How to remove all navigationbar back button title

Question

When I push a UIViewController, it has some title in back button at new UIViewController, if the title has a lot of text, It does not look good in iPhone 4s So I want to remove it.

If I add some code in prepareForSegue function, it is going to be a trouble.

Any better way to achieve this？

Tetrad

you can also change the title of back button. and to go back you requires back button . so i think no need to remove back button. – Stefanistefania

please inform after solving your problem. – Stefanistefania

refer this answer https://mcmap.net/q/174147/-remove-text-from-back-button-keeping-the-icon – Alys

there's nice article about this issue sarunw.com/posts/… – Umbel

Answer 1

If you want back arrow so following code put into AppDelegate file into didFinishLaunchingWithOptions method.

For Objective-C

 [[UIBarButtonItem appearance] setBackButtonTitlePositionAdjustment:UIOffsetMake(0, -60) forBarMetrics:UIBarMetricsDefault];

For Swift

let BarButtonItemAppearance = UIBarButtonItem.appearance()
BarButtonItemAppearance.setTitleTextAttributes([NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.clear], for: .normal)

Another option give below.

In Objective C

self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:@"" style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain target:nil action:nil];

In Swift

self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(title:"", style:.plain, target:nil, action:nil)

UPDATE :

    let BarButtonItemAppearance = UIBarButtonItem.appearance()

    let attributes: [NSAttributedStringKey: Any] = [
    BarButtonItemAppearance.setTitleTextAttributes([NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.clear], for: .normal)
            NSAttributedStringKey.font: UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 0.1),
            NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: UIColor.clear]

    BarButtonItemAppearance.setTitleTextAttributes(attributes, for: .normal)
    BarButtonItemAppearance.setTitleTextAttributes(attributes, for: .highlighted)

UPDATE SWIFT 4.1 :

    let attributes = [NSAttributedStringKey.font:  UIFont(name: "Helvetica-Bold", size: 0.1)!, NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: UIColor.clear]

    BarButtonItemAppearance.setTitleTextAttributes(attributes, for: .normal)
    BarButtonItemAppearance.setTitleTextAttributes(attributes, for: .highlighted)

Using Offset

UIBarButtonItem.appearance().setBackButtonTitlePositionAdjustment(UIOffsetMake(-1000, 0), for:UIBarMetrics.default)

Centralia

setBackButtonTitlePositionAdjustment does not always work, when the back button title is very long, but not long enough to change to "Back", the title in the middle will move right. – Tmesis

@Tmesis it's just a subject of how large your offset. you can easily replace '-60' with '-6000' and forget about this problem – Packston

Just a little precision here, the title belongs to the PREVIOUS view controller. So remember to set it there, before the presentViewController or pushViewController method. – Aldric

Hmm, this does doesn't work in AppDelegate. "Value of type AppDelegate has no member navigationItem" – Adam

@Adam what are you doing? – Centralia

I tried this: self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(title: "", style: UIBarButtonItemStyle.Plain, target: nil, action: nil) – Adam

That seems to work. Is it a hack or is that the recommended approach? Thanks. – Adam

@sixl I agree can't found how to set the bar button hidden app wide, so I just put the adjustment value to -999999 – Homophony

@Adam You should set your navigationItem in your viewController (somewhere like viewDidLoad:) instead of AppDelegate. Then it should work. – Celinecelinka

Is there any NON HACKY way to to this? This seems really tricky or really not good way to hide the label to just put the position of the label away... I mean is there some way to set its text to ""?? – Schuman

@DominikBucher I've made a category for this behaviour which hides back button title from every where in the app which is kinda "NON HACKY" way, just add the category in your project and you're done . I strongly disagree with the solution of setting position using setBackButtonTitlePositionAdjustment:forBarMetrics: if user has enabled button shape from accessibility settings the shape will show up ending up ugly navigation bar. – Exchequer

setBackButtonTitlePositionAdjustment will break your vertical alignment in iOS11 – Armandinaarmando

@alasker: I'm facing this issue of broken vertical alignment, do you have any better solution to hide the back title widely ? (I don't wan't to do it in every single viewcontroller of my app). – Asphalt

No, sorry... in my case I only had to hide it a few times so it wasn't such a problem. I guess someone will come up with something sooner than later.. or you can turn to apple's dev forums for an answer. – Armandinaarmando

@NimitParekh setBackButtonTitlePositionAdjustment not working properly in xcode 9. The offset affects not only the back button text but also back arrows position. same code works properly in xcode 8. Have u got any solution to this? – Jelly

Seems like a hacky way. You can still see the "Back" text during the click on the back button. – Dewayne

It affects not only back button title but also for example search controller cancel button. So be aware!, it might be better just to set the previous screen title to an empty string. – Machiavellian

Answer 2

Work's like charm on Swift 3

self.navigationController?.navigationBar.topItem?.title = " "

Peasant

This is the only one that worked when using navigationController?.pushViewController(_, animated:) – Arnie

Thanks, mate. This one was the only one that worked out. Cheers. – Marek

Worked for me also Swift 4 – Accouplement

It works. Better write an extension for UIViewController with this line. – Eisenstark

@MaksimKniazev, any fix for that problem? I found the only solution to update the title again in viewWillAppear:. – Saragossa

https://mcmap.net/q/224600/-how-to-remove-all-navigationbar-back-button-title better solves the problem without any side effect. – Helper

this removes the title of the previous view – Fatigued

if need to remove the back button title: self.navigationController?.navigationBar.backItem?.title = "" – Payson

downvoting because it removes the title if a large title is enabled. – Massicot

Answer 3

I'm using this line of code in AppDelegate file into didFinishLaunchingWithOptions method to remove the backbutton title.

Swift 2.x

let barAppearace = UIBarButtonItem.appearance()
barAppearace.setBackButtonTitlePositionAdjustment(UIOffsetMake(0, -60), forBarMetrics:UIBarMetrics.Default)

Swift 3.x

UIBarButtonItem.appearance().setBackButtonTitlePositionAdjustment(UIOffsetMake(0, -60), for:UIBarMetrics.default)

Swift 4.x

UIBarButtonItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: UIColor.clear], for: .normal)
    UIBarButtonItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: UIColor.clear], for: UIControlState.highlighted)

Pegu

setBackButtonTitlePositionAdjustment does not always work, when the back button title is very long, but not long enough to change to "Back", the title in the middle will move right. – Tmesis

It's not an ideal solution. If we set any navigation title without change the left navigation bar item's title, the title will shift right because of having left navigation bar title insets. – Shallow

in iOS 11 it is break the back button position. It falls below its original position – Slit

How is that supposed to work? The text will still be accessible via VoiceOver. – Intercrop

This creates problem when cancel or done barbuttonitem are not visible when presenting imagepicker or something – Huei

Answer 4

Just need go to your Parent ViewController from where your other ViewControllers are dependent.

override func viewWillDisappear(animated: Bool) {
super.viewWillDisappear(true)
navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(title: "", style: .Plain, target: nil, action: nil)}

Runty

Answer 5

Just copy this code in didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions

Swift 5

UIBarButtonItem.appearance().setBackButtonTitlePositionAdjustment(UIOffset(horizontal: -1000.0, vertical: 0.0), for: .default)

Swift 4

UIBarButtonItem.appearance().setBackButtonTitlePositionAdjustment(UIOffsetMake(-1000.0, 0.0), for: .default)

Numbers

Not working on iOS 15, xCode 13 – Sixtyfour

Answer 6

it is simple. put a space in the title of the back button and ready. Remember that it has to be in the previous view where you want to remove the text.

Geer

Best solution IMO. Doesn't require you to set the whole app to a specific clear style which may have the side-affect of making any text barbuttonitems disappear. Answer could be made better if it mentioned that you have to drag a navigationItem to your controller if there isn't one there. – Vas

Answer 7

On iOS 14 is now present the backButtonDisplayMode property in UINavigationItem class. So, to remove back button title you can use

navigationItem.backButtonDisplayMode = .minimal

in the viewDidLoad func of the viewController where you want remove it.

To remove it in all navigationBar I used the swizzling technique

import UIKit

private let swizzling: (UIViewController.Type, Selector, Selector) -> Void = { forClass, originalSelector, swizzledSelector in
    if let originalMethod = class_getInstanceMethod(forClass, originalSelector), let swizzledMethod = class_getInstanceMethod(forClass, swizzledSelector) {
        let didAddMethod = class_addMethod(forClass, originalSelector, method_getImplementation(swizzledMethod), method_getTypeEncoding(swizzledMethod))
        if didAddMethod {
            class_replaceMethod(forClass, swizzledSelector, method_getImplementation(originalMethod), method_getTypeEncoding(originalMethod))
        } else {
            method_exchangeImplementations(originalMethod, swizzledMethod)
        }
    }
}

extension UIViewController {
    
    static func swizzle() {
        let originalSelector1 = #selector(viewDidLoad)
        let swizzledSelector1 = #selector(swizzled_viewDidLoad)
        swizzling(UIViewController.self, originalSelector1, swizzledSelector1)
    }
    
    @objc open func swizzled_viewDidLoad() {
        if let _ = navigationController {
            if #available(iOS 14.0, *) {
                navigationItem.backButtonDisplayMode = .minimal
            } else {
                // Fallback on earlier versions
                navigationItem.backButtonTitle = ""
            }
        }
        swizzled_viewDidLoad()
    }
}

And in application(_:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:) call

UIViewController.swizzle()

Licensee

Good to know about .minimal, but you need to set this on the nav controller that pushed the current view controller onto the stack. Unfortunately you can't just set it on the displaying view controller... – Glasscock

Do I have to call the same method again inside swizzled_viewDidLoad? – Tricrotic

@Tricrotic Yes, you have to call it. Swizzling exchanges method implementations, so with swizzled_viewDidLoad() you are calling the original one. – Licensee

Answer 8

You could create a subclass for all UIViewControllers you want this behavior for, and in the subclass's viewDidLoad:

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(
        title: "", style: .plain, target: nil, action: nil)
}

This way, you can choose which controllers you want the behavior for, without duplicating code. I prefer my controllers to just say "Back", rather than the title of the previous controller, so I set that title here.

Jujube

Answer 9

You can use xcode 8 and swift 3.0

self.navigationController?.navigationBar.backItem?.title = " "

Enwind

Won't this remove the title from the previous view controller altogether? – Curlew

Yes, it will remove the title for all ViewControllers pushed from self.navigationController – Linsang

Answer 10

A method for iOS13.

let backButtonAppearance = UIBarButtonItemAppearance(style: .plain)
backButtonAppearance.normal.titleTextAttributes = [.foregroundColor: UIColor.clear]

let navigationBarAppearance = UINavigationBarAppearance()
navigationBarAppearance.backButtonAppearance = backButtonAppearance

UINavigationBar.appearance().standardAppearance = navigationBarAppearance

Mulciber

Single solution that works for me on iOS 16.1.1 – Toluol

Answer 11

let barAppearace = UIBarButtonItem.appearance()
barAppearace.setBackButtonTitlePositionAdjustment(UIOffsetMake(0, -60), for:UIBarMetrics.default)

used this line of code in swift 3.0

Nicknickel

will affect the cancel button for UISearchController – Thereunder

Answer 12

Taking inspiration from rordulu's answer here, I ended up creating a custom UINavigationController and UINavigation bar which seems to handle all cases of this tricky problem.

1) Initialise new UINavigationController with your custom UINavigationBar:

class CustomNavigationController: UINavigationController {

    convenience init() {
        self.init(navigationBarClass: CustomNavigationBar.self, toolbarClass: nil)
    }
}

2) Set the backItem.title property of the navigation bar to an empty string, every time the view lays itself out

class CustomNavigationBar: UINavigationBar {

    override func layoutSubviews() {
        backItem?.title = ""
        super.layoutSubviews()
    }
}

Now every time you use this navigation controller and bar combination, it will never have back button text! 🎉

Note: this should work fine if using storyboards also, just ensure to drop the custom navigation bar component into the view

Touched

Amazing thanks so much! This is the best way to do it and should be the correct answer :) – Erroneous

Just realised that this has a side-effect in that it will wipe the navigation item title completely. So when the previous view shows, it will not have a title! I will carry on my search for the perfect solution to this annoying problem. – Touched

damn you are right. How could i miss that! Please tell me if you find a fix of this issue. thanks – Erroneous

Could you find out the perfect solution @HarryBloom? – Saragossa

@Saragossa Not a perfect solution, but I found something that works. Have added a second answer here https://mcmap.net/q/224600/-how-to-remove-all-navigationbar-back-button-title – Touched

Answer 13

Simple Solution :

While you are pushing 2nd controller from 1st controller, put self.navigationItem.title = "" in viewWillDisappear of 1st controller. It hides back button title from 2nd controller.

Above statment hides 1st controllers title, hence when we came back we want title for 1st controller again. For that we have add title for 1st controller in viewWillAppear method of 1st controller.

Refer following methods (of 1st controller)

    override func viewWillDisappear(_ animated: Bool) {
    self.navigationItem.title = ""
}

override func viewWillAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
    self.navigationItem.title = "Title"
}

Delenadeleon

Answer 14

Works on Swift 5:

        self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem?.title = ""

Please note it will be effective for the next pushed view controller not the current one on the display, that's why it's very confusing!

Also, check the storyboard and select the navigation item of the previous view controller then type something in the Back Button (Inspector).

Dorris

title is not a get property, check Apple documentation – Dorris

Answer 15

I usually add or change the back button in viewDidLoad of the UIViewController.

Something like that should work:

let leftButton = UIBarButtonItem(title: "Back", style:     UIBarButtonItemStyle.Plain, target: self, action: "closeView:")
self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = leftButton

Don't forget to change and implement the function that it's called to close the view.

Even easier, just change the title:

self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem.title = "Back"

Faustofaustus

This breaks iOS's built-in support for swiping left to right to navigate back, and IMHO, apps that break this are really irritating. – Curlew

Answer 16

    if #available(iOS 14.0, *) {
        navigationItem.backButtonDisplayMode = .minimal
    } else {
        navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(title: "", style: .plain, target: nil, action: nil)
    }

Safari

Answer 17

Swift 3:

self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(title:"", style:.plain, target:nil, action:nil)

Hotshot

Answer 18

Adding a second answer here as my first only partially works. This method is less elegant in the fact that it requires calling a method in each view in the application, however it works without any side-effects.

So firstly, create a UIViewController extension class with a function to remove back button text and add a custom back button:

extension UIViewController {

func setBackButton() {
    navigationController?.navigationBar.backIndicatorImage = R.image.backArrow()
    navigationController?.navigationBar.backIndicatorTransitionMaskImage = R.image.backArrow()
    navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(title: " ", style: .plain, target: nil, action: nil)
}

Secondly, we can simply call out to this function in the viewDidLoad of each view controller you need it in.

Touched

Answer 19

Swift 4.2

UIBarButtonItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([.foregroundColor: UIColor.clear], for: .normal)

Hoskinson

Cancel and Done button of imagepicker are disappeared in this approach – Huei

Answer 20

Updated Answer For Swift 4.2

Working with UIAppearance is a cleaner way of solving the problem but it would cause all the UIBarButtonItem to have a clear text. An improved version of the solution could be to check if the UIBarButtonItem is contained in a UINavigationBar.

    UIBarButtonItem.appearance(whenContainedInInstancesOf: [UINavigationBar.self]).setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.clear], for: .normal)

Sisak

Answer 21

Just create extension of UIViewController with override function awakeFromNib() and make UIBarButtonItem with an empty title and give to navigation backBarButtonItem.

extension UIViewController {

  open override func awakeFromNib() {
    let backBarBtnItem = UIBarButtonItem(title: "", style: .plain, target: nil, action: nil)
    navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = backBarBtnItem
  }

}

Bannerman

Answer 22

if you want to remove back button title when you open next screen

do this inside the function initialising and pushing a new screen:

navigationItem.backButtonTitle = ""

Full usage:

    let view = SomeView()
    let controller = UIHostingController(rootView: view)
    navigationItem.backButtonTitle = ""
    navigationController?.pushViewController(controller, animated: true)

But to customise back buttons for all navigation bars in your app you need to do this:

func setupNavBarAppearance() {
    let backButtonImage = Images.west.image.withAlignmentRectInsets(UIEdgeInsets(top: -5, left: -15, bottom: -5, right: -15))
    let backButtonAppearance = UIBarButtonItemAppearance(style: .plain)
    backButtonAppearance.normal.titleTextAttributes = [.foregroundColor: UIColor.clear]
    
    let appearance = UINavigationBarAppearance()
    appearance.titleTextAttributes = [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor : UIColor.white]
    appearance.backButtonAppearance = backButtonAppearance
    appearance.setBackIndicatorImage(backButtonImage, transitionMaskImage: backButtonImage)
    
    UINavigationBar.appearance().standardAppearance = appearance
    UINavigationBar.appearance().scrollEdgeAppearance = appearance
    UINavigationBar.appearance().tintColor = .white
    UINavigationBar.appearance().isTranslucent = false
}

You can call it from your AppDelegate.swift

Grate

Answer 23

Swift 4.2 & 5

Instead of playing with the navigation bar tint color which will have side effects if you are using image picker anytime later in your code.

Use below code:

extension UIViewController {
        open override func awakeFromNib() {
            navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(title: "", style: .plain, target: nil, action: nil)
    }  
}

Call it from your first ViewController:

self.awakeFromNib()

Mccauley

Answer 24

Put the below code in any of the UIViewcontroller extension it will hide all the UIViewcontroller back text

open override func awakeFromNib() {
        navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(title: "", style: .plain, target: nil, action: nil)
    }

Liesa

Answer 25

I have a simple solution for those, who don't want to use method swizzling or duplicating a similar code in different view controllers.

To remove back button title, create a UINavigationController subclass and override pushViewController(_, animated:) method:

final class CustomNavigationController: UINavigationController {

    override func pushViewController(_ viewController: UIViewController, animated: Bool) {

        super.pushViewController(viewController, animated: animated)

        let backBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem()
        backBarButtonItem.title = nil

        viewController.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = backBarButtonItem
    }
}

Eponymous

Answer 26

I don't know why but I found problem with hiding back button title in iPhone pluses but in device without plus shows correct with

leftBarButtonItem.title = ""

So I found simple way. It is set tint color to clear in NavigationBar of NavigationViewController in autolayout. It may be problem if you use icons or text tiles with tint. But in my case I don't use it as all.

Turgescent

Answer 27

Just use this:

func removeBackButton(vc:UIViewController) {
        let button = UIButton.init(type: .custom)
        button.setImage(UIImage.init(named:""), for: .normal)
        let leftBarButton = UIBarButtonItem.init(customView: button)
        vc.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = leftBarButton
}

So call this method in viewDidLoad:

override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
     removeBackButton(vc:self)
}

Selfgovernment

Answer 28

You can add this extension to UIViewController And then call this function in every viewDidLoad() like : self.updateBackButton()

extension UIViewController {
func updateBackButton(){
    if self.navigationController != nil {
        self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(title: "", style: .done, target: self, action: nil)
    }
}}

Pectinate

Answer 29

I would like to share a solution that works for me. Also, it can be adjusted base on your needs and requirements.

Note, in my case, I use a storyboard to specify CustomNavigationBar

Swift 4.2

class CustomNavigationBar: UINavigationBar {

    override func awakeFromNib() {
        super.awakeFromNib()
        guard let topItem = topItem else { return }
        removeBackButtonTitle(for: topItem)
    }

    override func pushItem(_ item: UINavigationItem, animated: Bool) {
        removeBackButtonTitle(for: item)
        super.pushItem(item, animated: animated)
    }

    func removeBackButtonTitle(for item: UINavigationItem) {
        item.backBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem()
    }
}

Anurag

Answer 30

Works for Swift 4.2

Using the line of code in AppDelegate file into didFinishLaunchingWithOptions

    UIBarButtonItem.appearance(whenContainedInInstancesOf: [UINavigationBar.self]).setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.clear], for: .normal)

    UIBarButtonItem.appearance(whenContainedInInstancesOf: [UINavigationBar.self]).setTitleTextAttributes([NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.clear], for: .highlighted)

Millsap

This hides the back bar button text but unfortunately doesn't center the navigation bar title – Licensee

Answer 31

for swift 4,5

let BarButtonItemAppearance = UIBarButtonItem.appearance()
BarButtonItemAppearance.setTitleTextAttributes([NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.clear], for: .normal)

Resigned

Answer 32

class NavigationController: UINavigationController {

    override func pushViewController(_ viewController: UIViewController, animated: Bool) {
        super.pushViewController(viewController, animated: animated)

        viewController.navigationItem.backButtonTitle = ""
    }
}

Weekend

Answer 33

final class MainNavigationController: UINavigationController {
    override init(rootViewController: UIViewController) {
        super.init(rootViewController: rootViewController)
        delegate = self
    }

    @available(*, unavailable)
    required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
        fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
    }
}

// MARK: UINavigationController Delegate
extension MainNavigationController: UINavigationControllerDelegate {
    func navigationController(
        _ navigationController: UINavigationController,
        willShow viewController: UIViewController,
        animated: Bool
    ) {
        viewController.navigationItem.backButtonTitle = ""
    }
}

Longsome

Answer 34

It's very important that before pushing viewController you set back title to an empty string:

let myNextViewContorller = UIViewController()
navigationItem.backButtonTitle = ""
navigationController.push(myNextViewContorller, animated: true)

Petronilapetronilla

Answer 35

in viewDidLoad()

    let backBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(title: nil, style: .plain, target: nil, action: nil)
    navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = backBarButtonItem

Reuven

Answer 36

I was not satisfied with the setBackButtonTitlePositionAdjustment solution, so here is a swift alternative to hide all back button texts throughout the applicataion:

    UIBarButtonItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSFontAttributeName: barbuttonFont, NSForegroundColorAttributeName:UIColor.clearColor()], forState: UIControlState.Normal)
    UIBarButtonItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([NSFontAttributeName: barbuttonFont, NSForegroundColorAttributeName:UIColor.clearColor()], forState: UIControlState.Highlighted)

You would have to call these from the AppDelegate in the didFinishLaunchingWithOptions func.

Appearance must be set to the .Highlighted state too to avoid texts being show when the user taps the back button.

Beitnes

that will hide all other UIBarButtonItems as well – Packston