Best way to store images in iOS

Question

I was wondering if anyone could suggest the best way for me to store images for my app.

I want to be able to provide an XML update functionality that will allow the user to update their app with a new set of images. I was wondering what the best way to do this was as i need to read and write to the store location. Is storing them in a sqlite database the best way or am i able to use the filesystem to do this without the chance of the iPhone deleting any of the downloaded images?

Thanks

Answer 1

You can write to the filesystem, every app in iOS is sandboxed and has access to his own documents folder.

I would suggest to write on filesystem and only save the urls on the database as that is more performant than saving blobs on a database.

Apple has a good write up about the iOS filesystem.

Answer 2

Alternatively you could implement a solution using SQLite, Apple mentions it in the: Large Data Objects (BLOBs) section here:

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/CoreData/Articles/cdPerformance.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40003468-SW5