iOS 8, 9, 10, 11...

The only way to set any color (with any alpha) is to use backgroundView:

Swift

self.backgroundView = UIView(frame: self.bounds)self.backgroundView.backgroundColor = UIColor(white: 0.5, alpha: 0.5)

Obj-C

self.backgroundView = ({    UIView * view = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:self.bounds];    view.backgroundColor = [UIColor colorWithWhite: 0.5 alpha:0.5];    view;    });

Responses to Comments

• None of these other options reliably work (despite the comments below)

  // self.contentView.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];// self.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];// self.tintColor = [UIColor clearColor];

• the backgroundView is resized automatically. (No need to add constraints)

• Control alpha with UIColor(white: 0.5, alpha: 0.5) or backgroundView.alpha = 0.5.
  (of course, any color will do)

• When using XIB, make root view a UITableViewHeaderFooterView and associate the backgroundView programmatically:

  Register with:

  tableView.register(UINib(nibName: "View", bundle: nil),                   forHeaderFooterViewReuseIdentifier: "header")

  Load with:

  override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView,                        viewForHeaderInSection section: Int) -> UIView? {    if let header =        tableView.dequeueReusableHeaderFooterView(withIdentifier: "header") {        let backgroundView = UIView(frame: header.bounds)        backgroundView.backgroundColor = UIColor(white: 0.5, alpha: 0.5)        header.backgroundView = backgroundView        return header    }    return nil}

↻ replay animation

► Find this solution on GitHub and additional details on Swift Recipes.

You should either use myTableViewHeaderFooterView.tintColor, or assign a custom background view to myTableViewHeaderFooterView.backgroundView.

In iOS 7 contentView.backgroundColor worked for me, tintColor did not.

   headerView.contentView.backgroundColor = [UIColor blackColor];

Though clearColor did not work for me, the solution I found is to set backgroundView property to transparent image. Maybe it will help someone:

UIGraphicsBeginImageContextWithOptions(CGSizeMake(1, 1), NO, 0.0);UIImage *blank = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();UIGraphicsEndImageContext();headerView.backgroundView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:blank];