Instead of using the placeholder text, you'll want to set the actual text property of the field to MM/YYYY, set the delegate of the text field and listen for this method:
- (BOOL)textField:(UITextField *)textField shouldChangeCharactersInRange:(NSRange)range replacementString:(NSString *)string { // update the text of the label } Inside that method, you can figure out what the user has typed as they type, which will allow you to update the label accordingly.