How can I set the UINavigationbar with gradient color?

This is the solution without using an intermediate CAGradientLayer, and just using CoreGraphics, in Swift 3.0.

Essentially, the method creates a UIImage on the fly with the gradient colors passed and sets it.

extension UINavigationBar
{
    /// Applies a background gradient with the given colors
    func apply(gradient colors : [UIColor]) {
        var frameAndStatusBar: CGRect = self.bounds
        frameAndStatusBar.size.height += 20 // add 20 to account for the status bar

        setBackgroundImage(UINavigationBar.gradient(size: frameAndStatusBar.size, colors: colors), for: .default)
    }

    /// Creates a gradient image with the given settings
    static func gradient(size : CGSize, colors : [UIColor]) -> UIImage?
    {
        // Turn the colors into CGColors
        let cgcolors = colors.map { $0.cgColor }

        // Begin the graphics context
        UIGraphicsBeginImageContextWithOptions(size, true, 0.0)

        // If no context was retrieved, then it failed
        guard let context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext() else { return nil }

        // From now on, the context gets ended if any return happens
        defer { UIGraphicsEndImageContext() }

        // Create the Coregraphics gradient
        var locations : [CGFloat] = [0.0, 1.0]
        guard let gradient = CGGradient(colorsSpace: CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB(), colors: cgcolors as NSArray as CFArray, locations: &locations) else { return nil }

        // Draw the gradient
        context.drawLinearGradient(gradient, start: CGPoint(x: 0.0, y: 0.0), end: CGPoint(x: size.width, y: 0.0), options: [])

        // Generate the image (the defer takes care of closing the context)
        return UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext()
    }
}

The defer statement makes this so much clean than prior versions. Be noted that CGGradient are available since iOS 8.0.

Also, this creates the gradient from left to right, tweaking the parameters of drawLinearGradient (start and end) moves the locations. This is up for your implementation.

In Swift 3, Swift 4 and Swift 5:

let gradient = CAGradientLayer()
let sizeLength = UIScreen.main.bounds.size.height * 2
let defaultNavigationBarFrame = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: sizeLength, height: 64)

gradient.frame = defaultNavigationBarFrame

gradient.colors = [UIColor.white.cgColor, UIColor.black.cgColor]

UINavigationBar.appearance().setBackgroundImage(self.image(fromLayer: gradient), for: .default)

For creating image from layer:

func image(fromLayer layer: CALayer) -> UIImage {
    UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(layer.frame.size)

    layer.render(in: UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext()!)

    let outputImage = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext()

    UIGraphicsEndImageContext()

    return outputImage!
}

In Swift 2:

let gradient = CAGradientLayer()
let sizeLength = UIScreen.mainScreen().bounds.size.height * 2
let defaultNavigationBarFrame = CGRectMake(0, 0, sizeLength, 64)

gradient.frame = defaultNavigationBarFrame

gradient.colors = [UIColor.whiteColor().CGColor, UIColor.blackColor().CGColor]

UINavigationBar.appearance().setBackgroundImage(self.image(fromLayer: gradient), forBarMetrics: .Default)

For creating image from layer:

func image(fromLayer layer: CALayer) -> UIImage {    
    UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(layer.frame.size)

    layer.renderInContext(UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext()!)

    let outputImage = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext()

     UIGraphicsEndImageContext()

    return outputImage!
}

Details

• Xcode 11.4 (11E146), swift 5
• Tested on iOS 13.1, 12.2, 11.0.1

Solution

class UINavigationBarGradientView: UIView {

    enum Point {
        case topRight, topLeft
        case bottomRight, bottomLeft
        case custom(point: CGPoint)

        var point: CGPoint {
            switch self {
                case .topRight: return CGPoint(x: 1, y: 0)
                case .topLeft: return CGPoint(x: 0, y: 0)
                case .bottomRight: return CGPoint(x: 1, y: 1)
                case .bottomLeft: return CGPoint(x: 0, y: 1)
                case .custom(let point): return point
            }
        }
    }

    private weak var gradientLayer: CAGradientLayer!

    convenience init(colors: [UIColor], startPoint: Point = .topLeft,
                     endPoint: Point = .bottomLeft, locations: [NSNumber] = [0, 1]) {
        self.init(frame: .zero)
        let gradientLayer = CAGradientLayer()
        gradientLayer.frame = frame
        layer.addSublayer(gradientLayer)
        self.gradientLayer = gradientLayer
        set(colors: colors, startPoint: startPoint, endPoint: endPoint, locations: locations)
        backgroundColor = .clear
    }

    func set(colors: [UIColor], startPoint: Point = .topLeft,
             endPoint: Point = .bottomLeft, locations: [NSNumber] = [0, 1]) {
        gradientLayer.colors = colors.map { $0.cgColor }
        gradientLayer.startPoint = startPoint.point
        gradientLayer.endPoint = endPoint.point
        gradientLayer.locations = locations
    }

    func setupConstraints() {
        guard let parentView = superview else { return }
        translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: parentView.topAnchor).isActive = true
        leftAnchor.constraint(equalTo: parentView.leftAnchor).isActive = true
        parentView.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: bottomAnchor).isActive = true
        parentView.rightAnchor.constraint(equalTo: rightAnchor).isActive = true
    }

    override func layoutSubviews() {
        super.layoutSubviews()
        guard let gradientLayer = gradientLayer else { return }
        gradientLayer.frame = frame
        superview?.addSubview(self)
    }
}

extension UINavigationBar {
    func setGradientBackground(colors: [UIColor],
                               startPoint: UINavigationBarGradientView.Point = .topLeft,
                               endPoint: UINavigationBarGradientView.Point = .bottomLeft,
                               locations: [NSNumber] = [0, 1]) {
        guard let backgroundView = value(forKey: "backgroundView") as? UIView else { return }
        guard let gradientView = backgroundView.subviews.first(where: { $0 is UINavigationBarGradientView }) as? UINavigationBarGradientView else {
            let gradientView = UINavigationBarGradientView(colors: colors, startPoint: startPoint,
                                                           endPoint: endPoint, locations: locations)
            backgroundView.addSubview(gradientView)
            gradientView.setupConstraints()
            return
        }
        gradientView.set(colors: colors, startPoint: startPoint, endPoint: endPoint, locations: locations)
    }
}

Usage

navigationBar.setGradientBackground(colors: [.lightGray, .red], startPoint: .topLeft, endPoint: .bottomRight)

Create gradient layer and add it as background of navigation bar.

    CAGradientLayer *gradient = [CAGradientLayer layer];
    gradient.frame = self.navigationController.navigationBar.bounds;
    gradient.colors = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:(id)[[UIColor whiteColor] CGColor], (id)[[UIColor blackColor] CGColor], nil];
    [self.navigationController.navigationBar setBackgroundImage:[self imageFromLayer:gradient] forBarMetrics:UIBarMetricsDefault];

For creating image from layer.

- (UIImage *)imageFromLayer:(CALayer *)layer
{
    UIGraphicsBeginImageContext([layer frame].size);

    [layer renderInContext:UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext()];
    UIImage *outputImage = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();

    UIGraphicsEndImageContext();

    return outputImage;
}

One more thing, there is one library available in github : CRGradientNavigationBar you can also use this library.