[ios] Navigation bar with UIImage for title

I want to customize my app's look by using a logo image as the navigation bar's title, instead of plain text. When I use this code

let logo = UIImage(named: "logo.png")
self.navigationItem.titleView = logo;

I get the error "UIImage is not convertible to UIView". How can I do this correctly?

This question is related to ios cocoa-touch uiimage uinavigationbar

The answer is


this worked for me in Sept 2015 - Hope this helps someone out there.

// 1
    var nav = self.navigationController?.navigationBar
    // 2 set the style 
    nav?.barStyle = UIBarStyle.Black
    nav?.tintColor = UIColor.yellowColor()
    // 3
    let imageView = UIImageView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 40, height: 40))
    imageView.contentMode = .ScaleAspectFit
    // 4
    let image = UIImage(named: "logo.png")
    imageView.image = image
    // 5
    navigationItem.titleView = imageView

Works for me in swift 4 (square image 40x40)

let imageView = UIImageView()
imageView.frame.size.width = 40
imageView.frame.size.height = 40
imageView.contentMode = .scaleAspectFit
let image = UIImage(named: "YOUR_IMAGE_NAME")
imageView.image = image
navigationItem.titleView = imageView

If you want other measures, try

let imageView = UIImageView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 50, height: 100.5)))
imageView.contentMode = .scaleAspectFit
let image = UIImage(named: "YOUR_IMAGE_NAME")
imageView.image = image
navigationItem.titleView = imageView

I hope it serves you. It works for me.


You can use custom UINavigationItem so, you only need to change "Navigation Item" as YourCustomClass on the Main.storyboard.

In Swift 3

class FixedImageNavigationItem: UINavigationItem {

private let fixedImage : UIImage = UIImage(named: "your-header-logo.png")!
private let imageView : UIImageView = UIImageView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 50, height: 37.5))

required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
    super.init(coder: aDecoder)
    imageView.contentMode = .scaleAspectFit
    imageView.image = fixedImage
    self.titleView = imageView

}

}

Programmatically could be done like this.

private var imageView: UIView {

    let bannerWidth = navigationBar.frame.size.width * 0.5 // 0.5 its multiplier to get correct image width
    let bannerHeight = navigationBar.frame.size.height

    let view = UIView()
    view.backgroundColor = .clear
    view.frame = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: bannerWidth, height: bannerHeight)

    let image = UIImage(named: "your_image_name")
    let imageView = UIImageView(image: image)
    imageView.contentMode = .scaleAspectFit
    imageView.frame = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: view.frame.width, height: view.frame.height)

    view.addSubview(imageView)

    return view
}

The just change titleView

navigationItem.titleView = imageView

In order to get the image view with the proper size and in the center, you should use the following approach:

let width = 120 // choose the image width
let height = 20 // choose the image height
let titleView = UIView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: view.bounds.width, height: 44)) //44 is the standard size of the top bar
let imageView = UIImageView(frame: CGRect(x: (view.bounds.width - width)/2, y: (44 - height)/2, width: width, height: height))
imageView.contentMode = .scaleAspectFit //choose other if it makes sense
imageView.image = UIImage(named: "your_image_name")
titleView.addSubview(imageView)
navigationItem.titleView = titleView

Objective-C version:

//create the space for the image
UIImageView *myImage = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 256, 144)];
//bind the image with the ImageView allocated
myImage.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"logo.png"];
//add image into imageview
_myNavigationItem.titleView = myImage;

Just in case someone (like me) had arrived here looking for the answer in Objective-C.


Swift 5.1, Xcode 11

Sometimes if your image is in high resolution then, imageView shifts from centre, I would suggest using this method

  lazy var navigationTitleImageView = UIImageView()

  override func viewWillAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
    super.viewWillAppear(animated)
    self.setNavigationBar()
    
    self.navigationTitleImageView.image = logo
    self.navigationTitleImageView.contentMode = .scaleAspectFit
    
    self.navigationTitleImageView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
    
    if let navC = self.navigationController{
        navC.navigationBar.addSubview(self.navigationTitleImageView)
        self.navigationTitleImageView.centerXAnchor.constraint(equalTo: navC.navigationBar.centerXAnchor).isActive = true
        self.navigationTitleImageView.centerYAnchor.constraint(equalTo: navC.navigationBar.centerYAnchor, constant: 0).isActive = true
        self.navigationTitleImageView.widthAnchor.constraint(equalTo: navC.navigationBar.widthAnchor, multiplier: 0.2).isActive = true
        self.navigationTitleImageView.heightAnchor.constraint(equalTo: navC.navigationBar.widthAnchor, multiplier: 0.088).isActive = true
    }
}

and viewWillDisappear()

  override func viewWillDisappear(_ animated: Bool) {
    super.viewWillDisappear(animated)
    self.navigationTitleImageView.removeFromSuperview()
}

or else just reduce the image size


I tried @Jack's answer above, the logo did appear however the image occupied the whole Navigation Bar. I wanted it to fit.

Swift 4, Xcode 9.2

1.Assign value to navigation controller, UIImage. Adjust size by dividing frame and Image size.

func addNavBarImage() {

        let navController = navigationController!

        let image = UIImage(named: "logo-signIn6.png") //Your logo url here
        let imageView = UIImageView(image: image)

        let bannerWidth = navController.navigationBar.frame.size.width
        let bannerHeight = navController.navigationBar.frame.size.height

        let bannerX = bannerWidth / 2 - (image?.size.width)! / 2
        let bannerY = bannerHeight / 2 - (image?.size.height)! / 2

        imageView.frame = CGRect(x: bannerX, y: bannerY, width: bannerWidth, height: bannerHeight)
        imageView.contentMode = .scaleAspectFit

        navigationItem.titleView = imageView
    }
  1. Add the function right under viewDidLoad()

        addNavBarImage() 
    

Note on the image asset. Before uploading, I adjusted the logo with extra margins rather than cropped at the edges.

Final result:

enter image description here


Here is a handy function for Swift 4.2, shows an image with title text:-

enter image description here

override func viewDidLoad() {

    super.viewDidLoad()

    //Sets the navigation title with text and image
    self.navigationItem.titleView = navTitleWithImageAndText(titleText: "Dean Stanley", imageName: "online")
}

func navTitleWithImageAndText(titleText: String, imageName: String) -> UIView {

    // Creates a new UIView
    let titleView = UIView()

    // Creates a new text label
    let label = UILabel()
    label.text = titleText
    label.sizeToFit()
    label.center = titleView.center
    label.textAlignment = NSTextAlignment.center

    // Creates the image view
    let image = UIImageView()
    image.image = UIImage(named: imageName)

    // Maintains the image's aspect ratio:
    let imageAspect = image.image!.size.width / image.image!.size.height

    // Sets the image frame so that it's immediately before the text:
    let imageX = label.frame.origin.x - label.frame.size.height * imageAspect
    let imageY = label.frame.origin.y

    let imageWidth = label.frame.size.height * imageAspect
    let imageHeight = label.frame.size.height

    image.frame = CGRect(x: imageX, y: imageY, width: imageWidth, height: imageHeight)

    image.contentMode = UIView.ContentMode.scaleAspectFit

    // Adds both the label and image view to the titleView
    titleView.addSubview(label)
    titleView.addSubview(image)

    // Sets the titleView frame to fit within the UINavigation Title
    titleView.sizeToFit()

    return titleView

}

This worked for me... try it

let image : UIImage = UIImage(named: "LogoName")
let imageView = UIImageView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 25, height: 25))
imageView.contentMode = .scaleAspectFit
imageView.image = image
navigationItem.titleView = imageView

If you'd prefer to use autolayout, and want a permanent fixed image in the navigation bar, that doesn't animate in with each screen, this solution works well:

class CustomTitleNavigationController: UINavigationController {

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()

    let logo = UIImage(named: "MyHeaderImage")

    let imageView = UIImageView(image:logo)
    imageView.contentMode = .scaleAspectFit
    imageView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false

    navigationBar.addSubview(imageView)

    navigationBar.addConstraint (navigationBar.leftAnchor.constraint(equalTo: imageView.leftAnchor, constant: 0))
    navigationBar.addConstraint (navigationBar.rightAnchor.constraint(equalTo: imageView.rightAnchor, constant: 0))
    navigationBar.addConstraint (navigationBar.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: imageView.topAnchor, constant: 0))
    navigationBar.addConstraint (navigationBar.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: imageView.bottomAnchor, constant: 0))
}

For swift 4 and you can adjust imageView size

 let logoContainer = UIView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 270, height: 30))

 let imageView = UIImageView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 270, height: 30))
 imageView.contentMode = .scaleAspectFit
 let image = UIImage(named: "your_image")
 imageView.image = image
 logoContainer.addSubview(imageView)
 navigationItem.titleView = logoContainer

I have written this for iOS 10 & iOS 11 and it worked for me:

extension UINavigationBar {
    func setupNavigationBar() {
        let titleImageWidth = frame.size.width * 0.32
        let titleImageHeight = frame.size.height * 0.64
        var navigationBarIconimageView = UIImageView()
        if #available(iOS 11.0, *) {
            navigationBarIconimageView.widthAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: titleImageWidth).isActive = true
            navigationBarIconimageView.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: titleImageHeight).isActive = true
        } else {
            navigationBarIconimageView = UIImageView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: titleImageWidth, height: titleImageHeight))
        }
        navigationBarIconimageView.contentMode = .scaleAspectFit
        navigationBarIconimageView.image = UIImage(named: "image")
        topItem?.titleView = navigationBarIconimageView
    }
}

let's do try and checkout

let image = UIImage(named: "Navbar_bg.png")
navigationItem.titleView = UIImageView(image: image)
let imageView = UIImageView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 40, height: 40))
imageView.contentMode = .ScaleAspectFit

I use this. It works in iOS 8

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    // Do any additional setup after loading the view.
    let image = UIImage(named: "YOURIMAGE")
    navigationItem.titleView = UIImageView(image: image)
}

And here is an example how you can do it with CGRect.

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    // Do any additional setup after loading the view.
    let imageView = UIImageView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 38, height: 38))
    imageView.contentMode = .ScaleAspectFit
    let image = UIImage(named: "YOURIMAGE")
    imageView.image = image
    navigationItem.titleView = imageView
}

Hope this will help.


    let imageView = UIImageView(frame: (CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 40, height: 
    40)))
    imageView.contentMode = .scaleAspectFit
    let image = UIImage (named: "logo") // logo is your NPG asset 
    imageView.image = image
    self.navigationItem.titleView = imageView

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