How to Apply Gradient to background view of iOS Swift App

Xcode 11 • Swift 5.1

You can design your own Gradient View as follow:

@IBDesignable
public class Gradient: UIView {
    @IBInspectable var startColor:   UIColor = .black { didSet { updateColors() }}
    @IBInspectable var endColor:     UIColor = .white { didSet { updateColors() }}
    @IBInspectable var startLocation: Double =   0.05 { didSet { updateLocations() }}
    @IBInspectable var endLocation:   Double =   0.95 { didSet { updateLocations() }}
    @IBInspectable var horizontalMode:  Bool =  false { didSet { updatePoints() }}
    @IBInspectable var diagonalMode:    Bool =  false { didSet { updatePoints() }}

    override public class var layerClass: AnyClass { CAGradientLayer.self }

    var gradientLayer: CAGradientLayer { layer as! CAGradientLayer }

    func updatePoints() {
        if horizontalMode {
            gradientLayer.startPoint = diagonalMode ? .init(x: 1, y: 0) : .init(x: 0, y: 0.5)
            gradientLayer.endPoint   = diagonalMode ? .init(x: 0, y: 1) : .init(x: 1, y: 0.5)
        } else {
            gradientLayer.startPoint = diagonalMode ? .init(x: 0, y: 0) : .init(x: 0.5, y: 0)
            gradientLayer.endPoint   = diagonalMode ? .init(x: 1, y: 1) : .init(x: 0.5, y: 1)
        }
    }
    func updateLocations() {
        gradientLayer.locations = [startLocation as NSNumber, endLocation as NSNumber]
    }
    func updateColors() {
        gradientLayer.colors = [startColor.cgColor, endColor.cgColor]
    }
    override public func traitCollectionDidChange(_ previousTraitCollection: UITraitCollection?) {
        super.traitCollectionDidChange(previousTraitCollection)
        updatePoints()
        updateLocations()
        updateColors()
    }

}

The Colors you're providing to gradient must be of type CGColor. So set your array of CGColor to gl.colors.

The correct code is :

class Colors {
    var gl:CAGradientLayer!

    init() {
        let colorTop = UIColor(red: 192.0 / 255.0, green: 38.0 / 255.0, blue: 42.0 / 255.0, alpha: 1.0).cgColor
        let colorBottom = UIColor(red: 35.0 / 255.0, green: 2.0 / 255.0, blue: 2.0 / 255.0, alpha: 1.0).cgColor

        self.gl = CAGradientLayer()
        self.gl.colors = [colorTop, colorBottom]
        self.gl.locations = [0.0, 1.0]
    }
}

Just modifying the above mentioned answer.

func setGradientBackground() {
    let colorTop =  UIColor(red: 255.0/255.0, green: 149.0/255.0, blue: 0.0/255.0, alpha: 1.0).cgColor
    let colorBottom = UIColor(red: 255.0/255.0, green: 94.0/255.0, blue: 58.0/255.0, alpha: 1.0).cgColor
                
    let gradientLayer = CAGradientLayer()
    gradientLayer.colors = [colorTop, colorBottom]
    gradientLayer.locations = [0.0, 1.0]
    gradientLayer.frame = self.view.bounds
            
    self.view.layer.insertSublayer(gradientLayer, at:0)
}

Then call this method within viewWillAppear

override func viewWillAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
    setGradientBackground()
    super.viewWillAppear(animated)
}

And if you need to change the direction of the gradient you have to use startPoint and endPoint.

let gradient: CAGradientLayer = CAGradientLayer()

gradient.colors = [UIColor.blue.cgColor, UIColor.red.cgColor]
gradient.locations = [0.0 , 1.0]
gradient.startPoint = CGPoint(x: 0.0, y: 1.0)
gradient.endPoint = CGPoint(x: 1.0, y: 1.0)
gradient.frame = CGRect(x: 0.0, y: 0.0, width: self.view.frame.size.width, height: self.view.frame.size.height)

self.view.layer.insertSublayer(gradient, at: 0)

In Swift3 try this:

 func addGradient(){

    let gradient:CAGradientLayer = CAGradientLayer()
    gradient.frame.size = self.viewThatHoldsGradient.frame.size
    gradient.colors = [UIColor.white.cgColor,UIColor.white.withAlphaComponent(0).cgColor] //Or any colors
    self.viewThatHoldsGradient.layer.addSublayer(gradient)

}