Iphone: Is it possible to hide the TabBar? (Pre-iOS 8)

Question

I have an application that uses a UITabBarController to switch between modes. When in a certain mode, I\'d like to hide the tab bar until the steps of that mode

Answer 1

I had worked on almost the same case, actually used the code from http://www.developers-life.com/hide-uitabbarcontrolleruitabbar-with-animation.html and made it better according to my needs, this might help others too.

I am using a UISplitViewController as the root view controller and its detail portion is a UITabBarController, I had to hide the tabbar in portrait mode:

// In UITabBarController's custom implementation add following method, 
// this method is all that will do the trick, just call this method 
// whenever tabbar needs to be hidden/shown 
- (void) hidetabbar:(NSNumber*)isHidden {
    UITabBarController *tabBarController=self;

    [UIView beginAnimations:nil context:NULL];
    [UIView setAnimationDuration:0.5];

    CGRect tabbarFrame=CGRectZero;
    for(UIView *theView in tabBarController.view.subviews) {
        //NSLog(@"%@", view);
        if([theView isKindOfClass:[UITabBar class]]) {
            tabbarFrame=theView.frame;
            if ([isHidden boolValue]) {
                tabbarFrame=CGRectMake(tabbarFrame.origin.x, 
                                       tabBarController.view.frame.size.height, 
                                       tabbarFrame.size.width, 
                                       tabbarFrame.size.height);
            } else {
                tabbarFrame=CGRectMake(tabbarFrame.origin.x, 
                                       tabBarController.view.frame.size.height - tabbarFrame.size.height, 
                                       tabbarFrame.size.width,
                                       tabbarFrame.size.height);
            }
            theView.frame=tabbarFrame;
            break;
        }
    }

    for(UIView *theView in tabBarController.view.subviews) {
        if(![theView isKindOfClass:[UITabBar class]]) {
            CGRect theViewFrame=theView.frame;
            if ([isHidden boolValue]) {
                theViewFrame=CGRectMake(theViewFrame.origin.x, 
                                        theViewFrame.origin.y, 
                                        theViewFrame.size.width, 
                                        theViewFrame.size.height + tabbarFrame.size.height);
            } else {
                theViewFrame=CGRectMake(theViewFrame.origin.x, 
                                        theViewFrame.origin.y, 
                                        theViewFrame.size.width, 
                                        theViewFrame.size.height - tabbarFrame.size.height);
            }
            theView.frame=theViewFrame;
        }
    }
    [UIView commitAnimations];
}

I used following code to call the hidetabbar: method

//In my UISplitViewController's custom implementation
- (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation
{
    @synchronized(self){
    //change the self.splitDetailController to your UITabBarController's object
    [self.splitDetailController 
     performSelector:@selector(hidetabbar:) 
     withObject:[NSNumber numberWithBool:UIInterfaceOrientationIsLandscape(interfaceOrientation)]
     afterDelay:0.5];
    }
    return YES;
}

I tested this code to work in simulator only, let me know if it works on device too ;-)