToSize:(CGSize)targetSize;**
- **(UIImage *)imageByScalingToSize:(CGSize)targetSize;**
- **(UIImage *)imageRotatedByRadians:(CGFloat)radians;**
- **(UIImage *)imageRotatedByDegrees:(CGFloat)degrees;**

Since the link may die, here's the complete code

//
//  UIImage-Extensions.h
//
//  Created by Hardy Macia on 7/1/09.
//  Copyright 2009 Catamount Software. All rights reserved.
//
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface UIImage (CS_Extensions)
- (UIImage *)imageAtRect:(CGRect)rect;
- (UIImage *)imageByScalingProportionallyToMinimumSize:(CGSize)targetSize;
- (UIImage *)imageByScalingProportionallyToSize:(CGSize)targetSize;
- (UIImage *)imageByScalingToSize:(CGSize)targetSize;
- (UIImage *)imageRotatedByRadians:(CGFloat)radians;
- (UIImage *)imageRotatedByDegrees:(CGFloat)degrees;

@end;

//
//  UIImage-Extensions.m
//
//  Created by Hardy Macia on 7/1/09.
//  Copyright 2009 Catamount Software. All rights reserved.
//

#import "UIImage-Extensions.h"

CGFloat DegreesToRadians(CGFloat degrees) {return degrees * M_PI / 180;};
CGFloat RadiansToDegrees(CGFloat radians) {return radians * 180/M_PI;};

@implementation UIImage (CS_Extensions)

-(UIImage *)imageAtRect:(CGRect)rect
{
   
   CGImageRef imageRef = CGImageCreateWithImageInRect([self CGImage], rect);
   UIImage* subImage = [UIImage imageWithCGImage: imageRef];
   CGImageRelease(imageRef);
   
   return subImage;
   
}

- (UIImage *)imageByScalingProportionallyToMinimumSize:(CGSize)targetSize {
   
   UIImage *sourceImage = self;
   UIImage *newImage = nil;
   
   CGSize imageSize = sourceImage.size;
   CGFloat width = imageSize.width;
   CGFloat height = imageSize.height;
   
   CGFloat targetWidth = targetSize.width;
   CGFloat targetHeight = targetSize.height;
   
   CGFloat scaleFactor = 0.0;
   CGFloat scaledWidth = targetWidth;
   CGFloat scaledHeight = targetHeight;
   
   CGPoint thumbnailPoint = CGPointMake(0.0,0.0);
   
   if (CGSizeEqualToSize(imageSize, targetSize) == NO) {
      
      CGFloat widthFactor = targetWidth / width;
      CGFloat heightFactor = targetHeight / height;
      
      if (widthFactor > heightFactor) 
         scaleFactor = widthFactor;
      else
         scaleFactor = heightFactor;
      
      scaledWidth  = width * scaleFactor;
      scaledHeight = height * scaleFactor;
      
      // center the image
      
      if (widthFactor > heightFactor) {
         thumbnailPoint.y = (targetHeight - scaledHeight) * 0.5; 
      } else if (widthFactor < heightFactor) {
         thumbnailPoint.x = (targetWidth - scaledWidth) * 0.5;
      }
   }
   
   
   // this is actually the interesting part:
   
   UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(targetSize);
   
   CGRect thumbnailRect = CGRectZero;
   thumbnailRect.origin = thumbnailPoint;
   thumbnailRect.size.width  = scaledWidth;
   thumbnailRect.size.height = scaledHeight;
   
   [sourceImage drawInRect:thumbnailRect];
   
   newImage = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();
   UIGraphicsEndImageContext();
   
   if(newImage == nil) NSLog(@"could not scale image");
   
   
   return newImage ;
}


- (UIImage *)imageByScalingProportionallyToSize:(CGSize)targetSize {
   
   UIImage *sourceImage = self;
   UIImage *newImage = nil;
   
   CGSize imageSize = sourceImage.size;
   CGFloat width = imageSize.width;
   CGFloat height = imageSize.height;
   
   CGFloat targetWidth = targetSize.width;
   CGFloat targetHeight = targetSize.height;
   
   CGFloat scaleFactor = 0.0;
   CGFloat scaledWidth = targetWidth;
   CGFloat scaledHeight = targetHeight;
   
   CGPoint thumbnailPoint = CGPointMake(0.0,0.0);
   
   if (CGSizeEqualToSize(imageSize, targetSize) == NO) {
      
      CGFloat widthFactor = targetWidth / width;
      CGFloat heightFactor = targetHeight / height;
      
      if (widthFactor < heightFactor) 
         scaleFactor = widthFactor;
      else
         scaleFactor = heightFactor;
      
      scaledWidth  = width * scaleFactor;
      scaledHeight = height * scaleFactor;
      
      // center the image
      
      if (widthFactor < heightFactor) {
         thumbnailPoint.y = (targetHeight - scaledHeight) * 0.5; 
      } else if (widthFactor > heightFactor) {
         thumbnailPoint.x = (targetWidth - scaledWidth) * 0.5;
      }
   }
   
   
   // this is actually the interesting part:
   
   UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(targetSize);
   
   CGRect thumbnailRect = CGRectZero;
   thumbnailRect.origin = thumbnailPoint;
   thumbnailRect.size.width  = scaledWidth;
   thumbnailRect.size.height = scaledHeight;
   
   [sourceImage drawInRect:thumbnailRect];
   
   newImage = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();
   UIGraphicsEndImageContext();
   
   if(newImage == nil) NSLog(@"could not scale image");
   
   
   return newImage ;
}


- (UIImage *)imageByScalingToSize:(CGSize)targetSize {
   
   UIImage *sourceImage = self;
   UIImage *newImage = nil;
   
   //   CGSize imageSize = sourceImage.size;
   //   CGFloat width = imageSize.width;
   //   CGFloat height = imageSize.height;
   
   CGFloat targetWidth = targetSize.width;
   CGFloat targetHeight = targetSize.height;
   
   //   CGFloat scaleFactor = 0.0;
   CGFloat scaledWidth = targetWidth;
   CGFloat scaledHeight = targetHeight;
   
   CGPoint thumbnailPoint = CGPointMake(0.0,0.0);
   
   // this is actually the interesting part:
   
   UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(targetSize);
   
   CGRect thumbnailRect = CGRectZero;
   thumbnailRect.origin = thumbnailPoint;
   thumbnailRect.size.width  = scaledWidth;
   thumbnailRect.size.height = scaledHeight;
   
   [sourceImage drawInRect:thumbnailRect];
   
   newImage = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();
   UIGraphicsEndImageContext();
   
   if(newImage == nil) NSLog(@"could not scale image");
   
   
   return newImage ;
}


- (UIImage *)imageRotatedByRadians:(CGFloat)radians
{
   return [self imageRotatedByDegrees:RadiansToDegrees(radians)];
}

- (UIImage *)imageRotatedByDegrees:(CGFloat)degrees 
{   
   // calculate the size of the rotated view's containing box for our drawing space
   UIView *rotatedViewBox = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0,0,self.size.width, self.size.height)];
   CGAffineTransform t = CGAffineTransformMakeRotation(DegreesToRadians(degrees));
   rotatedViewBox.transform = t;
   CGSize rotatedSize = rotatedViewBox.frame.size;
   [rotatedViewBox release];
   
   // Create the bitmap context
   UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(rotatedSize);
   CGContextRef bitmap = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
   
   // Move the origin to the middle of the image so we will rotate and scale around the center.
   CGContextTranslateCTM(bitmap, rotatedSize.width/2, rotatedSize.height/2);
   
   //   // Rotate the image context
   CGContextRotateCTM(bitmap, DegreesToRadians(degrees));
   
   // Now, draw the rotated/scaled image into the context
   CGContextScaleCTM(bitmap, 1.0, -1.0);
   CGContextDrawImage(bitmap, CGRectMake(-self.size.width / 2, -self.size.height / 2, self.size.width, self.size.height), [self CGImage]);
   
   UIImage *newImage = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();
   UIGraphicsEndImageContext();
   return newImage;
   
}

@end;