Bottom Navigation
Bottom navigation makes it easy to explore and switch between top-level views in a single tap. Tapping on a bottom navigation icon takes you directly to the associated view or refreshes the currently active view.
Bottom navigation should be used for top-level destinations in an app of similar importance or destinations requiring direct access from anywhere in the app.
Be cautious when combining bottom navigation with similar navigation placed at the bottom of the screen (e.g. a bottom tab bar), as the combination may cause confusion when navigating an app. For example, tapping across both bottom tabs and bottom navigation could display a mixture of different transitions across the same content.
Design & API documentation
- Material Design guidelines: Progress & activity
- API: MDCActivityIndicator
- API: MDCActivityIndicatorMode
- API: MDCActivityIndicatorDelegate
Related components
Table of contents
Overview
MDCBottomNavigationBar can be added to a view hierarchy like any UIView. Material Design guidelines recommend always placing bottom navigation at the bottom of the screen.
MDCBottomNavigationBar works much like a UITabBar and both are populated with an array of UITabBarItems. However, MDCBottomNavigationBar is built with Material Design in mind and should be used with other Material Design components where possible to provide a consistent look and feel in an app. Additionally, while MDCBottomNavigationBar has similar features to MDCTabBar, MDCTabBar is chiefly intended for top navigation, whereas MDCBottomNavigationBar — as the name indicates — in intended for bottom navigation.
It is recommended that three to five items are used to populate the content of the bottom navigation bar. If there are fewer than three destinations, consider using tabs instead. If your top-level navigation has more than six destinations, provide access to destinations not covered in bottom navigation through alternative locations, such as a navigation drawer.
Title visibility can be configured in three ways: only show the title of the *selected
In landscape orientation, items can be configured to be justified or compactly clustered together. When items are justified the bottom navigation bar is fitted to the width of the device. Justified items can have their titles shown below their respective icons or adjacent to their respective icons.
Installation
Installation with CocoaPods
Add the following to your Podfile:
pod 'MaterialComponents/BottomNavigation'
Then, run the following command:
pod install
Importing
To import the component:
Swift
import MaterialComponents.MaterialBottomNavigation
Objective-C
#import "MaterialBottomNavigation.h"
Extensions
Color Theming
You can theme a bottom navigation with your app's color scheme using the ColorThemer extension.
You must first add the Color Themer extension to your project:
pod 'MaterialComponents/BottomNavigation+Extensions/ColorThemer'
Example code
Swift
// Step 1: Import the ColorThemer extension
import MaterialComponents.MaterialBottomNavigation_ColorThemer
// Step 2: Create or get a color scheme
let colorScheme = MDCSemanticColorScheme()
// Step 3: Apply the color scheme to your component
MDCBottomNavigationBarColorThemer.applySemanticColorScheme(colorScheme, to: component)
Objective-C
// Step 1: Import the ColorThemer extension
#import "MaterialBottomNavigation+ColorThemer.h"
// Step 2: Create or get a color scheme
id<MDCColorScheming> colorScheme = [[MDCSemanticColorScheme alloc] init];
// Step 3: Apply the color scheme to your component
[MDCBottomNavigationBarColorThemer applySemanticColorScheme:colorScheme
toBottomNavigation:component];
Typography Theming
You can theme a bottom navigation with your app's typography scheme using the TypographyThemer extension.
You must first add the Typography Themer extension to your project:
pod 'MaterialComponents/BottomNavigation+Extensions/TypographyThemer'
Example code
Swift
// Step 1: Import the TypographyThemer extension
import MaterialComponents.MaterialBottomNavigation_TypographyThemer
// Step 2: Create or get a typography scheme
let typographyScheme = MDCTypographyScheme()
// Step 3: Apply the typography scheme to your component
MDCBottomNavigationBarTypographyThemer.applyTypographyScheme(typographyScheme, to: component)
Objective-C
// Step 1: Import the TypographyThemer extension
#import "MaterialBottomNavigation+TypographyThemer.h"
// Step 2: Create or get a typography scheme
id<MDCTypographyScheming> typographyScheme = [[MDCTypographyScheme alloc] init];
// Step 3: Apply the typography scheme to your component
[MDCBottomNavigationBarTypographyThemer applyTypographyScheme:colorScheme
toBottomNavigationBar:component];