iPhone UITextField - Change placeholder text color

Question

I d like to change the color of the placeholder text I set in my UITextField controls  to make it black   I d prefer to do this without using normal text as the placeholder and having to override all the methods to imitate the behaviour of a placeholder   I believe if I override this method   -  void drawPlaceholderInRect  CGRect rect   then I should be able to do this  But I m unsure how to access the actual placeholder object from within this method

User · Answer

This works in Swift  lt 3 0    myTextField attributedPlaceholder    NSAttributedString string   placeholder text   attributes   NSForegroundColorAttributeName   UIColor redColor       Tested in iOS 8 2 and iOS 8 3 beta 4   Swift 3   myTextfield attributedPlaceholder   NSAttributedString string   placeholder text   attributes   NSForegroundColorAttributeName   UIColor red     Swift 4   myTextfield attributedPlaceholder   NSAttributedString string   placeholder text   attributes   NSAttributedStringKey foregroundColor  UIColor red     Swift 4 2   myTextfield attributedPlaceholder   NSAttributedString string   placeholder text   attributes   NSAttributedString Key foregroundColor  UIColor red

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With this we  can change the color of textfield s placeholder text in iOS    self userNameTxt setValue  UIColor colorWithRed 41 0 255 0 green 91 0 255 0 blue 106 0 255 0 alpha 1 0  forKeyPath    placeholderLabel textColor

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The following only with iOS6    as indicated in Alexander W s comment    UIColor  color    UIColor grayColor   nameText attributedPlaceholder        NSAttributedString alloc         initWithString   Full Name         attributes   NSForegroundColorAttributeName color

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Easy and pain-free  could be an easy alternative for some    placeholderLabel textColor   Not suggested for production  Apple may reject your submission

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I needed to keep the placeholder alignment so adam s answer was not enough for me   To solve this I used a small variation that I hope will help some of you too   -  void  drawPlaceholderInRect  CGRect rect         search field placeholder color     UIColor  color    UIColor whiteColor         color setFill        self placeholder drawInRect rect withFont self font lineBreakMode UILineBreakModeTailTruncation alignment self textAlignment

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Also in your storyboard  without single line of code

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Since the introduction of attributed strings in UIViews in iOS 6  it s possible to assign a color to the placeholder text like this   if   textField respondsToSelector  selector setAttributedPlaceholder         UIColor  color    UIColor blackColor     textField attributedPlaceholder     NSAttributedString alloc  initWithString placeholderText attributes   NSForegroundColorAttributeName  color      else     NSLog   Cannot set placeholder text s color  because deployment target is earlier than iOS 6 0         TODO  Add fall-back code to set placeholder color

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txt field setValue ColorFromHEX    525252   forKeyPath    placeholderLabel textColor

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The best i can do for both iOS7 and less is   -  CGRect placeholderRectForBounds  CGRect bounds     return  self textRectForBounds bounds      -  CGRect editingRectForBounds  CGRect bounds     return  self textRectForBounds bounds      -  CGRect textRectForBounds  CGRect bounds     CGRect rect   CGRectInset bounds  0  6     TODO  can be improved by comparing font size versus bounds size height   return rect     -  void drawPlaceholderInRect  CGRect rect     UIColor  color  RGBColor 65  65  65     if  SYSTEM VERSION GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO   7 0           self placeholder drawInRect rect withAttributes   NSFontAttributeName self font  UITextAttributeTextColor color        else        color setFill        self placeholder drawInRect rect withFont self font

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For those using Monotouch  Xamarin iOS   here s Adam s answer  translated to C    public class MyTextBox   UITextField       public override void DrawPlaceholder RectangleF rect                UIColor FromWhiteAlpha 0 5f  1f  SetFill            new NSString this Placeholder  DrawString rect  Font

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Maybe you want to try this way  but Apple might warn you about accessing private ivar    self myTextField setValue  UIColor darkGrayColor                   forKeyPath    placeholderLabel textColor      NOTE This is not working on iOS 7 anymore  according to Martin All  us

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Overriding drawPlaceholderInRect  would be the correct way  but it does not work due to a bug in the API  or the documentation    The method never gets called on an UITextField   See also drawTextInRect on UITextField not called  You might use digdog s solution  As I am not sure if that gets past Apples review  I chose a different solution  Overlay the text field with my own label which imitates the placeholder behaviour   This is a bit messy though  The code looks like this  Note I am doing this inside a subclass of TextField     implementation PlaceholderChangingTextField  -  void  changePlaceholderColor  UIColor  color              Need to place the overlay placeholder exactly above the original placeholder     UILabel  overlayPlaceholderLabel      UILabel alloc  initWithFrame CGRectMake self frame origin x   8  self frame origin y   4  self frame size width - 16  self frame size height - 8   autorelease       overlayPlaceholderLabel backgroundColor    UIColor whiteColor       overlayPlaceholderLabel opaque   YES      overlayPlaceholderLabel text   self placeholder      overlayPlaceholderLabel textColor   color      overlayPlaceholderLabel font   self font         Need to add it to the superview  as otherwise we cannot overlay the buildin text label       self superview addSubview overlayPlaceholderLabel       self placeholder   nil

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Another option that doesn t require subclassing - leave placeholder blank  and put a label on top of edit button  Manage the label just like you would manage the placeholder  clearing once user inputs anything

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Iam new to xcode and i found a way around to the same effect  I placed a uilabel in place of place holder with the desired format and hide it in -  void textFieldDidBeginEditing  UITextField   textField       switch  textField tag                case 0              lblUserName hidden YES              break           case 1              lblPassword hidden YES              break            default              break           I agree its a work around and not a real solution but the effect was same got it from this link NOTE  Still works on iOS 7

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For Xamarin iOS developers  I found it from this document https   developer xamarin com api type Foundation NSAttributedString   textField AttributedPlaceholder   new NSAttributedString   Hello  world  new UIStringAttributes      ForegroundColor    UIColor Red

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iOS 6 and later offers attributedPlaceholder on UITextField   iOS 3 2 and later offers setAttributes range  on NSMutableAttributedString   You can do the following    NSMutableAttributedString  ms     NSMutableAttributedString alloc  initWithString self yourInput placeholder   UIFont  placeholderFont   self yourInput font  NSRange fullRange   NSMakeRange 0  ms length   NSDictionary  newProps     NSForegroundColorAttributeName  UIColor yourColor   NSFontAttributeName placeholderFont    ms setAttributes newProps range fullRange   self yourInput attributedPlaceholder   ms

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In Swift 3     import UIKit  let TEXTFIELD BLUE    UIColor blue let TEXTFIELD GRAY    UIColor gray  class DBTextField  UITextField           Tetxfield Placeholder Color      IBInspectable var palceHolderColor  UIColor   TEXTFIELD GRAY     func setupTextField              self attributedPlaceholder   NSAttributedString string self placeholder    nil   self placeholder                                                                    attributes  NSForegroundColorAttributeName  palceHolderColor            class DBLocalizedTextField   UITextField       override func awakeFromNib             super awakeFromNib           self placeholder   self placeholder

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Categories FTW  Could be optimized to check for effective color change      import  lt UIKit UIKit h gt    interface UITextField  OPConvenience    property  strong  nonatomic  UIColor  placeholderColor    end   import  UITextField OPConvenience h    implementation UITextField  OPConvenience   -  void  setPlaceholderColor   UIColor   color       if  color            NSMutableAttributedString  attrString    self attributedPlaceholder mutableCopy            attrString setAttributes    NSForegroundColorAttributeName  color  range  NSMakeRange 0   attrString length            self attributedPlaceholder    attrString           -  UIColor   placeholderColor       return  self attributedPlaceholder attribute  NSForegroundColorAttributeName atIndex  0 effectiveRange  NULL       end

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This solution for Swift 4 1       textName attributedPlaceholder   NSAttributedString string  textName placeholder   attributes   NSAttributedStringKey foregroundColor   UIColor red

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For set Attributed Textfield Placeholder with Multiple color     Just specify the Text        txtServiceText is your Textfield   txtServiceText placeholder   Badal  Shah       NSMutableAttributedString  mutable     NSMutableAttributedString alloc  initWithString  txtServiceText placeholder         mutable addAttribute  NSForegroundColorAttributeName value  UIColor whiteColor  range   txtServiceText placeholder rangeOfString   Badal        Replace it with your first color Text      mutable addAttribute  NSForegroundColorAttributeName value  UIColor orangeColor  range   txtServiceText placeholder rangeOfString   Shah        Replace it with your secondcolor string       txtServiceText attributedPlaceholder mutable    Output  -

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I would suggest another solution  Since the placeholder text uses the default font settings of the textfield  just set the initial font color to the placeholder font color you want  Then set the delegate of your UITextField and implement the following methods   -  BOOL textField  UITextField   textField shouldChangeCharactersInRange  NSRange range replacementString  NSString   string         set color for text input     textField textColor    UIColor blackColor       return YES     -  BOOL textFieldShouldClear  UITextField   textField         set color for placeholder text     textField textColor    UIColor redColor       return YES      So  if a user starts typing in the textfield the color of the text changes to black and after the textfield gets cleared again the placeholder text will appear in red color again    Cheers  anka

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For iOS 6 0     textfield setValue your color forKeyPath    placeholderLabel textColor      Hope it helps   Note  Apple may reject  0 01  chances  your app as we are accessing private API  I am using this in all my projects since two years  but Apple didn t ask for this

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Swift version  Probably it would help someone   class TextField  UITextField      override var placeholder  String            didSet               let placeholderString   NSAttributedString string  placeholder   attributes   NSForegroundColorAttributeName  UIColor whiteColor                 self attributedPlaceholder   placeholderString

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To handle both vertical and horizontal alignment as well as color of placeholder in iOS7  drawInRect and drawAtPoint no longer use current context fillColor   https   developer apple com library ios documentation StringsTextFonts Conceptual TextAndWebiPhoneOS CustomTextProcessing CustomTextProcessing html  Obj-C    interface CustomPlaceHolderTextColorTextField   UITextField   end    implementation CustomPlaceHolderTextColorTextField   UITextField   - void  drawPlaceholderInRect  CGRect rect        if  self placeholder               color of placeholder text         UIColor  placeHolderTextColor    UIColor redColor            CGSize drawSize    self placeholder sizeWithAttributes  NSDictionary dictionaryWithObject self font forKey NSFontAttributeName            CGRect drawRect   rect              verticially align text         drawRect origin y    rect size height - drawSize height    0 5              set alignment         NSMutableParagraphStyle  paragraphStyle     NSMutableParagraphStyle alloc  init           paragraphStyle alignment   self textAlignment              dictionary of attributes  font  paragraphstyle  and color         NSDictionary  drawAttributes     NSFontAttributeName  self font                                       NSParagraphStyleAttributeName   paragraphStyle                                       NSForegroundColorAttributeName   placeHolderTextColor                draw          self placeholder drawInRect drawRect withAttributes drawAttributes             end

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You can override drawPlaceholderInRect  CGRect rect as such to manually render the placeholder text   -  void  drawPlaceholderInRect  CGRect rect         UIColor blueColor  setFill         self placeholder  drawInRect rect withFont  UIFont systemFontOfSize 16

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Why don t you just use UIAppearance method     UILabel appearanceWhenContainedIn  UITextField class   nil  setTextColor  UIColor whateverColorYouNeed

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You can Change the Placeholder textcolor to any color which you want by using the below code   UIColor  color    UIColor lightTextColor   YOURTEXTFIELD attributedPlaceholder     NSAttributedString alloc  initWithString   PlaceHolder Text  attributes   NSForegroundColorAttributeName  color

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Swift 3 0   Storyboard  In order to change placeholder color in storyboard  create an extension with next code   feel free to update this code  if you think  it can be clearer and safer    extension UITextField        IBInspectable var placeholderColor  UIColor           get               guard let currentAttributedPlaceholderColor   attributedPlaceholder  attribute NSForegroundColorAttributeName  at  0  effectiveRange  nil  as  UIColor else   return UIColor clear               return currentAttributedPlaceholderColor                   set               guard let currentAttributedString   attributedPlaceholder else   return               let attributes    NSForegroundColorAttributeName   newValue               attributedPlaceholder   NSAttributedString string  currentAttributedString string  attributes  attributes                        Swift 4 version  extension UITextField        IBInspectable var placeholderColor  UIColor           get               return attributedPlaceholder  attribute  foregroundColor  at  0  effectiveRange  nil  as  UIColor     clear                   set               guard let attributedPlaceholder   attributedPlaceholder else   return               let attributes   NSAttributedStringKey  UIColor      foregroundColor  newValue              self attributedPlaceholder   NSAttributedString string  attributedPlaceholder string  attributes  attributes                      Swift 5 version  extension UITextField        IBInspectable var placeholderColor  UIColor           get               return attributedPlaceholder  attribute  foregroundColor  at  0  effectiveRange  nil  as  UIColor     clear                   set               guard let attributedPlaceholder   attributedPlaceholder else   return               let attributes   NSAttributedString Key  UIColor      foregroundColor  newValue              self attributedPlaceholder   NSAttributedString string  attributedPlaceholder string  attributes  attributes

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in swift 3 X  textField attributedPlaceholder   NSAttributedString string   placeholder text   attributes  NSForegroundColorAttributeName  UIColor black     in swift 5  textField attributedPlaceholder   NSAttributedString string   placeholder text   attributes   NSAttributedString Key foregroundColor   UIColor black

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In Swift   if let placeholder   yourTextField placeholder       yourTextField attributedPlaceholder   NSAttributedString string placeholder           attributes   NSForegroundColorAttributeName  UIColor blackColor         In Swift 4 0   if let placeholder   yourTextField placeholder       yourTextField attributedPlaceholder   NSAttributedString string placeholder           attributes   NSAttributedStringKey foregroundColor  UIColor black

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I had already faced this issue  In my case below code is correct    Objective C   textField setValue  UIColor whiteColor  forKeyPath    placeholderLabel textColor      For Swift 4 X  tf mobile setValue UIColor white  forKeyPath    placeholderLabel textColor     For iOS 13 Swift Code  tf mobile attributedPlaceholder   NSAttributedString string  PlaceHolder Text   attributes   NSAttributedString Key foregroundColor  UIColor red     You can also use below code for iOS 13  let iVar   class getInstanceVariable UITextField self    placeholderLabel    let placeholderLabel   object getIvar tf mobile  iVar  as  UILabel placeholderLabel textColor    red   Hope  this may help you

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Swift 5 WITH CAVEAT   let attributes     NSAttributedString Key foregroundColor  UIColor someColor   let placeHolderString   NSAttributedString string   DON T DELETE   attributes  attributes  txtField attributedPlaceholder   placeHolderString   The caveat being that you MUST enter a non-empty String where  DON T DELETE  is  even if that string is set in code elsewhere  Might save you five minutes of head-sctratching

[ios] iPhone UITextField - Change placeholder text color

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