Determine if a view is inside of a Popover view

In iOS8 you can use popoverPresentationController property of UIViewController to check if it is contained in a popover presentation controller. From documentation, it returns: "The nearest ancestor in the view controller hierarchy that is a popover presentation controller. (read-only)"

Here's another solution; define a protocol (e.g. PopoverSensitiveController) that has only one method:

#import "Foundation/Foundation.h"

@protocol PopoverSensitiveController 
-(void) setIsInPopover:(BOOL) inPopover;
@end

A view controller that wants to know if it is in a popover then defines a property isInPopover; for example:

#import 
#import "PopoverSensitiveController.h"

#pragma mark -
#pragma mark Interface
@interface MyViewController : UIViewController  {
}

#pragma mark -
#pragma mark Properties
@property (nonatomic) BOOL isInPopover;

#pragma mark -
#pragma mark Instance Methods
...other stuff...
@end

Finally, in the splitView delegate (the assumption is that your app uses a split view controller):

#import "MySplitViewControllerDelegate.h"
#import "SubstitutableDetailViewController.h"
#import "PopoverSensitiveController.h"

#pragma mark -
#pragma mark Implementation
@implementation MySplitViewControllerDelegate

#pragma mark -
#pragma mark UISplitViewControllerDelegate protocol methods
-(void) splitViewController:(UISplitViewController *) splitViewController willHideViewController:(UIViewController *) aViewController withBarButtonItem:(UIBarButtonItem *) barButtonItem forPopoverController:(UIPopoverController *) pc {

  // Keep references to the popover controller and the popover button, and tell the detail view controller to show the button
  popoverController = [pc retain];
  popoverButtonItem = [barButtonItem retain];
  if ([[splitViewController.viewControllers objectAtIndex:1] respondsToSelector:@selector(showRootPopoverButtonItem:)]) {
      UIViewController *detailViewController = [splitViewController.viewControllers objectAtIndex:1];
      [detailViewController showRootPopoverButtonItem:barButtonItem];
  }
  if ([[splitViewController.viewControllers objectAtIndex:1] respondsToSelector:@selector(showRootPopoverButtonItem:)]) {
      UIViewController *detailViewController = [splitViewController.viewControllers objectAtIndex:1];
      [detailViewController showRootPopoverButtonItem:barButtonItem];
  }

  // If the view controller wants to know, tell it that it is a popover
  if ([aViewController respondsToSelector:@selector(setIsInPopover:)]) {
    [(id) aViewController setIsInPopover:YES];
  }

  // Make sure the proper view controller is in the popover controller and the size is as requested
  popoverController.contentViewController = aViewController;
  popoverController.popoverContentSize = aViewController.contentSizeForViewInPopover;

}

-(void) splitViewController:(UISplitViewController *) splitViewController willShowViewController:(UIViewController *) aViewController invalidatingBarButtonItem:(UIBarButtonItem *) barButtonItem {

  // Tell the detail view controller to hide the button.
  if ([[splitViewController.viewControllers objectAtIndex:1] respondsToSelector:@selector(invalidateRootPopoverButtonItem:)]) {
    UIViewController *detailViewController = [splitViewController.viewControllers objectAtIndex:1];
    [detailViewController invalidateRootPopoverButtonItem:barButtonItem];
  }

  // If the view controller wants to know, tell it that it is not in a popover anymore
  if ([aViewController respondsToSelector:@selector(setIsInPopover:)]) {
    [(id) aViewController setIsInPopover:NO];
  }

  // Now clear out everything
  [popoverController release];
  popoverController = nil;
  [popoverButtonItem release];
  popoverButtonItem = nil;

}

-(void) setPopoverButtonForSplitViewController:(UISplitViewController *) splitViewController {

  // Deal with the popover button
  UIViewController *detailViewController = [splitViewController.viewControllers objectAtIndex:1];
  [detailViewController showRootPopoverButtonItem:popoverButtonItem];

  // If the view controller wants to know, tell it that it is a popover (initialize the controller properly)
  if ([[splitViewController.viewControllers objectAtIndex:0] respondsToSelector:@selector(setIsInPopover:)]) {
    [(id) [splitViewController.viewControllers objectAtIndex:0] setIsInPopover:YES];
  }

}

Then where ever in the view controller you want to know if you are in a popover, simply use the isInPopover property.

As Artem said we have UIPopoverPresentationController since iOS8. To determine if view is in popover you can use its .arrowDirection property for example.

Check it in viewWillApear() of presented view controller:

// get it from parent NavigationController
UIPopoverPresentationController* popoverPresentationVC = self.parentViewController.popoverPresentationController; 
if (UIPopoverArrowDirectionUnknown > popoverPresentationVC.arrowDirection) {
// presented as popover
} else {
// presented as modal view controller (on iPhone)
}