UISearchBar change placeholder color

Question

Has anyone any idea or code sample on how can I change the text color of the placeholder text of a UISearchBar?

Answer 1

It looks like Apple does not want us to play with the placeholder colors when it comes to UISearchBar class. So, let's create our own placeholder label!

• No subclassing.
• Works with iOS 13 SDK.
• Just one innocent workaround.

let searchBar = searchController.searchBar
// ...
// Configure `searchBar` if needed
// ...

let searchTextField: UITextField
if #available(iOS 13, *) {
    searchTextField = searchBar.searchTextField
} else {
    searchTextField = (searchBar.value(forKey: "searchField") as? UITextField) ?? UITextField()
}

// Since iOS 13 SDK, there is no accessor to get the placeholder label.
// This is the only workaround that might cause issued during the review.
if let systemPlaceholderLabel = searchTextField.value(forKey: "placeholderLabel") as? UILabel {
    // Empty or `nil` strings cause placeholder label to be hidden by the search bar
    searchBar.placeholder = " "

    // Create our own placeholder label
    let placeholderLabel = UILabel(frame: .zero)

    placeholderLabel.text = "Search"
    placeholderLabel.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 17.0, weight: .regular)
    placeholderLabel.textColor = UIColor.blue.withAlphaComponent(0.5)

    systemPlaceholderLabel.addSubview(placeholderLabel)

    // Layout label to be a "new" placeholder
    placeholderLabel.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: systemPlaceholderLabel.leadingAnchor).isActive = true
    placeholderLabel.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: systemPlaceholderLabel.topAnchor).isActive = true
    placeholderLabel.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: systemPlaceholderLabel.bottomAnchor).isActive = true
    placeholderLabel.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
    placeholderLabel.setContentCompressionResistancePriority(.defaultHigh, for: .horizontal)
} else {
    searchBar.placeholder = ""
}