Ndtyjky

Swift version :

var rootViewController = self.navigationController?.viewControllers.first

ObjectiveC version :

UIViewController *rootViewController = [self.navigationController.viewControllers firstObject];

Where self is an instance of a UIViewController embedded in a UINavigationController.

A slightly less ugly version of the same thing mentioned in pretty much all these answers:

UIViewController *rootViewController = [[self.navigationController viewControllers] firstObject];

in your case, I'd probably do something like:

inside your UINavigationController subclass:

- (UIViewController *)rootViewController

{

    return [[self viewControllers] firstObject];

}

then you can use:

UIViewController *rootViewController = [self.navigationController rootViewController];

edit

OP asked for a property in the comments.

if you like, you can access this via something like self.navigationController.rootViewController by just adding a readonly property to your header:

@property (nonatomic, readonly, weak) UIViewController *rootViewController;

For all who are interested in a swift extension, this is what I'm using now:

extension UINavigationController {

    var rootViewController : UIViewController? {

        return self.viewControllers.first as? UIViewController

    }

}

As an addition to @dulgan's answer, it is always a good approach to use firstObject over objectAtIndex:0, because while first one returns nil if there is no object in the array, latter one throws exception.

UIViewController *rootViewController = self.navigationController.rootViewController;

Alternatively, it'd be a big plus for you to create a category named UINavigationController+Additions and define your method in that.

@interface UINavigationController (Additions)



- (UIViewController *)rootViewController;



@end



@implementation UINavigationController (Additions)



- (UIViewController *)rootViewController

{

    return self.viewControllers.firstObject;

}



@end

How about asking the UIApplication singleton for its keyWindow, and from that UIWindow ask for the root view controller (its rootViewController property):

UIViewController root = [[[UIApplication sharedApplication] keyWindow] rootViewController];

Here I came up with universal method to navigate from any place to root.

1. 
   

   You create a new Class file with this class, so that it's accessible from anywhere in your project:

   
   
   

   import UIKit
   
   
   
   class SharedControllers
   
   {
   
       static func navigateToRoot(viewController: UIViewController)
   
       {
   
           var nc = viewController.navigationController
   
   
   
           // If this is a normal view with NavigationController, then we just pop to root.
   
           if nc != nil
   
           {
   
               nc?.popToRootViewControllerAnimated(true)
   
               return
   
           }
   
   
   
           // Most likely we are in Modal view, so we will need to search for a view with NavigationController.
   
           let vc = viewController.presentingViewController
   
   
   
           if nc == nil
   
           {
   
               nc = viewController.presentingViewController?.navigationController
   
           }
   
   
   
           if nc == nil
   
           {
   
               nc = viewController.parentViewController?.navigationController
   
           }
   
   
   
           if vc is UINavigationController && nc == nil
   
           {
   
               nc = vc as? UINavigationController
   
           }
   
   
   
           if nc != nil
   
           {
   
               viewController.dismissViewControllerAnimated(false, completion:
   
                   {
   
                       nc?.popToRootViewControllerAnimated(true)
   
               })
   
           }
   
       }
   
   }
   
   

   
   


2. 
   

   Usage from anywhere in your project:

   
   
   

   {
   
       ...
   
       SharedControllers.navigateToRoot(self)
   
       ...
   
   }