Change tab bar tint color on iOS 7 and later

Question

Is there a way to change the tint of a tab bar on iOS 7 from the default white with blue icons to another color tint with different color buttons?

You may have to subclass it. I have never tried so I am not 100% sure, but this seems a possible solution — erdekhayser, Sep 13 '13 at 21:01

Tarek Hallak · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-14T04:55:50.027

207

Try the below:

[[UITabBar appearance] setTintColor:[UIColor redColor]];
[[UITabBar appearance] setBarTintColor:[UIColor yellowColor]];

To tint the non active buttons, put the below code in your VC's viewDidLoad:

UITabBarItem *tabBarItem = [yourTabBarController.tabBar.items objectAtIndex:0];

UIImage *unselectedImage = [UIImage imageNamed:@"icon-unselected"];
UIImage *selectedImage = [UIImage imageNamed:@"icon-selected"];

[tabBarItem setImage: [unselectedImage imageWithRenderingMode:UIImageRenderingModeAlwaysOriginal]];
[tabBarItem setSelectedImage: selectedImage];

You need to do this for all the tabBarItems, and yes I know it is ugly and hope there will be cleaner way to do this.

Swift:

UITabBar.appearance().tintColor = UIColor.red

tabBarItem.image = UIImage(named: "unselected")?.withRenderingMode(.alwaysOriginal)
tabBarItem.selectedImage = UIImage(named: "selected")?.withRenderingMode(.alwaysOriginal)

edited Mar 14 '17 at 04:55

answered Sep 14 '13 at 08:04

Tarek Hallak

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1

Perfect. Thanks. One more quick question, is there a way to tint the non active buttons in the tab bar, (they are gray when not selected)? – Jake Chasan Sep 14 '13 at 15:40
2

setFinishedSelectedImage is deprecated in iOS7. – thedp Oct 02 '13 at 14:05
@null Code for non active buttons has forState:UIControlStateNormal which changes color of all tab bar items (selected and non-selected) in my application. There's other state UIControlStateSelected but didn't see non-selected. – Sharjeel Nov 05 '13 at 23:08
1

[[UITabBarItem appearance] setTitleTextAttributes.. did not change the color of the unselected items, they remain gray. – Tom Kincaid Feb 14 '14 at 14:56
Use UIControlStateNormal for all tabbar items, use UIControlStateSelected for selected items, example: [[UITabBarItem appearance] setTitleTextAttributes:[NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:[UIColor whiteColor], NSForegroundColorAttributeName, nil] forState:UIControlStateSelected]; – user8675 May 05 '14 at 16:57

score 22 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 30 '13 at 16:06

22

There is an much easier way to do this.

Just open the file inspector and select a "global tint".

You can also set an app’s tint color in Interface Builder. The Global Tint menu in the Interface Builder Document section of the File inspector lets you open the Colors window or choose a specific color.

Also see:

https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/userexperience/conceptual/TransitionGuide/AppearanceCustomization.html

answered Sep 30 '13 at 16:06

herdi

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Global tint menu not available for non-storyboard nibs. – QED Nov 28 '13 at 02:18
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This would be great except it doesn't work for me in Xcode 5. – Robert Atkins Jan 24 '14 at 14:32
3

Doesn't work, Xcode 5.1. "window.tintColor = [UIColor purpleColor]" does. – Sofi Software LLC Mar 20 '14 at 17:11
1

The Global Tint setting of the Interface Builder Document doesn't actually allow you to set the tint for an app. It allows you to set the tint for a Storyboard - if you have multiple, you can mix and match or set it in code as above. – jbbenni Apr 13 '14 at 22:32
1

How odd. I had just tried setting the tint color in the Storyboard, in iOS 7, Xcode 5.1.1 and it does nothing for a Storyboard created UITabBar. – Alex Zavatone May 15 '14 at 19:27
This only addresses half of the problem. How about the icons themselves. How do you set their colors in storyboard? – Katedral Pillon Aug 14 '14 at 19:54

score 18 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 27 '14 at 04:37

18

iOS 7.1.1

If someone is going to need to use globally setting tint color:

[[UIView appearance] setTintColor:[UIColor whiteColor]];

In didFinishLaunchingWithOptions of AppDelegate.

Also below code will change only tab bar tint color in any viewDidLoad method:

[self.tabBarController.tabBar setTintColor:[UIColor redColor]];

edited Aug 27 '14 at 04:37

MD SHAHIDUL ISLAM

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answered Apr 23 '14 at 15:48

Ömer Faruk Almalı

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If you use this option, can you still override the color on a screen-by-screen basis? – Jake Chasan Apr 23 '14 at 17:01
With the code on second line you can override the color for each screen seperately – Ömer Faruk Almalı Apr 23 '14 at 18:01
1

This is the only solution I have found that works from a VC's VDL in iOS 7 for the current tab item. [self.tabBarController.tabBar setTintColor:[UIColor orangeColor]]; – Alex Zavatone May 15 '14 at 19:54

score 9 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 20 '14 at 17:12

9

In app delegate didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:

window.tintColor = [UIColor purpleColor];

sets the tint color globally for the app.

answered Mar 20 '14 at 17:12

Sofi Software LLC

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Does nothing on iOS 7.1 in Xcode 5.1.1. Even when using _window in the AppDelegate. – Alex Zavatone May 15 '14 at 19:58

score 8 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 10 '14 at 15:41

8

Write this in your View Controller class of your Tab Bar:

// Generate a black tab bar
self.tabBarController.tabBar.barTintColor = [UIColor blackColor];

// Set the selected icons and text tint color
self.tabBarController.tabBar.tintColor = [UIColor orangeColor];

edited Jun 10 '14 at 15:41

Jake Chasan

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answered Jun 10 '14 at 11:56

Ruchi

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score 2 · Answer 6 · edited Jan 21 '16 at 17:58

2

What finally worked for me was:

[self.tabBar setTintColor:[UIColor redColor]];
[self.tabBar setBarTintColor:[UIColor yellowColor]];

edited Jan 21 '16 at 17:58

Peter Mortensen

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answered Dec 07 '14 at 09:44

Javier Calatrava Llavería

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score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 31 '15 at 11:27

In "Attributes Inspector" of your Tab Bar Controller within Interface Builder make sure your Bottom Bar is set to Opaque Tab Bar:

Now goto your AppDelegate.m file. Find:

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions

And then add this code between the curly braces to change the colors of both the tab bar buttons and the tab bar background:

///----------------SET TAB BAR COLOR------------------------//

//--------------FOR TAB BAR BUTTON COLOR---------------//
[[UITabBar appearance] setTintColor:[UIColor greenColor]];

//-------------FOR TAB BAR BACKGROUND COLOR------------//
[[UITabBar appearance] setBarTintColor:[UIColor whiteColor]];

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Sep 26 '14 at 13:18

After trying out all the suggested solutions, I couldn't find any very helpful.

I finally tried the following:

[self.tabBar setTintColor:[UIColor orangeColor]];

which worked out perfectly.

I only provided one image for every TabBarItem. Didn't even need a selectedImage.

I even used it inside the Child-ViewControllers to set different TintColors:

UIColor *theColorYouWish = ...;
if ([[self.parentViewController class] isSubclassOfClass:[UITabBarController class]]){
    UITabBarController *tbc = (UITabBarController *) self.parentViewController;
    [tbc.tabBar setTintColor:theColorYouWish];
}

score -3 · Answer 9 · edited Jan 21 '16 at 17:57

You can set your tint color and font as setTitleTextattribute:

UIFont *font= (kUIScreenHeight>KipadHeight)?[UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:32.0f]:[UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:16.0f];
NSDictionary *attributes = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:font, NSFontAttributeName,
                            tintColorLight, NSForegroundColorAttributeName, nil];
[[UINavigationBar appearance] setTitleTextAttributes:attributes];

Change tab bar tint color on iOS 7 and later

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