Example of using UITabBarController without using icons

MainViewController.swift

import UIKit
import FontAwesome


class MainViewController: UITabBarController {
    
    override func viewWillAppear(animated: Bool) {
        addViewControllers(
            ("Phrases", PhrasesViewController()),
            ("Voices", VoicesViewController()),
            ("Options", OptionsViewController())
        )
        
        tabBar.translucent = false
        
        // Make font larger.
        let font = UIFont.systemFontOfSize(17)
        UITabBarItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes(
            [NSFontAttributeName: font], forState: .Normal)
        // Move text up to center it within the tab bar.
        UITabBarItem.appearance().setTitlePositionAdjustment(UIOffsetMake(0, -14))
    }
    
    typealias ViewControllerConfig = (String, UIViewController)
    
    func addViewControllers(configs: ViewControllerConfig...) {
        var list: [AnyObject] = []
        for (title, vc) in configs {
            let nc = UINavigationController(rootViewController: vc)
            vc.title = title
            list.append(nc)
        }
        self.viewControllers = list
    }
}