@property(nonatomic,readonly,retain) UINavigationItem *navigationItem; // Created on-demand so that a view controller may customize its navigation appearance.
The most common way to use a navigation bar is with a navigation
controller. You can also use a navigation bar as a standalone object
in your app.
So If you have a UINavigationController, all what you have to do to set the title of the navigation bar (as explained in all previous answers)
self.navigationItem.title = @"title";
But If you have a standalone navigation bar that is created programmatically within an object of UIViewController, You have to set the initial appearance of the navigation bar by creating the appropriate UINavigationItem objects and adding them to the navigation bar object stack i.e.
Create an instance of navigation bar (UINavigationBar)
Create an instance of navigation bar item (UINavigationItem) that manages the buttons and views to be displayed in a UINavigationBar object. Note that you set the title at this step.
(Optional Step) Add right/left buttons (instances of UIBarButtonItem) to the navigation bar item.
Sample of Objective-C Code for the mentioned steps:
UINavigationBar* navbar = [[UINavigationBar alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, self.view.frame.size.width, 64)];
/* Create navigation item object & set the title of navigation bar. */
UINavigationItem* navItem = [[UINavigationItem alloc] initWithTitle:self.shoppingItem.name];
/* Create left button item. */
UIBarButtonItem* cancelBtn = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemCancel target:self action:@selector(onTapCancel:)];
navItem.leftBarButtonItem = cancelBtn;
/* Create left button item. */
UIBarButtonItem* doneBtn = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemDone target:self action:@selector(onTapDone:)];
navItem.rightBarButtonItem = doneBtn;
/* Assign the navigation item to the navigation bar.*/
[navbar setItems:@[navItem]];
/* add navigation bar to the root view.*/
[self.view addSubview:navbar];
For Swift version of the standalone navigation bar, check out this answer.
very important note : make sure you make the changes that mentioned above in parent view Controller's viewDidLoad method, or parents navigation bar in storyboard
Sometimes you might get a case where you are updating the title and it is not causing any effect, this can be when you have a custom view on the topItem therefore you might want to update it like this: (self.navigationController?.navigationBar.topItem?.titleView as? UILabel)?.text = "My Happy New Title"