Swift 3+

let plainString = "foo"

Encoding

let plainData = plainString.data(using: .utf8)
let base64String = plainData?.base64EncodedString()
print(base64String!) // Zm9v

Decoding

if let decodedData = Data(base64Encoded: base64String!),
   let decodedString = String(data: decodedData, encoding: .utf8) {
  print(decodedString) // foo
}

---

Swift < 3

let plainString = "foo"

Encoding

let plainData = plainString.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)
let base64String = plainData?.base64EncodedStringWithOptions(NSDataBase64EncodingOptions(rawValue: 0))
print(base64String!) // Zm9v

Decoding

let decodedData = NSData(base64EncodedString: base64String!, options: NSDataBase64DecodingOptions(rawValue: 0))
let decodedString = NSString(data: decodedData, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding)
print(decodedString) // foo

---

Objective-C

NSString *plainString = @"foo";

Encoding

NSData *plainData = [plainString dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSString *base64String = [plainData base64EncodedStringWithOptions:0];
NSLog(@"%@", base64String); // Zm9v

Decoding

NSData *decodedData = [[NSData alloc] initWithBase64EncodedString:base64String options:0];
NSString *decodedString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:decodedData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSLog(@"%@", decodedString); // foo 

---