NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://example.com/image.jpg"]; NSData *data = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:url]; UIImage *img = [[[UIImage alloc] initWithData:data] autorelease]; - (void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection { if (requestData) { self.image = [[[UIImage alloc] initWithData:requestData] autorelease]; } } [self performSelectorInBackground:@selector(loadImage) withObject:nil]; - (void)loadImage { NSURL * url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://.../....jpg"]; NSData * data = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:url]; UIImage * image = [UIImage imageWithData:data]; if (image) { // Success use the image ... } else { // Failed (load an error image?) ... } }