Change UITabBar height

I use UITabBarController as a root view and app supports iOS 6 and above. Project class hierarchy is as below.

UITabBarController
  - tab1
    - UINavigationController
      - UIViewController
      - UIViewController
      .
      .
  - tab2
    - UINavigationController
      - UIViewController
      - UIViewController
      .
      .
      .
  - tab3
    - UIViewController
  - tab4
    - UIViewController

I used below code to change height of UITabBar in one of the UIViewControllers (which is inside UINavigationController) in above hierarchy.

CGRect tabbarFrame = self.tabBarController.tabBar.frame;
tabbarFrame.size.height += 60;
self.tabBarController.tabBar.frame = tabbarFrame;

But its not changing the height. UITabBar is displayed with default height. Though logging its value prints changed value as shown below.

<UITabBar: 0xb528f60; frame = (0 431; 320 109); autoresize = W+TM; layer = <CALayer: 0xb529080>>

How can I change UITabBar's height to achieve something like this:?

I faced this issue and I was able to solve it.

You have to add following code to your subclass of UITabBarController class.

const CGFloat kBarHeight = 80;

- (void)viewWillLayoutSubviews {
    [super viewWillLayoutSubviews];

    CGRect tabFrame = self.tabBar.frame; //self.TabBar is IBOutlet of your TabBar
    tabFrame.size.height = kBarHeight;
    tabFrame.origin.y = self.view.frame.size.height - kBarHeight;
    self.tabBar.frame = tabFrame;
}

Swift:

override func viewWillLayoutSubviews() {
    super.viewWillLayoutSubviews()
    
    tabBar.frame.size.height = kBarHeight
    tabBar.frame.origin.y = view.frame.height - kBarHeight
}

For iOS 8.2, Xcode 6.2 Swift language:

Create a "DNMainTabVC.swift" (DeveloperNameMainTabViewController.swift file) for your UITabBarController (of type UITabBarController) and connect it to your storyboard VC.

Add the following lines:

override func viewWillLayoutSubviews() {
    var tabFrame = self.tabBar.frame
    // - 40 is editable , the default value is 49 px, below lowers the tabbar and above increases the tab bar size
    tabFrame.size.height = 40
    tabFrame.origin.y = self.view.frame.size.height - 40
    self.tabBar.frame = tabFrame
}

This worked for me.

Swift3.0, Swift 4.0 compatible

Pre-iPhone X default tab bar height: 49pt

iPhone X default tab bar height: 83pt

A universal solution supporting every iOS device including iPhone X screen size would look like this:

1. Capture UITabBar's default height:

   fileprivate lazy var defaultTabBarHeight = { tabBar.frame.size.height }()
   

2. Adjust UITabBar's height:

       override func viewWillLayoutSubviews() {
           super.viewWillLayoutSubviews()
   
           let newTabBarHeight = defaultTabBarHeight + 16.0
   
           var newFrame = tabBar.frame
           newFrame.size.height = newTabBarHeight
           newFrame.origin.y = view.frame.size.height - newTabBarHeight
   
           tabBar.frame = newFrame
       }
   

Tested in XCode 9.0 and Swift 4

As suggested in previous answers - inherit UITabBar and override sizeThatFits, but mark height as @IBInspectable, so it could be set in the Interface Builder:

import UIKit

class CustomTabBar : UITabBar {
    @IBInspectable var height: CGFloat = 0.0
    
    override func sizeThatFits(_ size: CGSize) -> CGSize {
        var sizeThatFits = super.sizeThatFits(size)
        if height > 0.0 {
            sizeThatFits.height = height
        }
        return sizeThatFits
    }
}

Set CustomTabBar class for the UITabBar in the Identity Inspector (⌥⌘3):

Then set desired Height (greater than 0.0) in the Attributes Inspector (⌥⌘4):

Create a custom subclass of type UITabBar, then implement the following method :

@implementation CustomTabBar
#define kTabBarHeight = // Input the height we want to set for Tabbar here
-(CGSize)sizeThatFits:(CGSize)size
{
    CGSize sizeThatFits = [super sizeThatFits:size];
    sizeThatFits.height = kTabBarHeight;

    return sizeThatFits;
}
@end

Hope this will work.

Swift 4

extension UITabBar {
    override open func sizeThatFits(_ size: CGSize) -> CGSize {
        var sizeThatFits = super.sizeThatFits(size)
        sizeThatFits.height = 60 // adjust your size here
        return sizeThatFits
    }
}

Swift 2.0:

var tabBar:UITabBar?

override func viewWillLayoutSubviews() {
	var tabFrame: CGRect = self.tabBar!.frame
	tabFrame.size.height = 60
	tabFrame.origin.y = self.view.frame.size.height - 60
	self.tabBar!.frame = tabFrame
}

Swift 3.0+ Replace 200 to your desired height in below code.

   extension UITabBar {
        override open func sizeThatFits(_ size: CGSize) -> CGSize {
            return CGSize(width: UIScreen.main.bounds.width, height: 200)
        }
    }

Swift 4 & compatible with iphone x

class CustomTabBar : UITabBar {

@IBInspectable var height: CGFloat = 65.0

override open func sizeThatFits(_ size: CGSize) -> CGSize {
    guard let window = UIApplication.shared.connectedScenes
        .compactMap({$0 as? UIWindowScene})
        .first?.windows
        .filter({$0.isKeyWindow}).first else {
      return super.sizeThatFits(size)
    }
    var sizeThatFits = super.sizeThatFits(size)
    if height > 0.0 {
        
        if #available(iOS 11.0, *) {
            sizeThatFits.height = height + window.safeAreaInsets.bottom
        } else {
            sizeThatFits.height = height
        }
    }
    return sizeThatFits
}
}

Building up on previous answers and updating for Swift 3.

Subclass UITabController and make sure to assign your new custom class to the Identity Inspector of your UITabController.

Swift 3.0

class MainTabBarController: UITabBarController {
    
    override func viewWillLayoutSubviews() {
        var newTabBarFrame = tabBar.frame
        
        let newTabBarHeight: CGFloat = 60
        newTabBarFrame.size.height = newTabBarHeight
        newTabBarFrame.origin.y = self.view.frame.size.height - newTabBarHeight
        
        tabBar.frame = newTabBarFrame
    }
}

Warning: if you get a blank space below your tab bar, make sure you did put this code in viewWillLayoutSubviews() and not viewDidLoad().

For some reason, the answer from @Rushikesh was working pretty well until iOS 10 but I had some issues with iOS 11 and Swift 3.2.

The tabBar was changing its frame every time I touched a new tab.

I fixed this by putting the code in the viewDidLayoutSubviews() function instead of viewWillLayoutSubviews()

Swift 3 :

override func viewDidLayoutSubviews() {
  
    super.viewDidLayoutSubviews()
    var tabFrame            = tabBar.frame
    tabFrame.size.height    = 65
    tabFrame.origin.y       = view.frame.size.height - 65
    tabBar.frame            = tabFrame
}

Xamarin implementation:

public override void ViewWillLayoutSubviews()
{
    base.ViewWillLayoutSubviews();
    const float newTabBarHeight = 40f;
    TabBar.Frame = new CGRect(TabBar.Frame.X, TabBar.Frame.Y + (TabBar.Frame.Height - newTabBarHeight), TabBar.Frame.Width, newTabBarHeight);
}

Edited Kiarash Asar's answers with use of Safe Area:

override func viewWillLayoutSubviews() {
    super.viewWillLayoutSubviews()
    
    var safeAreaBottomInset: CGFloat = 0.0
    
    if #available(iOS 11.0, *) {
        safeAreaBottomInset = view.safeAreaInsets.bottom
    }
    
    let newTabBarHeight: CGFloat = {{myDesiredHeight}} + safeAreaBottomInset
    
    var newFrame = tabBar.frame
    newFrame.size.height = newTabBarHeight
    newFrame.origin.y = view.frame.size.height - newTabBarHeight
    
    tabBar.frame = newFrame
}

You can modify the tab bar's height by subclassing it. I actually did this long time ago. xcode 6.0

override func sizeThatFits(_ size: CGSize) -> CGSize {
    return CGSize(width: super.sizeThatFits(size).width, height: 60)
}

That should return its default width with the height of 60pts.

this is also one way to do that

extension UITabBar {

override public func sizeThatFits(size: CGSize) -> CGSize {
    super.sizeThatFits(size)
    var sizeThatFits = super.sizeThatFits(size)
    sizeThatFits.height = 71 // or whatever height you need
    return sizeThatFits
   } 
}

Swift 5.3.1, XCode 11+, iOS 14:

import UIKit

class CustomTabBar: UITabBar {
    let height: CGFloat = 62
    
    override open func sizeThatFits(_ size: CGSize) -> CGSize {
        guard let window = UIApplication.shared.connectedScenes
                .filter({$0.activationState == .foregroundActive})
                .map({$0 as? UIWindowScene})
                .compactMap({$0})
                .first?.windows
                .filter({$0.isKeyWindow}).first else {
            return super.sizeThatFits(size)
        }

        var sizeThatFits = super.sizeThatFits(size)
        if #available(iOS 11.0, *) {
            sizeThatFits.height = height + window.safeAreaInsets.bottom
        } else {
            sizeThatFits.height = height
        }
        return sizeThatFits
    }
}

WORKS WITH ALL SCREEN SIZES: Set the tabBarHeight to the (original height of the tabBar - 20) this is important so you can use it later in the viewDidLayoutSubviews, also better than hard coding the size you want. Since that size might not work on all screens.

Window safe area insets keeps the necessary padding at the bottom of the tab bar height in order to maintain the distance from the bottom edge of the screen.

var tabBarHeight = CGFloat()

override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        tabBarHeight = self.tabBar.frame.height - 20
    }

    override func viewDidLayoutSubviews() {
        super.viewDidLayoutSubviews()
        var tabFrame = self.tabBar.frame
        guard let window = UIApplication.shared.keyWindow else {return}
        tabFrame.size.height = tabBarHeight + window.safeAreaInsets.bottom
        self.tabBar.frame = tabFrame
    }

Just add more inset to the bottom of the safe area:

additionalSafeAreaInsets.bottom = 40

iPhoneX have have different height so if we move to smaller height then tabbar shape will be bad in iPhoneX

- (void)viewWillLayoutSubviews
{
    int requiredHeight = 55;
    CGRect tabFrame = self.tabBar.frame;
    if (tabFrame.size.height < requiredHeight)
    {
        tabFrame.size.height = requiredHeight;
        tabFrame.origin.y = self.view.frame.size.height - requiredHeight;
        self.tabBar.frame = tabFrame;
    }
}

class TabBarVC: UITabBarController {

    //MARK:- Variable
    let HEIGHT_TAB_BAR:CGFloat = 500

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
    
        // Do any additional setup after loading the view.
    }


    override func viewDidLayoutSubviews() {
        super.viewDidLayoutSubviews()
        var tabFrame = self.tabBar.frame
        tabFrame.size.height = HEIGHT_TAB_BAR
        tabFrame.origin.y = self.view.frame.size.height - HEIGHT_TAB_BAR
        self.tabBar.frame = tabFrame
    }


}

Worked fine for me.

It helped me

override func viewDidLayoutSubviews() {
        super.viewWillLayoutSubviews()

        tabBar.frame.size.height = 60
        tabBar.frame.origin.y = view.frame.height - 60
}

For a UITabBarController subclass

Create a subclass from UITabBar

class CustomTabBar : UITabBar {
    override open func sizeThatFits(_ size: CGSize) -> CGSize {
        super.sizeThatFits(size)
        var sizeThatFits = super.sizeThatFits(size)
        sizeThatFits.height = 200
        return sizeThatFits
    }
}

and set the class in the constructor

init() {
    super.init(nibName: nil, bundle: nil)
    object_setClass(self.tabBar, CustomTabBar.self)
}