PDF Generation in Swift (iOS/macOS): UIGraphicsPDFRenderer, PDFKit and Core Graphics

PDF Generation in Swift (iOS/macOS): From Simple to Advanced

Creating PDF documents is one of the common tasks in mobile and desktop development. On Apple platforms (iOS/macOS), built-in tools allow you to generate high-quality PDFs without third-party libraries. In this article, we will cover three main approaches: UIGraphicsPDFRenderer (modern and simple), PDFKit (for working with existing PDFs) and Core Graphics (for full control). All examples are written in Swift and are suitable for both iOS and macOS (with minimal changes).

1. UIGraphicsPDFRenderer — The Modern Standard

UIGraphicsPDFRenderer appeared in iOS 10 and macOS 10.12. It provides a high-level API for creating multi-page PDFs. Main advantages: automatic context management, metadata support, and ease of use.

Basic Example: Creating a PDF with Text

import UIKit

func generateSimplePDF() -> Data? {    let pageWidth: CGFloat = 612   // A4    let pageHeight: CGFloat = 792        let renderer = UIGraphicsPDFRenderer(bounds: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: pageWidth, height: pageHeight))        let data = renderer.pdfData { context in        // First page        context.beginPage()                let text = "Hello, PDF World!"        let attributes: [NSAttributedString.Key: Any] = [            .font: UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 24),            .foregroundColor: UIColor.black        ]        text.draw(at: CGPoint(x: 50, y: 50), withAttributes: attributes)                // Second page        context.beginPage()                let secondText = "This is the second page"        secondText.draw(at: CGPoint(x: 50, y: 50), withAttributes: attributes)    }        return data}

// Saving to fileif let pdfData = generateSimplePDF() {    let documentsPath = FileManager.default.urls(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask)[0]    let pdfURL = documentsPath.appendingPathComponent("sample.pdf")    try? pdfData.write(to: pdfURL)    print("PDF saved: \\(pdfURL)")}

Advanced Example: Table and Image

func generateInvoicePDF() -> Data {    let renderer = UIGraphicsPDFRenderer(bounds: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 612, height: 792))        return renderer.pdfData { context in        context.beginPage()                // Draw logo (if available)        if let logo = UIImage(named: "logo") {            logo.draw(in: CGRect(x: 50, y: 50, width: 100, height: 50))        }                // Title        let titleAttributes: [NSAttributedString.Key: Any] = [            .font: UIFont.boldSystemFont(ofSize: 28),            .foregroundColor: UIColor.darkGray        ]        "INVOICE #123".draw(at: CGPoint(x: 400, y: 50), withAttributes: titleAttributes)                // Table        let items = [("Item", "Price"), ("Laptop", "$1200"), ("Mouse", "$25")]        var yPosition: CGFloat = 200                for (name, price) in items {            let nameAttributes: [NSAttributedString.Key: Any] = [                .font: UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 14),                .foregroundColor: UIColor.black            ]            name.draw(at: CGPoint(x: 100, y: yPosition), withAttributes: nameAttributes)            price.draw(at: CGPoint(x: 400, y: yPosition), withAttributes: nameAttributes)            yPosition += 30        }                // Total        let totalAttributes: [NSAttributedString.Key: Any] = [            .font: UIFont.boldSystemFont(ofSize: 18),            .foregroundColor: UIColor.red        ]        "Total: $1225".draw(at: CGPoint(x: 350, y: yPosition + 20), withAttributes: totalAttributes)    }}

2. PDFKit — Working with Existing PDFs and Annotations

PDFKit is a more powerful framework that