iPhone “slide to unlock” animation

Question

Any ideas as to how Apple implemented the \"slide to unlock\" (also, \"slide to power off\" is another identical example) animation?

I thought about some sort of ani

Answer 1

Yet another solution using a layer mask, but instead draws the gradient by hand and does not require images. View is the view with the animation, transparency is a float from 0 - 1 defining the amount of transparency (1 = no transparency which is pointless), and gradientWidth is the desired width of the gradient.

CAGradientLayer *gradientMask = [CAGradientLayer layer];
 gradientMask.frame = view.bounds;
CGFloat gradientSize = gradientWidth / view.frame.size.width;
UIColor *gradient = [UIColor colorWithWhite:1.0f alpha:transparency];
NSArray *startLocations = @[[NSNumber numberWithFloat:0.0f], [NSNumber numberWithFloat:(gradientSize / 2)], [NSNumber numberWithFloat:gradientSize]];
NSArray *endLocations = @[[NSNumber numberWithFloat:(1.0f - gradientSize)], [NSNumber numberWithFloat:(1.0f -(gradientSize / 2))], [NSNumber numberWithFloat:1.0f]];
CABasicAnimation *animation = [CABasicAnimation animationWithKeyPath:@"locations"];

gradientMask.colors = @[(id)gradient.CGColor, (id)[UIColor whiteColor].CGColor, (id)gradient.CGColor];
gradientMask.locations = startLocations;
gradientMask.startPoint = CGPointMake(0 - (gradientSize * 2), .5);
gradientMask.endPoint = CGPointMake(1 + gradientSize, .5);

view.layer.mask = gradientMask;

animation.fromValue = startLocations;
animation.toValue = endLocations;
animation.repeatCount = HUGE_VALF;
animation.duration  = 3.0f;

[gradientMask addAnimation:animation forKey:@"animateGradient"];

SWIFT VERSION:

let transparency:CGFloat = 0.5
let gradientWidth: CGFloat = 40

let gradientMask = CAGradientLayer()
gradientMask.frame = swipeView.bounds
let gradientSize = gradientWidth/swipeView.frame.size.width
let gradient = UIColor(white: 1, alpha: transparency)
let startLocations = [0, gradientSize/2, gradientSize]
let endLocations = [(1 - gradientSize), (1 - gradientSize/2), 1]
let animation = CABasicAnimation(keyPath: "locations")

gradientMask.colors = [gradient.CGColor, UIColor.whiteColor().CGColor, gradient.CGColor]
gradientMask.locations = startLocations
gradientMask.startPoint = CGPointMake(0 - (gradientSize*2), 0.5)
gradientMask.endPoint = CGPointMake(1 + gradientSize, 0.5)

swipeView.layer.mask = gradientMask

animation.fromValue = startLocations
animation.toValue = endLocations
animation.repeatCount = HUGE
animation.duration = 3

gradientMask.addAnimation(animation, forKey: "animateGradient")

Swift 3

fileprivate func addGradientMaskToView(view:UIView, transparency:CGFloat = 0.5, gradientWidth:CGFloat = 40.0) {        
    let gradientMask = CAGradientLayer()
    gradientMask.frame = view.bounds
    let gradientSize = gradientWidth/view.frame.size.width
    let gradientColor = UIColor(white: 1, alpha: transparency)
    let startLocations = [0, gradientSize/2, gradientSize]
    let endLocations = [(1 - gradientSize), (1 - gradientSize/2), 1]
    let animation = CABasicAnimation(keyPath: "locations")

    gradientMask.colors = [gradientColor.cgColor, UIColor.white.cgColor, gradientColor.cgColor]
    gradientMask.locations = startLocations as [NSNumber]?
    gradientMask.startPoint = CGPoint(x:0 - (gradientSize * 2), y: 0.5)
    gradientMask.endPoint = CGPoint(x:1 + gradientSize, y: 0.5)

    view.layer.mask = gradientMask

    animation.fromValue = startLocations
    animation.toValue = endLocations
    animation.repeatCount = HUGE
    animation.duration = 3

    gradientMask.add(animation, forKey: nil)
}