UIButton with hold down action and release action

Try this

Add TouchDown ,Touch Up Inside, Touch Up Outside event to ur button

 -(IBAction)theTouchDown:(id)sender
 {

    timer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:0.2
                                             target:self
                                           selector:@selector(performFunctionality)
                                           userInfo:nil
  }
-(IBAction)theTouchUpInside:(id)sender
{
[timer invalidate];
timer = nil;
[self performFunctionality];

 }


 -(IBAction)theTouchUpOutside:(id)sender
 {
[timer invalidate];
timer = nil;
 }

-(void)performFunctionality
 {
 //write your logic
 }

I have faced this problem myself, and mostly we use these events:-

// This event works fine and fires

[aButton addTarget:self action:@selector(holdDown) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchDown];

// This does not fire at all

[aButton addTarget:self action:@selector(holdRelease) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];

Solution:-

Use Long Press Gesture Recognizer:-

 UILongPressGestureRecognizer *btn_LongPress_gesture = [[UILongPressGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:self action:@selector(handleBtnLongPressgesture:)];
[aButton addGestureRecognizer:btn_LongPress_gesture];

Implementation of gesture:-

- (void)handleBtnLongPressgesture:(UILongPressGestureRecognizer *)recognizer{


//as you hold the button this would fire

if (recognizer.state == UIGestureRecognizerStateBegan) {

    [self holdDown];
}

//as you release the button this would fire

if (recognizer.state == UIGestureRecognizerStateEnded) {

    [self holdRelease];
}
}

try this

  UIButton *aButton = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
  aButton.frame = CGRectMake(xValue, yValue, 45, 45);
  [aButton addTarget:self action:@selector(holdDown) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchDown];
  [aButton addTarget:self action:@selector(holdRelease) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];


 - (void)holdDown
  {
     NSLog(@"hold Down");
  }

  - (void)holdRelease
  {
      NSLog(@"hold release");

  }

for NSPratik's case: u can use the event UIControlEventTouchUpOutside If user long press button and after some time, instead of releasing the finger, user will move his/her finger out of the bounds of button. just add one more event.

  UIButton *aButton = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
  aButton.frame = CGRectMake(xValue, yValue, 45, 45);
  [aButton addTarget:self action:@selector(holdDown) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchDown];
  [aButton addTarget:self action:@selector(holdRelease) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
  [aButton addTarget:self action:@selector(holdReleaseOutSide) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpOutside]; //add this for your case releasing the finger out side of the button's frame

 //add this method along with other methods 
  - (void)holdReleaseOutSide
  {
     NSLog(@"hold release out side");
  }

Swift Version

 var  aButton:UIButton = UIButton.buttonWithType(UIButtonType.Custom) as UIButton
 aButton.frame = CGRectMake(xValue,yValue, 45, 45)
 aButton.setTitle("aButton", forState: UIControlState.Normal)
 aButton.backgroundColor = UIColor.greenColor()
 aButton.addTarget(self, action: Selector("holdRelease:"), forControlEvents: UIControlEvents.TouchUpInside);
 aButton.addTarget(self, action: Selector("HoldDown:"), forControlEvents: UIControlEvents.TouchDown)
 self.addSubview(aButton)

 //target functions   
 func HoldDown(sender:UIButton)
 {
    print("hold down")
 }

 func holdRelease(sender:UIButton)
 {
    print("hold release")
 }