 <p>If you know for a fact that your rootViewController is a UINavigationController, you can iterate through the array of viewcontrollers and test it for a class type</p> <pre><code>BOOL success = NO; NSArray *viewControllersArray = self.navigationController.viewControllers; for (id vc in viewControllersArray) { if ([vc isKindOfClass:[MyViewController class]]) success = YES; // Found it! } </code></pre>