UIBarButtonItems do not respect tintColor property set on a UINavigationItem

In iOS and iPadOS 26 beta 9 (and previous batas), setting the tintColor property on a navigation bar does not tint bar button items. The text and images are always black in the following cases:

  • Buttons displaying only text (initWithTitle:)
  • Buttons displaying only a symbol (initWithImage:)
  • Buttons displaying system items, ie., UIBarButtonSystemItemCancel.
  • Nav bar title

The tintColor seems to be respected for:

  • Selected-state background for buttons configured with changesSelectionAsPrimaryAction.

To reproduce,

  1. Create a UINavigationController,
  2. Add bar button items to its navigation item,
  3. Set a tint color as in the following statement:

self.navigationController.navigationBar.tintColor = [UIColor redColor];

Then note that the bar button items are black rather than red as expected.

I have filed a feedback: FB19980265.

UIBarButtonItems do not respect tintColor property set on a UINavigationItem
 
 
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