为了完成JonasG的回答(谁在遍历时遗漏了标签栏控制器)，这里是我返回当前可见的视图控制器的版本:

- (UIViewController*)topViewController {
    return [self topViewControllerWithRootViewController:[UIApplication sharedApplication].keyWindow.rootViewController];
}

- (UIViewController*)topViewControllerWithRootViewController:(UIViewController*)rootViewController {
    if ([rootViewController isKindOfClass:[UITabBarController class]]) {
        UITabBarController* tabBarController = (UITabBarController*)rootViewController;
        return [self topViewControllerWithRootViewController:tabBarController.selectedViewController];
    } else if ([rootViewController isKindOfClass:[UINavigationController class]]) {
        UINavigationController* navigationController = (UINavigationController*)rootViewController;
        return [self topViewControllerWithRootViewController:navigationController.visibleViewController];
    } else if (rootViewController.presentedViewController) {
        UIViewController* presentedViewController = rootViewController.presentedViewController;
        return [self topViewControllerWithRootViewController:presentedViewController];
    } else {
        return rootViewController;
    }
}

下面两个函数可以帮助在视图控制器堆栈中找到topViewController。以后可能需要自定义，但是对于这段代码来说，理解topViewController或viewcontroller堆栈的概念非常棒。

- (UIViewController*)findTopViewController {

  id  topControler  = [self topMostController];

  UIViewController* topViewController;
  if([topControler isKindOfClass:[UINavigationController class]]) {
        topViewController = [[(UINavigationController*)topControler viewControllers] lastObject];
   } else if ([topControler isKindOfClass:[UITabBarController class]]) {
        //Here you can get reference of top viewcontroller from stack of viewcontrollers on UITabBarController
  } else {
        //topController is a preented viewController
        topViewController = (UIViewController*)topControler;
  }
    //NSLog(@"Top ViewController is: %@",NSStringFromClass([topController class]));
    return topViewController;
}

- (UIViewController*)topMostController
{
    UIViewController *topController = [UIApplication sharedApplication].keyWindow.rootViewController;

    while (topController.presentedViewController) {
        topController = topController.presentedViewController;
    }
    //NSLog(@"Top View is: %@",NSStringFromClass([topController class]));
    return topController;
}

你可以使用[viewController Class]方法找出一个viewController的类的类型。

这个答案包含了childViewControllers，并维护了一个干净易读的实现。

+ (UIViewController *)topViewController
{
    UIViewController *rootViewController = [UIApplication sharedApplication].keyWindow.rootViewController;

    return [rootViewController topVisibleViewController];
}

- (UIViewController *)topVisibleViewController
{
    if ([self isKindOfClass:[UITabBarController class]])
    {
        UITabBarController *tabBarController = (UITabBarController *)self;
        return [tabBarController.selectedViewController topVisibleViewController];
    }
    else if ([self isKindOfClass:[UINavigationController class]])
    {
        UINavigationController *navigationController = (UINavigationController *)self;
        return [navigationController.visibleViewController topVisibleViewController];
    }
    else if (self.presentedViewController)
    {
        return [self.presentedViewController topVisibleViewController];
    }
    else if (self.childViewControllers.count > 0)
    {
        return [self.childViewControllers.lastObject topVisibleViewController];
    }

    return self;
}

伟大的解决方案在Swift，实现在AppDelegate

func getTopViewController()->UIViewController{
    return topViewControllerWithRootViewController(UIApplication.sharedApplication().keyWindow!.rootViewController!)
}
func topViewControllerWithRootViewController(rootViewController:UIViewController)->UIViewController{
    if rootViewController is UITabBarController{
        let tabBarController = rootViewController as! UITabBarController
        return topViewControllerWithRootViewController(tabBarController.selectedViewController!)
    }
    if rootViewController is UINavigationController{
        let navBarController = rootViewController as! UINavigationController
        return topViewControllerWithRootViewController(navBarController.visibleViewController)
    }
    if let presentedViewController = rootViewController.presentedViewController {
        return topViewControllerWithRootViewController(presentedViewController)
    }
    return rootViewController
}

另一个Swift解决方案

extension UIViewController {
    static var topmostViewController: UIViewController? {
        return UIApplication.sharedApplication().keyWindow?.topmostViewController
    }

    var topmostViewController: UIViewController? {
        return presentedViewController?.topmostViewController ?? self
    }
}

extension UINavigationController {
    override var topmostViewController: UIViewController? {
        return visibleViewController?.topmostViewController
    }
}

extension UITabBarController {
    override var topmostViewController: UIViewController? {
        return selectedViewController?.topmostViewController
    }
}

extension UIWindow {
    var topmostViewController: UIViewController? {
        return rootViewController?.topmostViewController
    }
}

iOS 4在UIWindow上引入了rootViewController属性:

[UIApplication sharedApplication].keyWindow.rootViewController;

你需要在创建视图控制器后自己设置。