How can I create a horizontal gradient background for my iOS nav bar?

Question

I know how to set a navigation bar background color (with barTintColor), but now I am working on an iOS app that calls for a horizontal gradient (not the typical vertical gradie

Answer 1

Updated @JulianM answer for iOS 10 / swift 3.0:

let gradientLayer = CAGradientLayer()
var updatedFrame = self.navigationController!.navigationBar.bounds
updatedFrame.size.height += 20
gradientLayer.frame = updatedFrame
gradientLayer.colors = [UIColor.green.cgColor, UIColor.blue.cgColor]
gradientLayer.startPoint = CGPoint(x: 0.0, y: 0.5)
gradientLayer.endPoint = CGPoint(x: 1.0, y: 0.5)

UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(gradientLayer.bounds.size)
gradientLayer.render(in: UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext()!)
let image = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext()
UIGraphicsEndImageContext()

self.navigationController!.navigationBar.setBackgroundImage(image, for: UIBarMetrics.default)