Change the navigation bar's font

Question

The question is plain easy and simple, the answer unfortunately not.

How can you change the font of the text in the UINavigationBar?

Just because this is the first result I got when I went googling for the subject, and there is a more updated answer: http://stackoverflow.com/a/10440362/700471 — Matt Mc, Oct 12 '12 at 17:59
I do believe there is a difference in both questions. Where I'm asking to change the font of an individual navigation bar, the other question is about changing the font of 'all' navigation bars. Even though, it's a usefull link to mention as others might be interested! — Joetjah, Oct 22 '12 at 12:07
For individual navigation bar, use this: `[self.navigationController.navigationBar setTitleTextAttributes:@{UITextAttributeFont:[UIFont fontWithName:<#(NSString *)#> size:<#(CGFloat)#>]}];` — Philip007, Nov 09 '12 at 11:56
For iOS7 you shall use NSFontAttributeName instead of UITextAttributeFont — ishahak, May 02 '14 at 05:09

score 158 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 29 '14 at 12:09

From iOS 7 and later:

NSShadow* shadow = [NSShadow new];
shadow.shadowOffset = CGSizeMake(0.0f, 1.0f);
shadow.shadowColor = [UIColor redColor];
[[UINavigationBar appearance] setTitleTextAttributes: @{
     NSForegroundColorAttributeName: [UIColor greenColor],
                NSFontAttributeName: [UIFont fontWithName:@"Helvetica" size:20.0f],
              NSShadowAttributeName: shadow
                                                      }];

From iOS 5 and later:

 [[UINavigationBar appearance] setTitleTextAttributes: @{
                                UITextAttributeTextColor: [UIColor greenColor],
                          UITextAttributeTextShadowColor: [UIColor redColor],
                         UITextAttributeTextShadowOffset: [NSValue valueWithUIOffset:UIOffsetMake(0.0f, 1.0f)],
                                     UITextAttributeFont: [UIFont fontWithName:@"Helvetica" size:20.0f]
     }];

Earlier than iOS 5:

UILabel *label = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 400, 44)];
label.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
label.font = [UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:20.0];
label.shadowColor = [UIColor colorWithWhite:0.0 alpha:0.5];
label.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentCenter;
label.textColor =[UIColor whiteColor];
label.text=self.title;  
self.navigationItem.titleView = label;      
[label release];

Kindly remind this answer is obsolete. There are simple ways to customize appearance of UI elements in iOS 5 and 6. Just use `appearance` proxy. — Philip007, Nov 09 '12 at 11:59
How to let this code use the SystemFont instead of hardcoding to Helvetica? — Brabbeldas, Nov 01 '15 at 16:54
Beautifully worked! (@Brabbeldas I did change it to another font though :P) — Septronic, Nov 03 '15 at 23:21

inder · Answer 2 · 2015-01-30T20:38:29.337

15

If you wanted to change the font in the Interface Builder itself (without any code) here is the way to do it in Xcode6:

1.) Find the Navigation Bar view under the Navigation Controller Scene enter image description here

2.) Change the Title Font, Color and Shadow attributes in the Attributes Inspector. enter image description here

edited Jan 30 '15 at 20:38

answered Jan 30 '15 at 20:08

inder

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score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 11 '12 at 08:50

The above answer works. I would add the following line before the last line. If I don't, it seems the label is center-aligned incorrectly if there is a back button on the left side but no right button.

...
[self.navigationItem.titleView sizeToFit]; 
[label release]; // not needed if you are using ARC

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 08 '13 at 01:44

Updated for iOS 7:

[[UINavigationBar appearance] setTitleTextAttributes: [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
                                                      [UIColor colorWithRed:245.0/255.0 green:245.0/255.0 blue:245.0/255.0 alpha:1.0], NSForegroundColorAttributeName,
                                                      shadow, NSShadowAttributeName,
                                                      [UIFont fontWithName:@"HelveticaNeue-CondensedBlack" size:21.0], NSFontAttributeName, nil]];

courtesy of:

http://www.appcoda.com/customize-navigation-status-bar-ios-7/

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 22 '15 at 02:38

4

Not sure why all the answers included the shadow. Adding the lines that manipulate the shadow does nothing in respect to changing text font. These 2 lines of code will work for iOS 8.4 and Swift

let attributesDictionary = [NSFontAttributeName: UIFont(name: "Helvetica Neue", size: 14)!]
navigationController!.navigationBar.titleTextAttributes = attributesDictionary

The titleTextAttributes stores a dictionary that will dictate the font, color, size, and other attributes of the navigation bar's title.

answered Aug 22 '15 at 02:38

Kelvin Lau

6,373
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And the default color of the text will be whatever the `UINavigationBar`'s `tintColor` is. If you want something different, set the tint color, or add an `NSForegroundColorAttributeName` attribute and value to that attributes dictionary. – NRitH Aug 24 '15 at 00:44
How to let this use the SystemFont? – Brabbeldas Nov 01 '15 at 16:53

score 1 · Answer 6 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

1

As of iOS 5 you can use the appearance proxy.

The answer is in a duplicate of this question: https://stackoverflow.com/a/12364740/883413

edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

Community

1
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answered Dec 28 '12 at 05:24

Ric Santos

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score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 06 '14 at 14:04

     NSShadow *shadow = [NSShadow new];
[shadow setShadowColor: [UIColor clearColor]];
[shadow setShadowOffset: CGSizeMake(0.0f, 1.0f)];

[self.navigationController.navigationBar setTitleTextAttributes:[NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
                                         [UIFont fontWithName:@"TimeBurner" size:27.0f], NSFontAttributeName,
                                         [UIColor whiteColor], NSForegroundColorAttributeName,
                                         shadow, NSShadowAttributeName,nil]];

I have downloaded the font named timeburner_regular.ttf so I wrote the above code. It worked for me. — Vin, Mar 06 '14 at 14:06

Change the navigation bar's font

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