I just needed to do this, but thought Steven’s solution would be slow. This should hopefully use graphics HW. Create a category on UIImage: – (UIImage *)imageByApplyingAlpha:(CGFloat) alpha { UIGraphicsBeginImageContextWithOptions(self.size, NO, 0.0f); CGContextRef ctx = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext(); CGRect area = CGRectMake(0, 0, self.size.width, self.size.height); CGContextScaleCTM(ctx, 1, -1); CGContextTranslateCTM(ctx, 0, -area.size.height); CGContextSetBlendMode(ctx, kCGBlendModeMultiply); CGContextSetAlpha(ctx, alpha); CGContextDrawImage(ctx, area, … Read more