Change the font on the back button of a navigation controller under swift 4

Question

Swift 4, iOS 11.2.5 Xcode 9.2

Trying to change the font of the back button. Tried previous solutions found, but none seem to work under Swift 4, iOS 11.2.5 with my configuration, navigation controller within a tab bar controller.

Got this code, the first and last lines work, but the center three do not.

self.navigationController?.navigationBar.titleTextAttributes = [ NSAttributedStringKey.font: UIFont(name: "AvenirNextCondensed-DemiBoldItalic", size: 20)!]
navigationItem.backBarButtonItem?.setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedStringKey.font: UIFont(name: "AvenirNextCondensed-DemiBoldItalic", size: 20)!], for: .normal)
navigationItem.backBarButtonItem?.setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedStringKey.font: UIFont(name: "AvenirNextCondensed-DemiBoldItalic", size: 20)!], for: .highlighted)
navigationItem.backBarButtonItem?.setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedStringKey.font: UIFont(name: "AvenirNextCondensed-DemiBoldItalic", size: 20)!], for: .focused)
navigationItem.title = "Filter \(titleSelection!) [shake to clear]"

This is in viewDidLoad method. Should this work?

Possible duplicate of [change font of back button on uinavigationcontroller](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10040699/change-font-of-back-button-on-uinavigationcontroller) — Alap Anerao, Feb 15 '18 at 06:39

score 14 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 11 '23 at 15:40

For Swift 4, try this in AppDelegate.

func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {

        UIBarButtonItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: UIColor.red, NSAttributedStringKey.font: UIFont(name: "AvenirNextCondensed-DemiBoldItalic", size: 15)!], for: UIControlState.normal)
        
        UIBarButtonItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: UIColor.green, NSAttributedStringKey.font : UIFont(name: "AvenirNextCondensed-DemiBoldItalic", size: 20)! ], for: .highlighted)
        UIBarButtonItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: UIColor.blue, NSAttributedStringKey.font : UIFont(name: "AvenirNextCondensed-DemiBoldItalic", size: 20)! ], for: .focused)
        
        return true
}

In ViewController.

override func viewWillAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
    
    self.title = "List"
    self.navigationController?.navigationBar.titleTextAttributes = [ NSAttributedStringKey.font: UIFont(name: "AvenirNextCondensed-DemiBoldItalic", size: 20)!]

    // THE BELOW THREE LINES NOT WORKING.
 
    //navigationItem.backBarButtonItem?.setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedStringKey.font: UIFont(name: "AvenirNextCondensed-DemiBoldItalic", size: 20)!], for: .normal)

    //navigationItem.backBarButtonItem?.setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedStringKey.font: UIFont(name: "AvenirNextCondensed-DemiBoldItalic", size: 20)!], for: .highlighted)

    //navigationItem.backBarButtonItem?.setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedStringKey.font: UIFont(name: "AvenirNextCondensed-DemiBoldItalic", size: 20)!], for: .focused)

}

Storyboard

Output

Had high hopes for this one too; but unfortunately didn't work for me either. I got some odd setup here I guess. — user3069232, Feb 14 '18 at 19:40
Yes, this worked! The secret to put the code in app delegate it seems!! Thanks!! — user3069232, Feb 15 '18 at 07:38
This worked perfectly for me across the app by adding to AppDelegate. — David Vincent Gagne, Aug 30 '18 at 04:02

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 14 '18 at 16:30

You could change the font in the app delegate by doing something along these lines, this will change the font through out the whole app instead of in one viewcontroller though.

if let customFont = UIFont(name: "AvenirNextCondensed-DemiBoldItalic", size: 20.0) {
    UIBarButtonItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSFontAttributeName: customFont], for: .normal)
}

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 03 '21 at 16:44

To make it working on iOS 13.0 you should use UINavigationBarAppearience. Here is what you can do in order to change font of ALL elements in the navigation bar:

if #available(iOS 13.0, *) {
    let navBarAppearance = UINavigationBarAppearance()
    let attributes = [NSAttributedStringKey.font: UIFont(name: "AvenirNextCondensed-DemiBoldItalic", size: 20)!]
    navBarAppearance.titleTextAttributes = attributes
    navBarAppearance.buttonAppearance.normal.titleTextAttributes = attributes
    navBarAppearance.doneButtonAppearance.normal.titleTextAttributes = attributes

    self.navigationController?.navigationBar.scrollEdgeAppearance = navBarAppearance
    self.navigationController?.navigationBar.standardAppearance = navBarAppearance
}

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 14 '18 at 17:04

Instead of:

navigationItem.backBarButtonItem?.setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedStringKey.font: UIFont(name: "AvenirNextCondensed-DemiBoldItalic", size: 20)!], for: .normal)

Try:

self.navigationController?.navigationBar.topItem?.backBarButtonItem?.setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedStringKey.font: UIFont(name: "AvenirNextCondensed-DemiBoldItalic", size: 20)!], for: .normal)

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 06 '19 at 06:54

In Swift 5 you can do it by these:

    let attributes = [NSAttributedString.Key.font: UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 17, weight: .regular)]
    self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem?.setTitleTextAttributes(attributes, for: .normal)

Please note it will be effective for the next pushed view controller not the current one on the display, that's why it's very confusing!

Also, check the storyboard and select the navigation item of the previous view controller then type something in the Back Button (Inspector).

Change the font on the back button of a navigation controller under swift 4

5 Answers5