 <p>Try this: </p> <pre><code>int numItems = 0; // count of items in your shopping cart NSString *imageName = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"cartTab-%d",numItems]; // change your image [[self.tabBar.items objectAtIndex:myIndex] setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:imageName]]; // or, if you want to set it when initializing the tabBar UITabBarItem *item = [[[UITabBarItem alloc] initWithTitle:myTitle image:[UIImage imageNamed:imageName] tag:someTag]; </code></pre>