How to retrieve the most recent photo from Camera Roll on iOS?

Question

I'm having a hard figuring out how to programmatically retrieve the most recent photo in the camera roll without user intervention. To be clear, I do not want to use an Image Picker, I want the app to automatically grab the newest photo when the app opens.

I know this is possible because Ive seen a similar app do it, but I cant seem to find any info on it.

Answer 1

One way is to use AssetsLibrary and use n - 1 as the index for enumeration.

ALAssetsLibrary *assetsLibrary = [[ALAssetsLibrary alloc] init]; [assetsLibrary enumerateGroupsWithTypes:ALAssetsGroupSavedPhotos                              usingBlock:^(ALAssetsGroup *group, BOOL *stop) {                                  if (nil != group) {                                      // be sure to filter the group so you only get photos                                      [group setAssetsFilter:[ALAssetsFilter allPhotos]];                                       if (group.numberOfAssets > 0) {                                          [group enumerateAssetsAtIndexes:[NSIndexSet indexSetWithIndex:group.numberOfAssets - 1]                                                                  options:0                                                               usingBlock:^(ALAsset *result, NSUInteger index, BOOL *stop) {                                                                   if (nil != result) {                                                                       ALAssetRepresentation *repr = [result defaultRepresentation];                                                                       // this is the most recent saved photo                                                                       UIImage *img = [UIImage imageWithCGImage:[repr fullResolutionImage]];                                                                       // we only need the first (most recent) photo -- stop the enumeration                                                                       *stop = YES;                                                                   }                                                               }];                                      }                                  }                                   *stop = NO;                              } failureBlock:^(NSError *error) {                                  NSLog(@"error: %@", error);                              }];