UIImagePickerController bug

Question

I think I found a bug in latest iOS 7 by running an app with Base SDK set to iOS 6.1 (possibly even lower versions too, haven\'t tested that out yet)

I have this ima

Answer 1

Your question is "What's causing this?" So I'll focus on that instead of giving a workaround. This is definitely a bug in iOS 7 dealing with edited images in lower base SDKs. We can also rule out that XCode 5 & Base SDK 6.1 causing this because I'm getting the same issue with XCode 4.6.3 & 6.1 SDK running on iOS 7 Simulator.

The source of the problem is that the CropRect values that are calculated by the SDK are wrong. If you'll print out the info NSDictionary from imagePickerController:didFinishPickingMediaWithInfo you'll see that:

iOS 7 running any SDK lower than 7 we'll get:

UIImagePickerControllerCropRect = "NSRect: {{154, 495}, {1705, 1705}}";

While running iOS 6 or 5 with their SDK will give us:

UIImagePickerControllerCropRect = "NSRect: {{0, 149}, {1704, 1705}}";

You're probably saying, hmm, those y values are changing between SDKs too. Well, yea, if you'll slide your pic all the way down and select it you'll also get a black bar at the bottom of the picture.

Suggested Solutions:

1. File a bug report to Apple here ...Did that!

2. Don't use UIImagePickerControllerEditedImage and take the original picture instead.

3. Calculate and do the cropping your self.

4. Use a 3rd party cropping library such as PEPhotoCropEditor or SSPhotoCropperViewController

---

Edit - very simple solution added by fan of the answer!

Amazingly, it can be this simple and elegant to crop it yourself:

{
// There is a bug in iOS. When using ALBUM, you must crop it yourself:

fromAlbum = [info objectForKey:UIImagePickerControllerOriginalImage];
fromAlbum = [fromAlbum fixOrientation];

CGRect crop = [[info valueForKey:@"UIImagePickerControllerCropRect"] CGRectValue];
fromAlbum = [self ordinaryCrop:fromAlbum toRect:crop];
}

Here's the whole routine ordinaryCrop:toRect:

-(UIImage *)ordinaryCrop:(UIImage *)imageToCrop toRect:(CGRect)cropRect
 {
 CGImageRef imageRef = CGImageCreateWithImageInRect([imageToCrop CGImage], cropRect);
 UIImage *cropped = [UIImage imageWithCGImage:imageRef];
 CGImageRelease(imageRef);
 return cropped;
 }

Now as Jesse points out, it is critical to rotate the image properly. This absolutely incredible piece of code by Anomie does the job:

iOS UIImagePickerController result image orientation after upload

Fixing UIImage orientation .. UIImage+fixOrientation.h

It's that simple, hope it helps someone. Thanks again for the priceless answers here.