Change tintColor of unselected UITabBarController item title and background image

Figured it out!

Use this to change the color of the text:

[[UITabBarItem appearance] setTitleTextAttributes:@{ NSForegroundColorAttributeName : [UIColor greenColor] }                                         forState:UIControlStateNormal];[[UITabBarItem appearance] setTitleTextAttributes:@{ NSForegroundColorAttributeName : [UIColor blackColor] }                                         forState:UIControlStateSelected];

And make sure that image rendering mode is set to ORIGINAL for the images

UIImage *deselectedImage = [[UIImage imageNamed:@"deselectedImage"] imageWithRenderingMode:UIImageRenderingModeAlwaysOriginal];UIImage *selectedImage = [[UIImage imageNamed:@"selectedImage"] imageWithRenderingMode:UIImageRenderingModeAlwaysOriginal];

In your AppDelegate.m inside of application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: use the following code:

//unselected icon tint color [[UIView appearanceWhenContainedIn:[UITabBar class], nil] setTintColor:[UIColor redColor]];//selected tint color [[UITabBar appearance] setTintColor:[UIColor greenColor]];//text tint color [[UITabBarItem appearance] setTitleTextAttributes:@{ NSForegroundColorAttributeName : [UIColor whiteColor] }                                     forState:UIControlStateNormal];//background tint color [[UITabBar appearance] setBarTintColor:[UIColor blueColor]];

You can also render the image as original from the attributes inspector for the asset file without writing any code