Loading an “overlay” when running long tasks in iOS

The above answers add a loading view but it doesn’t block click events on the screen also it does not provides overlay for rest of screen. You can achieve it as follows:

let alert = UIAlertController(title: nil, message: "Please wait...", preferredStyle: .Alert)

alert.view.tintColor = UIColor.blackColor()
let loadingIndicator: UIActivityIndicatorView = UIActivityIndicatorView(frame: CGRectMake(10, 5, 50, 50)) as UIActivityIndicatorView
loadingIndicator.hidesWhenStopped = true
loadingIndicator.activityIndicatorViewStyle = UIActivityIndicatorViewStyle.Gray
loadingIndicator.startAnimating();

alert.view.addSubview(loadingIndicator)
presentViewController(alert, animated: true, completion: nil)

Swift 3.0

let alert = UIAlertController(title: nil, message: "Please wait...", preferredStyle: .alert)

let loadingIndicator = UIActivityIndicatorView(frame: CGRect(x: 10, y: 5, width: 50, height: 50))
loadingIndicator.hidesWhenStopped = true
loadingIndicator.activityIndicatorViewStyle = UIActivityIndicatorViewStyle.gray
loadingIndicator.startAnimating();

alert.view.addSubview(loadingIndicator)
present(alert, animated: true, completion: nil)

Swift 4.0 and newer

let alert = UIAlertController(title: nil, message: "Please wait...", preferredStyle: .alert)

let loadingIndicator = UIActivityIndicatorView(frame: CGRect(x: 10, y: 5, width: 50, height: 50))
loadingIndicator.hidesWhenStopped = true
loadingIndicator.style = UIActivityIndicatorView.Style.gray
loadingIndicator.startAnimating();

alert.view.addSubview(loadingIndicator)
present(alert, animated: true, completion: nil)

and you can hide it as follows:

dismiss(animated: false, completion: nil)

It will be shown as follows: