Setting the default tab when using storyboards

Can anyone please tell me how to set the default tab when using storyboards in iOS. I can't seem to figure out how to accomplish this.

Thank you

Whilst you can set the initial selected tab programmatically like the other answers, to achieve the same in your storyboard without touching code you would perform the following:

1. Select the Tab Bar Controller in the Storyboard Interface
2. Show the Identity Inspector in the Utilities panel
3. Add a new "User Defined Runtime Attribute"
4. Set the Key Path to "selectedIndex"
5. Set the Type to "Number"
6. Set the Value to the index of the tab you wish to select (a value of 1 would select the second tab for example)
7. Save the Storyboard, build and run the application

This should be what it looks like when you've achieved the above steps:

Might seem like overkill for some to subclass UITabBarController, but, I think it provides the cleanest solution.

1. Create BaseTabBarController.swift

2. Add an @IBInspectable and set it in viewDidLoad:

    class BaseTabBarController: UITabBarController {
   
        @IBInspectable var defaultIndex: Int = 0
   
        override func viewDidLoad() {
            super.viewDidLoad()
            selectedIndex = defaultIndex
        }
   
    }
   

3. In the storyboard, set you UITabBarController to be your new subclass:

4. Go to the Attributes Inspector add set the new property Default Index:

5. ta-da! (:

1. Create a new file subclass of UITabBarController;

2. Add this at the end of viewDidLoad:

   self.selectedIndex = 1;

3. Set this new file as the Custom Class in the UITabBarController of your Storyboard.

You're done.

The following code worked for me:

UITabBarController *tabBarController = (UITabBarController *)self.window.rootViewController;
tabBarController.selectedIndex = 2;

You can use one of these two methods:

tabBar.items = tabBarItems;
tabBar.selectedItem = [tabBarItems objectAtIndex:0];

or a direct method from the object

[tabBar setSelectedItem:myUITabBarItem];

or you can combine them to do this:

tabBar.items = tabBarItems;
[tabBar setSelectedItem:[tabBarItems objectAtIndex:0]];

but i havent tested that method yet, hope this helps!

in appdelegate find applicationDidBecomeActive function and add this lines

let tabBarController = self.window?.rootViewController as! UITabBarController
tabBarController.selectedIndex = 0 // any index you want

My variant is suitable when you want just change the default selected controller, no more customizing. Just add the follow category:

//  UITabBarController+DefaultPage.h
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface UITabBarController(DefaultPage)

@end


//  UITabBarController+DefaultPage.m
#import "UITabBarController+DefaultPage.h"

@implementation UITabBarController(DefaultPage)

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];
    
    self.selectedIndex = 1;
}

@end

p.s: I prefer @joshua-finch answer

In the viewDidLoad() of the TabBarController, set selectedIndex to whatever you want. (0 would be the first, 3 would be the fourth, etc.)

You can achieve this through Xcode 8 or later (just tested it and don't know if it's available before this version)

Do the steps as @Joshua Finch said but:

1. Select the bar item instead of the TabBar
2. Got to "User Defined Runtime Attribute"
3. Add new key
4. Name it "selected"
5. Set its type to boolean and choose true / or check the checkbox

Building upon Aviel Gross' answer, I just wanted to implement this for a UITabBar, as opposed to a UITabBarController. This can be done as follows:

class BaseTabBar: UITabBar {

    @IBInspectable var defaultIndex: Int = 0 {
        didSet {
            self.selectedItem = self.items?[defaultIndex]
        }
    }
}

Provided you're navigating to your UITabBarController from e.g. a login screen it might be least pain to set the selection there:

        let tabs = self.storyboard?.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "tabs") as! UITabBarController
        tabs.selectedIndex = 1
        self.present(tabs, animated:false)

In InterfaceBuilder, disconnect all the segues, then reconnect them in the order you want them to appear.