iosobjective-cuitabbarcontrolleruitabbaruitabbaritem

How to change inactive icon/text color on tab bar?


How can I change inactive icon/text color on iOS 7 tab bar? The one in gray color.

enter image description here


Solution

  • In every first ViewController for each TabBar:

    - (void)viewDidLoad
    {
        [super viewDidLoad];
    
        // changing the unselected image color, you should change the selected image 
        // color if you want them to be different
        self.tabBarItem.selectedImage = [[UIImage imageNamed:@"yourImage_selectedImage"]
        imageWithRenderingMode:UIImageRenderingModeAlwaysOriginal];
    
        self.tabBarItem.image = [[UIImage imageNamed:@"yourImage_image"] 
        imageWithRenderingMode:UIImageRenderingModeAlwaysOriginal];
    }
    

    The clue of this code is 'UIImageRenderingModeAlwaysOriginal':

    Rendering Modes by Apple Documentation:

    UIImageRenderingModeAutomatic,          // Use the default rendering mode for the context where the image is used    
    UIImageRenderingModeAlwaysOriginal,     // Always draw the original image, without treating it as a template
    UIImageRenderingModeAlwaysTemplate,     // Always draw the image as a template image, ignoring its color information
    

    To change text color:

    In AppDelegate:

    - (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions
    {
        // Add this if you only want to change Selected Image color 
        // and/or selected image text
        [[UITabBar appearance] setTintColor:[UIColor redColor]];
    
        // Add this code to change StateNormal text Color,
        [UITabBarItem.appearance setTitleTextAttributes:
        @{NSForegroundColorAttributeName : [UIColor greenColor]} 
        forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    
        // then if StateSelected should be different, you should add this code
        [UITabBarItem.appearance setTitleTextAttributes:
        @{NSForegroundColorAttributeName : [UIColor purpleColor]} 
        forState:UIControlStateSelected];
    
        return YES;
    }