UIButton not showing highlight on tap in iOS7

I've looked at a ton of posts on similar things, but none of them quite match or fix this issue. Since iOS 7, whenever I add a UIButton to a UITableViewCell or even to the footerview it works "fine", meaning it receives the target action, but it doesn't show the little highlight that normally happens as you tap a UIButton. It makes the UI look funky not showing the button react to touch.

I'm pretty sure this counts as a bug in iOS7, but has anyone found a solution or could help me find one :)

Edit: I forgot to mention that it will highlight if I long hold on the button, but not a quick tap like it does if just added to a standard view.

Code:

Creating the button:

UIButton *button = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
    button.titleLabel.font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:14];
    button.titleLabel.textColor = [UIColor blueColor];
    [button setTitle:@"Testing" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [button addTarget:self action:@selector(buttonPressed:) forControlEvents: UIControlEventTouchDown];
    button.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, self.view.frame.size.width/2, 40);

Things I've Tested:

//Removing gesture recognizers on UITableView in case they were getting in the way.

for (UIGestureRecognizer *recognizer in self.tableView.gestureRecognizers) {
   recognizer.enabled = NO;
}

//Removing gestures from the Cell

for (UIGestureRecognizer *recognizer in self.contentView.gestureRecognizers) {
       recognizer.enabled = NO;
    }

//This shows the little light touch, but this isn't the desired look

button.showsTouchWhenHighlighted = YES;

Solution 1:

In that tableview you just add this property.

tableview.delaysContentTouches = NO;

And add in cellForRowAtIndexPath after you initiate the cell you just add below code. The structure of the cell is apparently different in iOS 6 and iOS 7.
iOS 7 we have one control UITableViewCellScrollView In between UITableViewCell and content View.

for (id obj in cell.subviews)
{
    if ([NSStringFromClass([obj class]) isEqualToString:@"UITableViewCellScrollView"])
    {
        UIScrollView *scroll = (UIScrollView *) obj;
        scroll.delaysContentTouches = NO;
        break;
    }
}

Solution 2:

Since iOS 8 we need to apply the same technique to UITableView subviews (table contains a hidden UITableViewWrapperView scroll view). There is no need iterate UITableViewCell subviews anymore.

for (UIView *currentView in tableView.subviews) {
    if ([currentView isKindOfClass:[UIScrollView class]]) {
        ((UIScrollView *)currentView).delaysContentTouches = NO;
        break;
    }
}

This answer should be linked with this question.

Solution 3:

I tried to add this to the accepted answer but it never went through. This is a much safer way of turning off the cells delaysContentTouches property as it does not look for a specific class, but rather anything that responds to the selector.

In Cell:

for (id obj in self.subviews) {
     if ([obj respondsToSelector:@selector(setDelaysContentTouches:)]) {
          [obj setDelaysContentTouches:NO];
     }
}

In TableView:

self.tableView.delaysContentTouches = NO;

Solution 4:

For a solution that works in both iOS7 and iOS8, create a custom UITableView subclass and custom UITableViewCell subclass.

Use this sample UITableView's initWithFrame:

- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame
{
    self = [super initWithFrame:frame];

    if (self)
    {
        // iterate over all the UITableView's subviews
        for (id view in self.subviews)
        {
            // looking for a UITableViewWrapperView
            if ([NSStringFromClass([view class]) isEqualToString:@"UITableViewWrapperView"])
            {
                // this test is necessary for safety and because a "UITableViewWrapperView" is NOT a UIScrollView in iOS7
                if([view isKindOfClass:[UIScrollView class]])
                {
                    // turn OFF delaysContentTouches in the hidden subview
                    UIScrollView *scroll = (UIScrollView *) view;
                    scroll.delaysContentTouches = NO;
                }
                break;
            }
        }
    }
    return self;
}

Use this sample UITableViewCell's initWithStyle:reuseIdentifier:

- (id)initWithStyle:(UITableViewCellStyle)style reuseIdentifier:(NSString *)reuseIdentifier 
{
    self = [super initWithStyle:style reuseIdentifier:reuseIdentifier];

    if (self)
    {
        // iterate over all the UITableViewCell's subviews
        for (id view in self.subviews)
        {
            // looking for a UITableViewCellScrollView
            if ([NSStringFromClass([view class]) isEqualToString:@"UITableViewCellScrollView"])
            {
                // this test is here for safety only, also there is no UITableViewCellScrollView in iOS8
                if([view isKindOfClass:[UIScrollView class]])
                {
                    // turn OFF delaysContentTouches in the hidden subview
                    UIScrollView *scroll = (UIScrollView *) view;
                    scroll.delaysContentTouches = NO;
                }
                break;
            }
        }
    }

    return self;
}

Solution 5:

What I did to solve the problem was a category of UIButton using the following code :

- (void) touchesBegan:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event
{
    [super touchesBegan:touches withEvent:event];


    [NSOperationQueue.mainQueue addOperationWithBlock:^{ self.highlighted = YES; }];
}


- (void) touchesCancelled:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event
{
    [super touchesCancelled:touches withEvent:event];

    [self performSelector:@selector(setDefault) withObject:nil afterDelay:0.1];
}

- (void)touchesEnded:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event
{
    [super touchesEnded:touches withEvent:event];

    [self performSelector:@selector(setDefault) withObject:nil afterDelay:0.1];
}


- (void)setDefault
{
    [NSOperationQueue.mainQueue addOperationWithBlock:^{ self.highlighted = NO; }];
}

the button reacts correctly when I press on it in a UITableViewCell, and my UITableView behaves normally as the delaysContentTouches isn't forced.