Store and Retrieve Image Locally Swift - Image Cache without Libraries

Store images locally without using any other libraries. In this article we will store and retrieve images using our own code.

We are storing images in a Document Directory. It's different for each app, so we can store image inside Document Directory.

Create sample Xcode project.

Storing Images:

First create new swift file and import UIKit as follow:

import UIKit

class SSCache: NSObject {

/..........

}

Add the following method for getting the current document directory:

private func getDocumentsDirectory() -> URL {
    let paths = FileManager.default.urls(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask)
    return paths[0]
}

Next create method for saving image locally, add following method:

func saveImage(image: UIImage, Key: String) {
    if let data = UIImagePNGRepresentation(image) {
        let filename = getDocumentsDirectory().appendingPathComponent("\(Key).png")
        print(filename)
        try? data.write(to: filename)
    }
}

In above method we are passing image and key for storing image.

Next add the following Singleton object:

static let sharedInstance = SSCache()

Usage:

We can use as follow for storing image.

Open ViewController.swift file and add the following code:

let image = UIImage(named: "bg.jpg")
SSCache.sharedInstance.saveImage(image: image!, Key: "backgroundImage")

Build and Run, now image stored locally.

So we can easily use in any class as above.

Get Image:

For getting image from document directory, add the following method inside SSCache class:

func getImage(Key: String) -> UIImage?{
    let fileManager = FileManager.default
    let filename = getDocumentsDirectory().appendingPathComponent("\(Key).png")
    if fileManager.fileExists(atPath: filename.path) {
        return UIImage(contentsOfFile: filename.path)
    }
    return nil
}

Here we need the image name for retrieving.

Usage:

Simple we can add the following line for getting image:

if let image = SSCache.sharedInstance.getImage(Key: "backgroundImage") {
    print("we got image \(image)")
}

Build and Run, we will get above message.

Download sample project with examples :