iPhone UILabel text soft shadow

Question

I know soft shadows are not supported by the UILabel out of the box, on the iPhone. So what would be the best way to implement my own one?

EDIT:

Answer 1

While it's impossible to set a blur radius directly on UILabel, you definitely could change it by manipulating CALayer.

Just set:

//Required properties
customLabel.layer.shadowRadius = 5.0 //set shadow radius to your desired value.
customLabel.layer.shadowOpacity = 1.0 //Choose an opacity. Make sure it's visible (default is 0.0)

//Other options
customLabel.layer.shadowOffset = CGSize(width: 10, height: 10)
customLabel.layer.shadowColor = UIColor.black.cgColor
customLabel.layer.masksToBounds = false

What I hope will help someone and other answers failed to clarify is that it will not work if you also set UILabel Shadow Color property directly on Interface Builder while trying to setup .layer.shadowRadius.

So if setting label.layer.shadowRadius didn't work, please verify Shadow Color for this UILabel on Interface Builder. It should be set to default. And then, please, if you want a shadow color other than black, set this color also through .layer property.