Xcode 11.4. Navigation's Title Color gone BLACK from storyboard

I recently updated my Xcode to 11.4. When I run the app on the device, i've noticed that all my navigations item's titles gone fully black when being set from storyboard.

You can't change neither from code, the following line of code doesn't work anymore

self.navigationController?.navigationBar.titleTextAttributes = [.foregroundColor: UIColor.white]

I only make it work using some iOS 13 stuffs UINavigationBarAppearance

@available(iOS 13.0, *)
    private func setupNavigationBar() {
        let app = UINavigationBarAppearance()
        app.titleTextAttributes = [.foregroundColor: UIColor.white]
        app.backgroundColor = Constants.Color.barColor
        self.navigationController?.navigationBar.compactAppearance = app
        self.navigationController?.navigationBar.standardAppearance = app
        self.navigationController?.navigationBar.scrollEdgeAppearance = app
        
        self.navigationController?.navigationBar.titleTextAttributes = [.foregroundColor: UIColor.white]
    }

Can somebody explain me why??? This is a crucial bug, or some new hidden feature?

This fixed it for me, using UINavigationBarAppearance instead, from: Customizing Your App’s Navigation Bar

if #available(iOS 13.0, *) {
    let appearance = UINavigationBarAppearance()
    appearance.configureWithOpaqueBackground()
    appearance.backgroundColor = UIColor.black
    appearance.titleTextAttributes = [.foregroundColor: UIColor.white] // With a red background, make the title more readable.
    self.navigationBar.standardAppearance = appearance
    self.navigationBar.scrollEdgeAppearance = appearance
    self.navigationBar.compactAppearance = appearance // For iPhone small navigation bar in landscape.
} else {
    self.navigationBar.barTintColor = UIColor.black
    self.navigationBar.tintColor = UIColor.white
    self.navigationBar.titleTextAttributes = [.foregroundColor: UIColor.white]
}

Note: I subclassed UINavigationController, and this was called from the override of viewWillAppear.

...or for AppDelegate, app-wide:

if #available(iOS 13.0, *) {
    let appearance = UINavigationBarAppearance()
    appearance.configureWithOpaqueBackground()
    appearance.backgroundColor = UIColor.black
    appearance.titleTextAttributes = [
        NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: UIColor.white
    ]
    
    let buttonAppearance = UIBarButtonItemAppearance()
    buttonAppearance.normal.titleTextAttributes = [.foregroundColor: UIColor.white]
    appearance.buttonAppearance = buttonAppearance
                
    UINavigationBar.appearance().standardAppearance = appearance
    UINavigationBar.appearance().scrollEdgeAppearance = appearance
    UINavigationBar.appearance().compactAppearance = appearance
            
    UIBarButtonItem.appearance().tintColor = UIColor.white
} else {
    UINavigationBar.appearance().barTintColor = UIColor.black
    UINavigationBar.appearance().titleTextAttributes = [
        NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: UIColor.white
    ]
    UINavigationBar.appearance().tintColor = UIColor.white

    UIBarButtonItem.appearance().tintColor = UIColor.white
}

...for AppDelegate, app-wide, in Objective-C:

if (@available(iOS 13, *)) {
    UINavigationBarAppearance *appearance = [[UINavigationBarAppearance alloc] init];
    [appearance configureWithOpaqueBackground];
    appearance.backgroundColor = UIColor.whiteColor;
    appearance.titleTextAttributes = titleAttributes;
    
    UIBarButtonItemAppearance *buttonAppearance = [[UIBarButtonItemAppearance alloc] init];
    buttonAppearance.normal.titleTextAttributes = barButtonItemAttributes;
    appearance.buttonAppearance = buttonAppearance;
    
    UINavigationBar.appearance.standardAppearance = appearance;
    UINavigationBar.appearance.scrollEdgeAppearance = appearance;
    UINavigationBar.appearance.compactAppearance = appearance;
    
    [[UINavigationBar appearance] setTintColor:UIColor.blackColor];
} else {
    [[UINavigationBar appearance] setBarTintColor:UIColor.whiteColor];
    [[UINavigationBar appearance] setTintColor:UIColor.blackColor];
    [[UINavigationBar appearance] setTranslucent:false];
    [[UINavigationBar appearance] setTitleTextAttributes: titleAttributes];
    [[UIBarButtonItem appearance] setTitleTextAttributes:barButtonItemAttributes forState:UIControlStateNormal];
}

On the storyboard, for your Navigation Controller change the "Bar Tint" to its "Default" value, then on your code you can change it as you normally would.

Apple finally fixed it in version 11.4.1

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode_release_notes/xcode_11_4_1_release_notes

Not sure if it's a bug or not.

The way we fixed it is by setting the "Status Bar Style" to either dark or light content in project setting. This will force the Status Bar text color a certain way rather than being determined based on the devices being in Light or Dark mode.

In addition, you need to set the value "View controller-based status bar appearance" to "NO" in your Info.plist. without that value the "Status Bar style" will be overridden.

Next create a custom navigation controller and implement it in your storyboards.

class CustomNavigationController: UINavigationController {

 override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    setNavBar()
 }

 func setNavBar() {
    if #available(iOS 13.0, *) {
        let appearance = UINavigationBarAppearance()
        appearance.configureWithOpaqueBackground()
        appearance.backgroundColor = UIColor.blue
        appearance.titleTextAttributes = [.foregroundColor: UIColor.yellow]
        self.navigationBar.standardAppearance = appearance
        self.navigationBar.scrollEdgeAppearance = appearance
        self.navigationBar.compactAppearance = appearance
    } else {
        self.navigationBar.barTintColor = UIColor.blue
        self.navigationBar.titleTextAttributes = [.foregroundColor: UIColor.yellow]
    }
  }
}

*Colors are set so you can see them clearly working.

I found it was better to set the code in ViewDidLoad rather than ViewDidAppear because my colors were not being set on the initial load, only after navigating back and reloading.

I also found that this issue might be tied to the "Bar Tint" of a NavBar. when we were first trying to resolve it, we set the "Bar Tint" to default and that seemed resolve the error too. However, it made it so we couldn't get the NavBar background color what we wanted. So in my storyboards I made sure to set this value to default just for good measure.

Hope it helps

no need for the workaround.it is a bug in Xcode Interface Builder. Apple release Update for Xcode 11.4.1

from Apple developer release notes

> Interface Builder > > Fixed an issue that caused some UINavigationBar appearance properties > set in storyboard and XIB documents to be ignored when building with > Xcode 11.4. (60883063) (FB7639654)

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode_release_notes/xcode_11_4_1_release_notes

Similar to Stu Carney's response on 3/25, I added a few more implementation details.

Create a subclass of UINavigationController. Add the following to viewWillAppear:

let isDarkMode = UserDefaults.standard.bool(forKey: "DarkMode")
let titleColor: UIColor = isDarkMode ? .white : .black
let navBarColor: UIColor = isDarkMode ? .black : .white
let tintColor: UIColor = isDarkMode ? .yellow : .red  //back button text and arrow color, as well as right bar button item

if #available(iOS 13.0, *) {
    let appearance = UINavigationBarAppearance()
    appearance.configureWithOpaqueBackground()
    appearance.backgroundColor = navBarColor
    appearance.titleTextAttributes = [.foregroundColor: titleColor]
    appearance.largeTitleTextAttributes = [.foregroundColor: titleColor]
    
    self.navigationBar.standardAppearance = appearance
    self.navigationBar.scrollEdgeAppearance = appearance
    self.navigationBar.compactAppearance = appearance // For iPhone small navigation bar in landscape.
    
    self.navigationBar.tintColor = tintColor //changes back button text and arrow color, as well as right bar button item
} else {
    self.navigationBar.barTintColor = navBarColor
    self.navigationBar.tintColor = tintColor
    self.navigationBar.titleTextAttributes = [.foregroundColor: titleColor]
    self.navigationBar.largeTitleTextAttributes = [.foregroundColor: titleColor]
}

Then override preferredStatusBarStyle:

override var preferredStatusBarStyle: UIStatusBarStyle {
    let isDarkMode = UserDefaults.standard.bool(forKey: "DarkMode")
    return isDarkMode ? .lightContent : .default
}

If you want to update the navigation bar and status bar dynamically, like from a UISwitch IBAction or selector method, add the following:

navigationController?.loadView()
navigationController?.topViewController?.setNeedsStatusBarAppearanceUpdate()

Also, be sure to set all your navigation bars and bar buttons to the default colors in IB. Xcode seems to have a bug where the the IB colors override the colors set programatically.

In my case, after I upgraded Xcode from 11.3 to 11.4 this bug occurred. So I have to change my code to blow in order to set an image as background in the navigation bar.

if #available(iOS 13.0, *) {
    let appearance = UINavigationBarAppearance()
    appearance.configureWithOpaqueBackground()
    let backgroundImage = UIImage(named: "{NAVBAR_IMAGE_NAME}")?.resizableImage(withCapInsets: UIEdgeInsets.zero, resizingMode: .stretch)
    appearance.backgroundImage = backgroundImage
    self.navigationController?.navigationBar.compactAppearance = appearance
    self.navigationController?.navigationBar.standardAppearance = appearance
    self.navigationController?.navigationBar.scrollEdgeAppearance = appearance        
} else {
    self.navigationController?.navigationBar.barTintColor = Utils.themeColor
    let backgroundImage = UIImage(named: "{NAVBAR_IMAGE_NAME}")?.resizableImage(withCapInsets: UIEdgeInsets.zero, resizingMode: .stretch)
    self.navigationController?.navigationBar.setBackgroundImage(backgroundImage, for: .default)
    self.navigationController?.navigationBar.shadowImage = UIImage()
}