Changing tab bar item image and text color iOS

Question

Here is my tab bar:

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

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:

Answer 1

you can set tintColor of UIBarItem :

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

Answer 2

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().

Answer 3

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

Answer 4

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)
        }
    }

Answer 5

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!

Answer 6

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 UITabBarItem.appearance() instead of tabBarController?.tabBar

Images have to be UIImageRenderingModeAlwaysTemplate