How do we create a bigger center UITabBar Item

Question

I am wondering how do we create a bigger center UITabBar like the shot below? Its really beautiful!!!!

Answer 1

2017 Answer - With Just Xcode

Click the tab bar button within the view controller of the particular tab bar item you want to make prominent,

Remove the text, just set the image inset top to -25 of the tab bar button.

Like Below image

After that

goto assets,
select the image you set in tab bar button,
set the property Rendering As to Original Image (in case if you have a colourful button or else it would render as one colour)
Like below,

Now, You will get it like you wanted,

Answer 2

I followed @Michael Dautermann answer but the button never registers the tap so I modified it to make it work:

  func handleTouchTabbarCenter()
{
    if let count = self.tabBar.items?.count
    {
        let i = floor(Double(count / 2))
        self.selectedViewController = self.viewControllers?[Int(i)]
    }
}

func addCenterButton(withImage buttonImage : UIImage, highlightImage: UIImage) {

    self.centerButton = UIButton(type: .custom)
    self.centerButton?.autoresizingMask = [.flexibleRightMargin, .flexibleTopMargin, .flexibleLeftMargin, .flexibleBottomMargin]
    self.centerButton?.frame = CGRect(x: 0.0, y: 0.0, width: buttonImage.size.width, height: buttonImage.size.height)
    self.centerButton?.setBackgroundImage(buttonImage, for: .normal)
    self.centerButton?.setBackgroundImage(highlightImage, for: .highlighted)
    self.centerButton?.isUserInteractionEnabled = true

    let heightdif: CGFloat = buttonImage.size.height - (self.tabBar.frame.size.height);

    if (heightdif < 0){
        self.centerButton?.center = (self.tabBar.center)
    }
    else{
        var center: CGPoint = (self.tabBar.center)
        center.y = center.y - 24
        self.centerButton?.center = center
    }

    self.view.addSubview(self.centerButton!)
    self.tabBar.bringSubview(toFront: self.centerButton!)

    self.centerButton?.addTarget(self, action: #selector(handleTouchTabbarCenter), for: .touchUpInside)

    if let count = self.tabBar.items?.count
    {
        let i = floor(Double(count / 2))
        let item = self.tabBar.items![Int(i)]
        item.title = ""
    }
}

Answer 3

For Swift

dispatch_after(dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, (Int64)(2.0)), dispatch_get_main_queue(), {
            let button: UIButton = UIButton(type: .Custom)
            let win:UIWindow = UIApplication.sharedApplication().delegate!.window!!

            button.frame = CGRectMake(0.0, win.frame.size.height - 65, 55, 55)
            button.center = CGPoint(x:win.center.x , y: button.center.y)

            button.setBackgroundImage(UIImage(named: "Camera") , forState: .Normal)
            button.setBackgroundImage(UIImage(named: "Camera"), forState: .Highlighted)
            win.addSubview(button)
        });

Answer 4

Swift 3, 4:

I use this code in the viewDidLoad of my subclass of UITabBarController:

let button = UIButton()
button.setImage(UIImage(named: "home"), for: .normal)
button.sizeToFit()
button.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false

tabBar.addSubview(button)
tabBar.centerXAnchor.constraint(equalTo: button.centerXAnchor).isActive = true
tabBar.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: button.centerYAnchor).isActive = true

Sometimes I also set button.adjustsImageWhenHighlighted = false to mimic the behavior of the other items, or change the constraint constant property to move the button up or down.

Answer 5

I've taken Manuel's example (the accepted answer) and added an adjustment for the bottom safe area insets due to issues with iPhone X.

UIButton *button = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
button.frame = CGRectMake(0.0, 0.0, buttonImage.size.width, buttonImage.size.height);
[button setBackgroundImage:buttonImage forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[button setBackgroundImage:highlightImage forState:UIControlStateHighlighted];

CGFloat heightDifference = buttonImage.size.height - self.tabBar.frame.size.height;
CGPoint center = self.tabBar.center;
if (heightDifference >= 0) {
    center.y = center.y - heightDifference/2.0;
}

if (@available(iOS 11.0, *)) {
    UIWindow *window = UIApplication.sharedApplication.keyWindow;
    CGFloat bottomPadding = window.safeAreaInsets.bottom;
    center.y = center.y - bottomPadding;
}

[self.view addSubview:button];

Answer 6

I recommend you taking a look at the following article. It explains how to customise a tab bar raising the main button.

Code:

UIButton* button = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
button.frame = CGRectMake(0.0, 0.0, buttonImage.size.width, buttonImage.size.height);
[button setBackgroundImage:buttonImage forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[button setBackgroundImage:highlightImage forState:UIControlStateHighlighted];

CGFloat heightDifference = buttonImage.size.height - self.tabBar.frame.size.height;
if (heightDifference < 0)
   button.center = self.tabBar.center;
else
{
 CGPoint center = self.tabBar.center;
 center.y = center.y - heightDifference/2.0;
 button.center = center;
}

[self.view addSubview:button];

Guide: https://github.com/boctor/idev-recipes/tree/master/RaisedCenterTabBar