A: 

The solution we used is to remove the index when the table is in editing mode (the other option is, obviously, don't use both table features in the same table).

Ben Gottlieb
There's no way to do that from within willBeginEditingRowAtIndexPath though, right? Or have I overlooked something?Editing mode (with a button to enter it etc.) is not enabled for my table; management of this data is primarily done from elsewhere, I just wanted to add swiping as an affordance.
th_in_gs
You could try expanding the table right, off the screen, thought you might have to adjust your row widths. I think what I ended up doing was locating the index tab subview and animating it out of the way.
Ben Gottlieb
That (animating the index tab subview out) is what I've ended up doing, in as safe a manner as I can muster. Makes me feel unclean though... :-(
th_in_gs
you get used to that feeling :-)
Ben Gottlieb