Question

Is there a native way to convert a PDF document (or atleast the first page of a PDF document) into an image?

Answer 1

Using ImageIO.framework you can do something like this :

CGImageSourceRef src = CGImageSourceCreateWithURL(PDF_URL, NULL);
NSDictionary* options = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObject:(id)[NSNumber numberWithInt:500] forKey:(id)kCGImageSourceThumbnailMaxPixelSize];
CGImageRef firstPage = CGImageSourceCreateImageAtIndex(src, 0, options); // 0 first page of the pdf
CFRelease(src);
UIImage* img = [UIImage imageWithCGImage:firstPage];
CGImageRelease(firstPage);