Changing tab bar item image and text color iOS

Question

Here is my tab bar:

enter image description here

The following image shows the program being run and the "NEWS" item selected:

enter image description here

It is clear the bar tint color is working fine as I want !

But the tintColor only affects the image and not the text.

Also, when the an item is selected (as seen above, news) the item color goes blue! How do I prevent this from happening? I want it to stay white.

Why is the text changing to a white color when selected but not when it is unselected?

I basically want the item color and text color to be white all the time.

How do I achieve this? Thanks for any help.

Does it require swift code for each individual item?

EDIT:

enter image description here

Can you create images for all icons white and gray and you can change whenever its needed. — Max, Jun 29 '15 at 14:00
The image turns blue when selected and the text is white when not selected. I don't know why... this is my problem — Greg Peckory, Jun 29 '15 at 14:03

score 88 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 29 '15 at 14:57

88

From UITabBarItem class docs:

By default, the actual unselected and selected images are automatically created from the alpha values in the source images. To prevent system coloring, provide images with UIImageRenderingModeAlwaysOriginal.

The clue is not whether you use UIImageRenderingModeAlwaysOriginal, the important thing is when to use it.

To prevent the grey color for unselected items, you will just need to prevent the system colouring for the unselected image. Here is how to do this:

var firstViewController:UIViewController = UIViewController()
// The following statement is what you need
var customTabBarItem:UITabBarItem = UITabBarItem(title: nil, image: UIImage(named: "YOUR_IMAGE_NAME")?.imageWithRenderingMode(UIImageRenderingMode.AlwaysOriginal), selectedImage: UIImage(named: "YOUR_IMAGE_NAME"))
firstViewController.tabBarItem = customTabBarItem

As you can see, I asked iOS to apply the original color (white, yellow, red, whatever) of the image ONLY for the UNSELECTED state, and leave the image as it is for the SELECTED state.

Also, you may need to add a tint color for the tab bar in order to apply a different color for the SELECTED state (instead of the default iOS blue color). As per your screenshot above, you are applying white color for the selected state:

self.tabBar.tintColor = UIColor.whiteColor()

EDIT:

enter image description here

edited Jun 29 '15 at 14:57

Greg Peckory

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answered Jun 29 '15 at 14:08

Kingofmit

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Do I need to create a class corresponding to the Tab Bar to input this code? – Greg Peckory Jun 29 '15 at 14:23
@GregoryPeck in AppDelegate or Create you own TabBarClass but don't forget to assign it via Interface Builder – Kingofmit Jun 29 '15 at 14:26
I have the tintColor set above as you can see. Also, I have set rendering as Original Image, see Edit. – Greg Peckory Jun 29 '15 at 14:35
And where do I put the code `firstViewController.tabBarItem = customTabBarItem` – Greg Peckory Jun 29 '15 at 14:48
@GregoryPeck You have to put it in the TabBarClass – Kingofmit Jun 29 '15 at 14:56
@GregoryPeck And Yes your Edit is Right ! – Kingofmit Jun 29 '15 at 14:57
2

Sorry about all the questions, but Im unsure about how to create the Tab Bar class. i.e- `TabBarClass: ??, ??` and I can't seem to connect it with my tab bar. Is it the tab bar or tab bar controller I must connect it to? – Greg Peckory Jun 29 '15 at 15:10
Hi, I'm also having issues implementing this code. I've tried to make a subclass of `UITabBar` and `UITabBarITem`, but had no luck. Can anyone give more details about where to put this code and how to make it work? – Andrej Mar 07 '16 at 21:37
yes changing the setting on the asset is the way to do this – philthomas26 Feb 15 '18 at 15:49

score 75 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 28 '17 at 23:51

Swift 3

I did it by creating a custom tabbar controller and added this code inside the viewDidLoad method.

    if let count = self.tabBar.items?.count {
        for i in 0...(count-1) {
            let imageNameForSelectedState   = arrayOfImageNameForSelectedState[i]
            let imageNameForUnselectedState = arrayOfImageNameForUnselectedState[i]

            self.tabBar.items?[i].selectedImage = UIImage(named: imageNameForSelectedState)?.withRenderingMode(.alwaysOriginal)
            self.tabBar.items?[i].image = UIImage(named: imageNameForUnselectedState)?.withRenderingMode(.alwaysOriginal)
        }
    }

    let selectedColor   = UIColor(red: 246.0/255.0, green: 155.0/255.0, blue: 13.0/255.0, alpha: 1.0)
    let unselectedColor = UIColor(red: 16.0/255.0, green: 224.0/255.0, blue: 223.0/255.0, alpha: 1.0)

    UITabBarItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSForegroundColorAttributeName: unselectedColor], for: .normal)
    UITabBarItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSForegroundColorAttributeName: selectedColor], for: .selected)

It worked for me!

In Swift 4, "NSForegroundColorAttributeName" has been renamed to "NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor". — Alienbash, Nov 21 '17 at 12:44
... and in Swift4.2, "NSAttributedStringKey" has been renamed to "NSAttributedString.Key". — XLE_22, Jan 22 '19 at 13:30

score 57 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 06 '20 at 00:41

Swift

For Image:

custom.tabBarItem = UITabBarItem(title: "Home", image: UIImage(named: "tab_icon_normal"), selectedImage: UIImage(named: "tab_icon_selected"))

For Text:

UITabBarItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.gray], for: .normal)
    
UITabBarItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.red], for: .selected)

Vasil Garov · Answer 4 · 2019-10-02T05:34:02.487

Swift 4.2 and Xcode 10

The solution that worked for me:

Image setup - from the storyboard set Bar Item Image and Selected Image. To remove the tint overlay on the images go to Assets catalog, select the image and change its rendering mode like this:

This will prevent the Tab bar component from setting its default image tint.

Text - here I created a simple UITabBarController subclass and in its viewDidLoad method I customized the default and selected text color like this:

class HomeTabBarController: UITabBarController {
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        let appearance = UITabBarItem.appearance(whenContainedInInstancesOf: [HomeTabBarController.self])
        appearance.setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: .black], for: .normal)
        appearance.setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: .red], for: .selected)
    }
}

Just set this class as your Tab bar controller custom class in identity inspector in IB.

Voila! That's it.

iOS 13 Update:

Add this to your setup for iOS 13:

if #available(iOS 13, *) {
    let appearance = UITabBarAppearance()
    appearance.stackedLayoutAppearance.selected.titleTextAttributes = [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: .red]
    tabBar.standardAppearance = appearance
}

This should be the accepted answer if you want to do it using the inspector! Thanks so much this solved my issue — Emanuel Amiguinho, Feb 07 '19 at 18:29
Thanks, your iOS 13 update really helped me. I had a strange bug where the selected item text colour was correct when the tabbar is initially created, but after the tabbar is hidden and reappears (e.g. presenting full screen modal then dismissing it), changing tabs would reset the selected item text colour to the tint colour. Adding the iOS 13 setup fixed it. — Saul, Jun 01 '20 at 10:42

score 18 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 24 '18 at 15:17

18

Swift 4: In your UITabBarController change it by this code

tabBar.unselectedItemTintColor = .black

answered Mar 24 '18 at 15:17

Mixon McLaren

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score 16 · Answer 6 · edited Mar 29 '17 at 00:50

Swift 3

This worked for me (referring to set tabBarItems image colors):

UITabBar.appearance().tintColor = ThemeColor.Blue

if let items = tabBarController.tabBar.items {
        let tabBarImages = getTabBarImages() // tabBarImages: [UIImage]
        for i in 0..<items.count {
            let tabBarItem = items[i]
            let tabBarImage = tabBarImages[i]
            tabBarItem.image = tabBarImage.withRenderingMode(.alwaysOriginal)
            tabBarItem.selectedImage = tabBarImage
        }
    }

I have noticed that if you set image with rendering mode = .alwaysOriginal, the UITabBar.tintColor doesn't have any effect.

score 12 · Answer 7 · edited Mar 28 '17 at 23:59

Swift 3

First of all, make sure you have added the BOOLEAN key "View controller-based status bar appearance" to Info.plist, and set the value to "NO".

Appdelegate.swift

Insert code somewhere after "launchOptions:[UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {"

Change the color of the tab bar itself with RGB color value:

UITabBar.appearance().barTintColor = UIColor(red: 0.145, green: 0.592, blue: 0.804, alpha: 1.00)

OR one of the default UI colors:

UITabBar.appearance().barTintColor = UIColor.white)

Change the text color of the tab items:

The selected item

UITabBarItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.white], for: .selected)

The inactive items

UITabBarItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.black], for: .normal)

To change the color of the image, I believe the easiest approach is to make to separate images, one for each state.

If you don´t make the icons from scratch, alternating black and white versions are relatively easy to make in Photoshop.

Adobe Photoshop (almost any version will do)

Make sure your icon image has transparent background, and the icon itself is solid black (or close).

Open the image file, save it under a different file name (e.g. exampleFilename-Inverted.png)

In the "Adjustments" submenu on the "Image" menu:

Click "Invert"

You now have a negative of your original icon.

In XCode, set one of the images as "Selected Image" under the Tab Bar Properties in your storyboard, and specify the "inactive" version under "Bar Item" image.

Ta-Da

For your 3rd point you can change it without using photoshop as: `UITabBar.appearance().tintColor = UIColor.black` — Chaudhry Talha, Mar 29 '17 at 07:48
@ChaudhryTalha, the tintcolor works for selected state of the tabbar icon. But for unselected state icon color (on < iOS10), is there a similar property that can be changed? — anoo_radha, Jan 25 '18 at 15:33

score 11 · Answer 8 · edited Feb 15 '21 at 15:36

I know here are lots of answers but I can't find an easy and valid copy/paste answer for Swift 4.2/ Swift 5.1

tabBarController?.tabBar.tintColor = UIColor.red
tabBarController?.tabBar.unselectedItemTintColor = UIColor.green

Or use UITabBar.appearances() instead of tabBarController?.tabBar like this:

UITabBar.appearances().tintColor = UIColor.red
UITabBar.appearances().unselectedItemTintColor = UIColor.green

Images have to be UIImageRenderingModeAlwaysTemplate

Fred Sousa · Answer 9 · 2016-11-17T14:44:17.953

Try add it on AppDelegate.swift (inside application method):

UITabBar.appearance().tintColor = UIColor(red: 0/255.0, green: 0/255.0, blue: 0/255.0, alpha: 1.0)

// For WHITE color: 
UITabBar.appearance().tintColor = UIColor(red: 255/255.0, green: 255/255.0, blue: 255/255.0, alpha: 1.0)

Example:

func application(application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [NSObject: AnyObject]?) -> Bool {
    // Tab bar icon selected color
    UITabBar.appearance().tintColor = UIColor(red: 0/255.0, green: 0/255.0, blue: 0/255.0, alpha: 1.0)
    // For WHITE color: UITabBar.appearance().tintColor = UIColor(red: 255/255.0, green: 255/255.0, blue: 255/255.0, alpha: 1.0)
    return true
}

Example:

My english is so bad! I'm sorry! :-)

score 4 · Answer 10 · edited Mar 28 '17 at 23:53

Swift 3.0

I created the tabbar class file and wrote the following code

In viewDidLoad:

self.tabBar.barTintColor = UIColor.white
self.tabBar.isTranslucent = true

let selectedColor   = UIColor.red
let unselectedColor = UIColor.cyan

UITabBarItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSForegroundColorAttributeName: unselectedColor,NSFontAttributeName: UIFont(name: "Gotham-Book", size: 10)!], for: .normal)
UITabBarItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSForegroundColorAttributeName: selectedColor,NSFontAttributeName: UIFont(name: "Gotham-Book", size: 10)!], for: .selected)

if let items = self.tabBar.items {
    for item in items {
        if let image = item.image {
            item.image = image.withRenderingMode( .alwaysOriginal )
            item.selectedImage = UIImage(named: "(Imagename)-a")?.withRenderingMode(.alwaysOriginal)
        }
    }
}

After viewDidLoad:

   override func tabBar(_ tabBar: UITabBar, didSelect item: UITabBarItem) {

   if(item.title! == "title")
   {
    item.selectedImage = UIImage(named: "(Imagname)-a")?.withRenderingMode(.alwaysOriginal)

    }
    if(item.title! == "title")
    {
        item.selectedImage = UIImage(named: "(Imagname)-a")?.withRenderingMode(.alwaysOriginal)

    }
    if(item.title! == "title")
    {
        item.selectedImage = UIImage(named: "(Imagname)-a")?.withRenderingMode(.alwaysOriginal)

    }
    if(item.title! == "title")
    {
        item.selectedImage = UIImage(named: "(Imagname)-a")?.withRenderingMode(.alwaysOriginal)

    }
    if(item.title! == "title")
    {
        item.selectedImage = UIImage(named: "(Imagname)-a")?.withRenderingMode(.alwaysOriginal)

    }

}

in view did load method you have to set the selected image and other image are showing with RenderingMode and in tab bar delegate methods you set the selected image as per title

score 4 · Answer 11 · answered Jan 26 '18 at 12:11

For Swift 4.0, it's now changed as:

tabBarItem.setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: UIColor.gray], for: .normal)
tabBarItem.setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: UIColor.blue], for: .selected)

You don't have to subclass the UITabBarItem if your requirement is only to change the text color. Just put the above code inside your view controller's viewDidLoad function.

For global settings change tabBarItem to UITabBarItem.appearance().

score 4 · Answer 12 · edited Sep 27 '18 at 06:04

4

In Swift 4.2:

UITabBarItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.white], for: .normal)
UITabBarItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.red], for: .selected)

edited Sep 27 '18 at 06:04

Pang

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answered Sep 27 '18 at 05:53

Vinu Jacob

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I put it into AppDelegate, under func application Works great! – Steffo Dimfelt Feb 11 '19 at 19:59

score 3 · Answer 13 · answered Sep 09 '16 at 05:48

you can set tintColor of UIBarItem :

UITabBarItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.magentaColor()], forState:.Normal)
UITabBarItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.redColor()], forState:.Selected)

score 3 · Answer 14 · answered May 15 '20 at 16:04

In Swift 5 ioS 13.2 things have changed with TabBar styling, below code work 100%, tested out.

Add the below code in your UITabBarController class.

override func viewWillAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
        super.viewWillAppear(animated)
        let appearance = UITabBarAppearance()
        appearance.backgroundColor = .white

        setTabBarItemColors(appearance.stackedLayoutAppearance)
        setTabBarItemColors(appearance.inlineLayoutAppearance)
        setTabBarItemColors(appearance.compactInlineLayoutAppearance)

        setTabBarItemBadgeAppearance(appearance.stackedLayoutAppearance)
        setTabBarItemBadgeAppearance(appearance.inlineLayoutAppearance)
        setTabBarItemBadgeAppearance(appearance.compactInlineLayoutAppearance)

        tabBar.standardAppearance = appearance
 }

@available(iOS 13.0, *)
private func setTabBarItemColors(_ itemAppearance: UITabBarItemAppearance) {
    itemAppearance.normal.iconColor = .lightGray
    itemAppearance.normal.titleTextAttributes = [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.gray]

    itemAppearance.selected.iconColor = .white
    itemAppearance.selected.titleTextAttributes = [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.orange]
}

@available(iOS 13.0, *)
private func setTabBarItemBadgeAppearance(_ itemAppearance: UITabBarItemAppearance) {
    //Adjust the badge position as well as set its color
    itemAppearance.normal.badgeBackgroundColor = .orange
    itemAppearance.normal.badgeTextAttributes = [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.white]
    itemAppearance.normal.badgePositionAdjustment = UIOffset(horizontal: 1, vertical: -1)
}

score 2 · Answer 15 · edited Jun 08 '18 at 08:54

You may also do by this way:

override func viewWillLayoutSubviews() {  
  if let items = self.tabBar.items {
    for item in 0..<items.count {
      items[item].image = items[item].image?.withRenderingMode(.alwaysOriginal)
            items[item].selectedImage = items[item].selectedImage?.withRenderingMode(.alwaysTemplate)
    }

Optional:

 UITabBar.appearance().tintColor = UIColor.red

I hope it will help you.

score 2 · Answer 16 · edited Jan 16 '20 at 05:40

This Code works for Swift 4 if you want to change the image of Tab Bar Item when pressed. Copy and paste in the first viewDidLoad method that is hit in the project

   let arrayOfImageNameForSelectedState:[String] = ["Image1Color", "Image2Color","Image3Color"]
   let arrayOfImageNameForUnselectedState: [String] = ["Image1NoColor","Image2NoColor","Image3NoColor"]


    print(self.tabBarController?.tabBar.items?.count)

    if let count = self.tabBarController?.tabBar.items?.count {
        for i in 0...(count-1) {
            let imageNameForSelectedState   = arrayOfImageNameForSelectedState[i]
            print(imageNameForSelectedState)
            let imageNameForUnselectedState = arrayOfImageNameForUnselectedState[i]
            print(imageNameForUnselectedState)
            self.tabBarController?.tabBar.items?[i].selectedImage = UIImage(named: imageNameForSelectedState)?.withRenderingMode(.alwaysOriginal)
            self.tabBarController?.tabBar.items?[i].image = UIImage(named: imageNameForUnselectedState)?.withRenderingMode(.alwaysOriginal)
        }
    }

score 2 · Answer 17 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Year: 2020 iOS 13.3

Copy below codes to AppDelegate.swift -> func didFinishLaunchingWithOptions

//Set Tab bar text/item fonts and size
let fontAttributes = [NSAttributedString.Key.font: UIFont(name: "YourFontName", size: 12.0)!]
UITabBarItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes(fontAttributes, for: .normal)
//Set Tab bar text/item color
UITabBar.appearance().tintColor = UIColor.init(named: "YourColorName")

score 1 · Answer 18 · edited Sep 11 '15 at 11:11

1

From here.

Each tab bar item has a title, selected image, unselected image, and a badge value.

Use the Image Tint (selectedImageTintColor) field to specify the bar item’s tint color when that tab is selected. By default, that color is blue.

edited Sep 11 '15 at 11:11

itsji10dra

4,550
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answered Sep 03 '15 at 06:37

vp_gold

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The link is dead (404) – Maximelc Sep 10 '18 at 09:14

score 1 · Answer 19 · answered Jan 28 '20 at 14:55

1

Swift 5:

let homeTab = UITabBarItem(title: "Home", image: UIImage(named: "YOUR_IMAGE_NAME_FROM_ASSETS")?.withRenderingMode(UIImage.RenderingMode.alwaysOriginal), tag: 1)

answered Jan 28 '20 at 14:55

Areeb111

45
9

score 1 · Answer 20 · answered Oct 25 '20 at 20:13

Swift 5.3

let vc = UIViewController()
vc.tabBarItem.title = "sample"
vc.tabBarItem.image = UIImage(imageLiteralResourceName: "image.png").withRenderingMode(.alwaysOriginal)
vc.tabBarItem.selectedImage = UIImage(imageLiteralResourceName: "image.png").withRenderingMode(.alwaysOriginal)
        
// for text displayed below the tabBar item
UITabBarItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.black], for: .selected)

score 0 · Answer 21 · answered Dec 22 '16 at 09:37

Simply add a new UITabBarController reference to the project.Next create a reference of UITabBar in this controller:

@IBOutlet weak var appTabBar: UITabBar!

In its viewDidLoad(), simply add below for title text color:

    appTabBar.tintColor = UIColor.scandidThemeColor()

For image

    tabBarItem = UITabBarItem(title: "FirstTab", image: UIImage(named: "firstImage"), selectedImage: UIImage(named: "firstSelectedImage"))

score 0 · Answer 22 · answered Jan 26 '18 at 06:41

Subclass your TabbarViewController and in ViewDidLoad put this code:

 [UITabBarItem.appearance setTitleTextAttributes:@{NSForegroundColorAttributeName : [UIColor darkGreyColorBT]} forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [UITabBarItem.appearance setTitleTextAttributes:@{NSForegroundColorAttributeName : [UIColor nightyDarkColorBT]} forState:UIControlStateSelected];

    self.tabBar.items[0].image  = [[UIImage imageNamed:@"ic-pack off@3x.png"]  imageWithRenderingMode:UIImageRenderingModeAlwaysOriginal];
    self.tabBar.items[0].selectedImage  = [[UIImage imageNamed:@"ic-pack@3x.png"]  imageWithRenderingMode:UIImageRenderingModeAlwaysOriginal];
    self.tabBar.items[1].image = [[UIImage imageNamed:@"ic-sleeptracker off@3x.png"] imageWithRenderingMode:UIImageRenderingModeAlwaysOriginal];
    self.tabBar.items[1].selectedImage  = [[UIImage imageNamed:@"ic-sleeptracker@3x.png"] imageWithRenderingMode:UIImageRenderingModeAlwaysOriginal];
    self.tabBar.items[2].image = [[UIImage imageNamed:@"ic-profile off@3x.png"] imageWithRenderingMode:UIImageRenderingModeAlwaysOriginal];
    self.tabBar.items[2].selectedImage  = [[UIImage imageNamed:@"ic-profile@3x.png"] imageWithRenderingMode:UIImageRenderingModeAlwaysOriginal];

This is the simplest working solution I have

Changing tab bar item image and text color iOS

22 Answers22

Swift

Swift 4.2 and Xcode 10

Swift 3

Year: 2020 iOS 13.3

Copy below codes to AppDelegate.swift -> func didFinishLaunchingWithOptions

Linked