How to Start UITableView on the Last Cell?

scrollToRowAtIndexPath should work.

In viewWillAppear:, try this:

[theTableView reloadData];    
NSIndexPath* ip = [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:rowNumberHere inSection:sectionNumberHere];
[theTableView scrollToRowAtIndexPath:ip atScrollPosition:UITableViewScrollPositionTop animated:NO];

rowNumberHere is the row number in the data source you want to scroll to.

atScrollPosition is just one of the values in the UITableViewScrollPosition enum which can determine where on the screen the row number you want will show up. However, depending on the number of rows and which row you are scrolling to, it may not make a difference.

Putting reloadData: avoids an exception if the data is not loaded yet in viewWillAppear:. If you put the scrollToRowAtIndexPath in viewDidAppear:, you would not need the reloadData: but you will see the table jump a little which you say you don't want.

Edit: @Theory, try changing your code as follows...

[tableView reloadData];
int lastRowNumber = [tableView numberOfRowsInSection:0] - 1;
NSIndexPath* ip = [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:lastRowNumber inSection:0];
[tableView scrollToRowAtIndexPath:ip atScrollPosition:UITableViewScrollPositionTop animated:NO];

Please note numberOfRowsInSection returns row count, not the last row number (which is row count - 1).

Answer of @DyingCactus in Swift 3 & Swift 4:

    let lastRow: Int = self.tableView.numberOfRows(inSection: 0) - 1
    let indexPath = IndexPath(row: lastRow, section: 0);
    self.tableView.scrollToRow(at: indexPath, at: .top, animated: false)

You can call -scrollToRowAtIndexPath:atScrollPosition:animated within the -viewWillAppear: method of your TableViewController.

atScrollPosition: allows you to set where you want your cell for rowAtIndexPath to appear. There are four options:

UITableViewScrollPositionTop - puts your cell right at the top of the view

UITableViewScrollPositionMiddle - centers your cell in the view

UITableViewScrollPositionBottom - puts your cell at the bottom

UITableViewScrollPositionNone - Using this setting will position in the cell in user view with minimum scrolling/movement.

The behavior is different in three scenarios :-

If the cell is already in view, it does nothing.

If the cell is above the current view, it scrolls the cell to the top of the view.

If the cell is beneath the current view, it scrolls the cell to the bottom of the view.

I'm using autolayout and none of the answers worked for me. Here is my solution that finally worked:

@property (nonatomic, assign) BOOL shouldScrollToLastRow;


- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];

    _shouldScrollToLastRow = YES;
}


- (void)viewDidLayoutSubviews
{
    [super viewDidLayoutSubviews];

    // Scroll table view to the last row
    if (_shouldScrollToLastRow)
    {
        _shouldScrollToLastRow = NO;
        [self.tableView setContentOffset:CGPointMake(0, CGFLOAT_MAX)];
    }
}