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

Like Steve, I haven't found a clean way to do this (even though Apple Photopicker does something similar). Here is what I have done:

 if (systemAction)
  {
    // Reveal tab bar back
    CGRect bounds = [[UIScreen mainScreen] bounds];
    CGRect tabBarFrame = self.tabBarController.tabBar.frame;
    self.tabBarController.view.frame = CGRectMake(0,0,bounds.size.width,bounds.size.height);
    self.toolBar.hidden = YES;
    systemAction = NO;
  }
  else
  {
    //hide tab bar
    CGRect bounds = [[UIScreen mainScreen] bounds];
    CGRect tabBarFrame = self.tabBarController.tabBar.frame;
    CGRect navigationBarFrame = self.navigationController.navigationBar.frame;
    self.tabBarController.view.frame = CGRectMake(0,0,bounds.size.width,bounds.size.height+tabBarFrame.size.height);
    self.toolBar.hidden = NO;
    CGRect frame = self.toolBar.frame;
    frame.origin.y = bounds.size.height - frame.size.height - navigationBarFrame.size.height;
    self.toolBar.frame = frame;
    systemAction = YES;
  }

What it is doing is pushing the view down so I can display a toolbar (and not hiding it). Obviously this is for only the 'root view' of a tabbar + navigation controller. For any subsequent views you can set the 'hidesBottomBarWhenPushed' on the viewcontroller you are pushing.

Answer 2

Here is my solution (my tab view controller is inside navigation controller for good measure)... So I have subclassed UITabBarController and did this... exposing -setTabBarHidden: method

- (void)setTabBarHidden:(BOOL)hidden {
    _tabBarHidden = hidden;

    [UIView performWithoutAnimation:^{
        [self adjustViews];
    }];

}

- (void)adjustViews {
    if ( _tabBarHidden ) {
        CGRect f = self.tabBar.frame;

        // move tab bar offscreen
        f.origin.y = CGRectGetMaxY(self.view.frame);
        self.tabBar.frame = f;

        // adjust current view frame
        self.selectedViewController.view.frame = self.view.frame;
    } else {
        CGRect f = self.tabBar.frame;

        // move tab bar on screen
        f.origin.y = CGRectGetMaxY(self.view.frame) - (CGRectGetMaxY(self.tabBar.bounds) + CGRectGetMaxY(self.navigationController.navigationBar.frame));
        self.tabBar.frame = f;

        // adjust current view frame
        f = self.view.bounds;
        f.size.height -= CGRectGetMaxY(self.tabBar.bounds);
        self.selectedViewController.view.frame = f;
    }
}

- (void)viewWillLayoutSubviews {
    [super viewWillLayoutSubviews];

    [UIView performWithoutAnimation:^{
        [self adjustViews];
    }];
}

- (void)viewDidLayoutSubviews {
    [super viewDidLayoutSubviews];

    [UIView performWithoutAnimation:^{
        [self adjustViews];
    }];
}

Answer 3

Here's my code for that:

This is, of course, mucking with the goings on in the controller's view hierarchy. It could change/break. This uses defined APIs, so Apple won't care, but they won't care about breaking your code, either.

- (void)hideTabBar {
  UITabBar *tabBar = self.tabBarController.tabBar;
  UIView *parent = tabBar.superview; // UILayoutContainerView
  UIView *content = [parent.subviews objectAtIndex:0];  // UITransitionView
  UIView *window = parent.superview;

  [UIView animateWithDuration:0.5
                   animations:^{
                     CGRect tabFrame = tabBar.frame;
                     tabFrame.origin.y = CGRectGetMaxY(window.bounds);
                     tabBar.frame = tabFrame;
                     content.frame = window.bounds;
                   }];

  // 1
}

- (void)showTabBar {
  UITabBar *tabBar = self.tabBarController.tabBar;
  UIView *parent = tabBar.superview; // UILayoutContainerView
  UIView *content = [parent.subviews objectAtIndex:0];  // UITransitionView
  UIView *window = parent.superview;

  [UIView animateWithDuration:0.5
                   animations:^{
                     CGRect tabFrame = tabBar.frame;
                     tabFrame.origin.y = CGRectGetMaxY(window.bounds) - CGRectGetHeight(tabBar.frame);
                     tabBar.frame = tabFrame;

                     CGRect contentFrame = content.frame;
                     contentFrame.size.height -= tabFrame.size.height;
                   }];

  // 2
}

Edit: An anonymous user has suggested the following addition for 7.0 (i have not tested this, and could not say whether it is a workaround or an ideal implementation):

// 1. To Hide the black line in IOS7 only, this extra bit is required
if (SYSTEM_VERSION_GREATER_THAN_OR_EQUAL_TO(@"7.0")) {
    [self.tabBarController.tabBar setTranslucent:YES];
}  

// 2. For IOS 7 only
if (SYSTEM_VERSION_GREATER_THAN_OR_EQUAL_TO(@"7.0")) {
    [self.tabBarController.tabBar setTranslucent:NO];
}

Edit: Entirely untested in 8.x and likely lacking in some layouts.

Answer 4

You can create Tabbar Category and show/Hide easily. and you can access full view.

create category #import "UITabBarController+HideTabBar.h"

@implementation UITabBarController (HideTabBar)

- (void)hideTabBarAnimated:(BOOL)animated
{
    CGRect statusbarFrame = [UIApplication sharedApplication].statusBarFrame;
    CGRect tabBarControllerFrame = self.view.frame;
    if (statusbarFrame.size.height>20)
    {
        tabBarControllerFrame.size.height =  screenSize.size.height + self.tabBar.frame.size.height - 20.0;
    }
    else
    {
        tabBarControllerFrame.size.height = screenSize.size.height + self.tabBar.frame.size.height ;
    }

    if (animated) {
        [UIView animateWithDuration:0.2 animations:^{
            [self.view setFrame:tabBarControllerFrame];
        } completion:^(BOOL finished) {

        }];
    }
    else
        [self.view setFrame:tabBarControllerFrame];
}

- (void)showTabBarAnimated:(BOOL)animated {
    CGRect statusbarFrame = [UIApplication sharedApplication].statusBarFrame;
    CGRect tabBarControllerFrame = self.view.frame;
    if (statusbarFrame.size.height>20)
    {
        tabBarControllerFrame.size.height =  screenSize.size.height - 20.0;
    }
    else
    {
        tabBarControllerFrame.size.height = screenSize.size.height ;
    }

    if (animated) {
        [UIView animateWithDuration:0.2 animations:^{
            [self.view setFrame:tabBarControllerFrame];
        } completion:^(BOOL finished) {

        }];
    }
    else
        [self.view setFrame:tabBarControllerFrame];
}
@end

Note : use statusbarFrame is used when hotspot or call is ON so tabbar would not cut down.

Now Import category in which you class you want to use methods and just call below methods to hide or show tabbar.

[self.tabBarController hideTabBarAnimated:YES];

[self.tabBarController showTabBarAnimated:YES];

Hope this Helps.

Answer 5

Hope this works.

@interface UITabBarController (Additions)

-(void)setTabBarHidden:(BOOL)hidden animated:(BOOL)animated;

@end

@implementation UITabBarController (Additions)

-(void)setTabBarHidden:(BOOL)hidden animated:(BOOL)animated
{
    if (animated)
    {
        [UIView beginAnimations:nil context:nil];
    }
    if (hidden)
    {

        self.tabBar.frame = CGRectMake(self.tabBar.frame.origin.x, self.tabBar.superview.frame.size.height, self.tabBar.bounds.size.width, self.tabBar.bounds.size.height);
    }
    else
    {
        self.tabBar.frame = CGRectMake(self.tabBar.frame.origin.x, self.tabBar.superview.frame.size.height - self.tabBar.frame.size.height + 10, self.tabBar.bounds.size.width, self.tabBar.bounds.size.height);
    }
    if (animated)
    {
        [UIView commitAnimations];
    }

}

Answer 6

Why are you not using a navigation controller. It's a lot easier to hide the nav bar than the tab bar...