Displaying a message in iOS which has the same functionality as Toast in Android

Question

You can make use of MBProgressHUD project.

Use HUD mode MBProgressHUDModeText for toast-like behaviour,

MBProgressHUD *hud = [MBProgressHUD showHUDAddedTo:self.navigationController.view animated:YES];

// Configure for text only and offset down
hud.mode = MBProgressHUDModeText;
hud.label.text = @"Some message...";
hud.margin = 10.f;
hud.yOffset = 150.f;
hud.removeFromSuperViewOnHide = YES;

[hud hideAnimated:YES afterDelay:3];

NSString *message = @"Some message...";

UIAlertView *toast = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:nil
                                                message:message
                                               delegate:nil
                                      cancelButtonTitle:nil
                                      otherButtonTitles:nil, nil];
[toast show];
        
int duration = 1; // duration in seconds
        
dispatch_after(dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, duration * NSEC_PER_SEC), dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
    [toast dismissWithClickedButtonIndex:0 animated:YES];
});

Using UIAlertViewController for iOS 9 or later

NSString *message = @"Some message...";

UIAlertController *alert = [UIAlertController alertControllerWithTitle:nil
                                                               message:message
                                                        preferredStyle:UIAlertControllerStyleAlert];

[self presentViewController:alert animated:YES completion:nil];

int duration = 1; // duration in seconds

dispatch_after(dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, duration * NSEC_PER_SEC), dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
    [alert dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:nil];
});

Swift 3.2

let message = "Some message..."
let alert = UIAlertController(title: nil, message: message, preferredStyle: .alert)
self.present(alert, animated: true)
    
// duration in seconds
let duration: Double = 5
    
DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: DispatchTime.now() + duration) {
    alert.dismiss(animated: true)
}

In Android, a Toast is a short message that displays on the screen for a short amount of time and then disappears automatically without disrupting user interaction with the app.

So a lot of people coming from an Android background want to know what the iOS version of a Toast is. Besides the current question, other similar questions can be found here, here, and here. The answer is that there is no exact equivalent to a Toast in iOS. Various workarounds that have been presented, though, including

• making your own Toast with a UIView (see here, here, here, and here)
• importing a third party project that mimics a Toast (see here, here, here, and here)
• using a buttonless Alert with a timer (see here)

However, my advice is to stick with the standard UI options that already come with iOS. Don't try to make your app look and behave exactly the same as the Android version. Think about how to repackage it so that it looks and feels like an iOS app. See the following link for some choices.

• Overview of the standard iOS options for temporarily displaying information to a user.

Consider redesigning the UI in a way that conveys the same information. Or, if the information is very important, then an Alert might be the answer.

Swift 4

How about this small trick?

func showToast(controller: UIViewController, message : String, seconds: Double) {
    let alert = UIAlertController(title: nil, message: message, preferredStyle: .alert)
    alert.view.backgroundColor = UIColor.black
    alert.view.alpha = 0.6
    alert.view.layer.cornerRadius = 15

    controller.present(alert, animated: true)

    DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: DispatchTime.now() + seconds) {
        alert.dismiss(animated: true)
    }
}

Example of calling:

showToast(controller: self, message : "This is a test", seconds: 2.0)

Output: