How to change UISearchBar Placeholder and image tint color?

Question

I\'ve been trying search results for hours, but I can\'t get this figured out. Perhaps it isn\'t possible. I\'m trying to change the tint color of the placeholder text and m

Answer 1

Just found this thread, sorry about the bump given the age. However it helped me in trying to fix my issue, and adding onto @m_katsifarakis answer, I added more to his existing category.

Adding additional color + font support for both placeholder and input text.

Only tested on iOS 13 as that's all I am supporting.

@interface UISearchBar (ColorandFont)
- (void)setPlaceholderColor:(UIColor *)placeholderColor setPlaceholderFont:(UIFont *)placeholderFont;
- (void)setTextColor:(UIColor *)textColor setTextFont:(UIFont *)textFont;
@end
@implementation UISearchBar (ColorandFont)

//Placeholder Color
- (void)setPlaceholderColor:(UIColor *)placeholderColor setPlaceholderFont:(UIFont *)placeholderFont{
    UILabel *labelView = [self placeholderText:self];
    [labelView setTextColor:placeholderColor];
    [labelView setFont:placeholderFont];
}
- (UILabel *)placeholderText:(UIView *)view {
    for (UIView *v in [view subviews]) {
        if ([v isKindOfClass:[UILabel class]]) {
            return (UILabel *)v;
        }

        UIView *labelView = [self placeholderText:v];
        if (labelView) {
            return (UILabel *)labelView;
        }
    }
    return nil;
}

//Text Color
- (void)setTextColor:(UIColor *)textColor setTextFont:(UIFont *)textFont{
    UITextField *textView = [self searchBarText:self];
    [textView setTextColor:textColor];
    [textView setFont:textFont];
}
- (UITextField *)searchBarText:(UIView *)view {
    for (UIView *v in [view subviews]) {
        if ([v isKindOfClass:[UITextField class]]) {
            return (UITextField *)v;
        }

        UIView *textView = [self searchBarText:v];
        if (textView) {
            return (UITextField *)textView;
        }
    }
    return nil;
}
@end

Usage (I used in viewDidLoad and Appear) given my current setup, results may vary:

[self.searchBar setPlaceholderColor:[UIColor lightTextColor] setPlaceholderFont:[UIFont italicSystemFontOfSize:13]];
[self.searchBar setTextColor:[UIColor whiteColor] setTextFont:[UIFont systemFontOfSize:16]];