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Mobile App Development vocabulary · Screens, UI Components and Gestures

Tab bar

Meaning in mobile app development, with examples

nounCore term

In mobile app development, tab bar means: A bar, usually at the bottom of the screen, with icons that let users switch between the main sections of an app, such as Home, Search and Profile.

In Turkish: sekme çubuğu, alt menü

How it is used

The iOS name for this pattern; Android designers say bottom navigation or, in Material 3, navigation bar. Teams discuss which tabs to show, the selected tab, badges on tab icons, and whether to hide the tab bar on detail screens.

Example sentences

  1. We added a fifth item to the tab bar for the new rewards section.

  2. Tapping the selected tab in the tab bar should scroll the list back to the top.

Common collocations

  • tab bar item
  • hide the tab bar
  • bottom tab bar
  • selected tab
  • navigation barOn iOS, the bar at the top of a screen that shows the title, a back button and action buttons; on Android, the name also refers to the system bar with the back and home controls.
  • badgeA small number or dot shown on an app icon or a tab, usually in red, that tells users how many unread items or new notifications are waiting.
  • screenOne full view of an app that the user sees at a time, such as the login screen or the settings screen; apps are planned as a set of screens.
  • UIUser interface: everything on the screen that people see and touch to use an app, such as buttons, text fields, lists and menus.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Screens, UI Components and Gestures

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