iOS: Download image from url and save in device

Solution 1:

I happen to have exactly what you are looking for.

Get Image From URL

-(UIImage *) getImageFromURL:(NSString *)fileURL {
    UIImage * result;

    NSData * data = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:[NSURL URLWithString:fileURL]];
    result = [UIImage imageWithData:data];

    return result;
}

Save Image

-(void) saveImage:(UIImage *)image withFileName:(NSString *)imageName ofType:(NSString *)extension inDirectory:(NSString *)directoryPath {
    if ([[extension lowercaseString] isEqualToString:@"png"]) {
        [UIImagePNGRepresentation(image) writeToFile:[directoryPath stringByAppendingPathComponent:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@.%@", imageName, @"png"]] options:NSAtomicWrite error:nil];
    } else if ([[extension lowercaseString] isEqualToString:@"jpg"] || [[extension lowercaseString] isEqualToString:@"jpeg"]) {
        [UIImageJPEGRepresentation(image, 1.0) writeToFile:[directoryPath stringByAppendingPathComponent:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@.%@", imageName, @"jpg"]] options:NSAtomicWrite error:nil];
    } else {
        NSLog(@"Image Save Failed\nExtension: (%@) is not recognized, use (PNG/JPG)", extension);
    }
}

Load Image

-(UIImage *) loadImage:(NSString *)fileName ofType:(NSString *)extension inDirectory:(NSString *)directoryPath {
    UIImage * result = [UIImage imageWithContentsOfFile:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@/%@.%@", directoryPath, fileName, extension]];

    return result;
}

How-To

//Definitions
NSString * documentsDirectoryPath = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0];

//Get Image From URL
UIImage * imageFromURL = [self getImageFromURL:@"http://www.yourdomain.com/yourImage.png"];

//Save Image to Directory
[self saveImage:imageFromURL withFileName:@"My Image" ofType:@"png" inDirectory:documentsDirectoryPath];

//Load Image From Directory
UIImage * imageFromWeb = [self loadImage:@"My Image" ofType:@"png" inDirectory:documentsDirectoryPath];

Solution 2:

If you set theData to nil, what do you expect it to write to the disk?

What you can use is NSData* theData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:yourURLHere]; to load the data from the disk and then save it using writeToFile:atomically:. If you need more control over the loading process or have it in background, look at the documentation of NSURLConnection and the associated guide.