Remove tab bar item text, show only image

Question

Simple question, how can I remove the tab bar item text and show only the image?

I want the bar items to like in the instagram app:

Answer 1

iOS 11 throws a kink in many of these solutions, so I just fixed my issues on iOS 11 by subclassing UITabBar and overriding layoutSubviews.

class MainTabBar: UITabBar {

    override func layoutSubviews() {
        super.layoutSubviews()

        // iOS 11: puts the titles to the right of image for horizontal size class regular. Only want offset when compact.
        // iOS 9 & 10: always puts titles under the image. Always want offset.
        var verticalOffset: CGFloat = 6.0

        if #available(iOS 11.0, *), traitCollection.horizontalSizeClass == .regular {
            verticalOffset = 0.0
        }

        let imageInset = UIEdgeInsets(
            top: verticalOffset,
            left: 0.0,
            bottom: -verticalOffset,
            right: 0.0
        )

        for tabBarItem in items ?? [] {
            tabBarItem.title = ""
            tabBarItem.imageInsets = imageInset
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

A minimal, safe UITabBarController extension in Swift (based on @korgx9 answer):

extension UITabBarController {
  func removeTabbarItemsText() {
    tabBar.items?.forEach {
      $0.title = ""
      $0.imageInsets = UIEdgeInsets(top: 6, left: 0, bottom: -6, right: 0)
    }
  }
}

Answer 3

Based on all the great answers on this page, I've crafted another solution that also allows you to show the the title again. Instead of removing the content of title, I just change the font color to transparent.

extension UITabBarItem {

    func setTitleColorFor(normalState: UIColor, selectedState: UIColor) {
        self.setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: normalState], for: .normal)
        self.setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: selectedState], for: .selected)
    }

}


extension UITabBarController {

    func hideItemsTitle() {

        guard let items = self.tabBar.items else {
            return
        }

        for item in items {
            item.setTitleColorFor(normalState: UIColor(white: 0, alpha: 0), selectedState: UIColor(white: 0, alpha: 0))
            item.imageInsets = UIEdgeInsets(top: 6, left: 0, bottom: -6, right: 0)
        }

    }

    func showItemsTitle() {

        guard let items = self.tabBar.items else {
            return
        }

        for item in items {
            item.setTitleColorFor(normalState: .black, selectedState: .yellow)
            item.imageInsets = UIEdgeInsets(top: 0, left: 0, bottom: 0, right: 0)
        }

    }

}

Answer 4

// Remove the titles and adjust the inset to account for missing title
for(UITabBarItem * tabBarItem in self.tabBar.items){
    tabBarItem.title = @"";
    tabBarItem.imageInsets = UIEdgeInsetsMake(6, 0, -6, 0);
}

Answer 5

Based on the answer of ddiego, in Swift 4.2:

extension UITabBarController {
    func cleanTitles() {
        guard let items = self.tabBar.items else {
            return
        }
        for item in items {
            item.title = ""
            item.imageInsets = UIEdgeInsets(top: 6, left: 0, bottom: -6, right: 0)
        }
    }
}

And you just need to call self.tabBarController?.cleanTitles() in your view controller.

Answer 6

Here is how you do it in a storyboard.

Clear the title text, and set the image inset like the screenshot below

Remember the icon size should follow the apple design guideline

This means you should have 25px x 25px for @1x, 50px x 50px for @2x, 75px x 75px for @3x