Changing Search Bar placeholder text colour in iOS 13 - ios

Question

I'm trying to set colour for placeholder text inside UISearchbar. Right now I've following code. It doesn't set white colour to placeholder text on iOS 13. It works on iOS 12. It seems something is either broken or support has been removed in iOS 13?
I've searched a lot and tried few workarounds but doesn't work. I've also tried to set attributed text colour for textfield but that also doesn't change colour.
Is there a working solution for this?
class CustomSearchBar: UISearchBar {
override init(frame: CGRect) {
super.init(frame: frame)
}
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: aDecoder)
}
override func awakeFromNib() {
super.awakeFromNib()
self.sizeToFit()
// Search text colour change
let textFieldInsideSearchBar = self.value(forKey: "searchField") as? UITextField
textFieldInsideSearchBar?.textColor = UIColor.white
// Search Placeholder text colour change
let placeHolderText = textFieldInsideSearchBar!.value(forKey: "placeholderLabel") as? UILabel
placeHolderText?.textColor = UIColor.white // doesn't work
}
}

Answer 1

viewDidLoad is too early
Put the code in viewDidAppear, viewDidLoad is too early. Then your placeholder should change to white
searchController.searchBar.searchTextField.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "Enter Search Here", attributes: [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor : UIColor.white])

Answer 2

In viewDidAppear
if iOS is higher than 13.0, use searchBar.searchTextField.attributedPlaceholder.
if iOS is lower than 13.0, use searchBar.value(forKey: "searchField") to access searchTextField
var searchBar = UISearchBar()
override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
super.viewDidAppear(animated)
if #available(iOS 13.0, *) {
searchBar.searchTextField.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "Enter Search Here", attributes: [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor : UIColor.white])
} else {
if let searchField = searchBar.value(forKey: "searchField") as? UITextField {
searchField.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "Enter Search Here", attributes: [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.white2])
}
}
}

Answer 3

Try this:
var searchBar: UISearchBar!
if let textfield = searchBar.value(forKey: "searchField") as? UITextField {
textfield.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: textfield.placeholder ?? "", attributes: [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor : UIColor.white])
}

Answer 4

Please add this extension and try this !
extension UISearchBar{
var placeholderLabel: UILabel? { return value(forKey: "placeholderLabel") as? UILabel }
func setPlaceholder(textColor: UIColor) {
guard let placeholderLabel = placeholderLabel else { return }
let label = Label(label: placeholderLabel, textColor: textColor)
placeholderLabel.removeFromSuperview() // To remove existing label. Otherwise it will overwrite it if called multiple times.
setValue(label, forKey: "placeholderLabel")
}
}
private extension UITextField {
private class Label: UILabel {
private var _textColor = UIColor.lightGray
override var textColor: UIColor! {
set { super.textColor = _textColor }
get { return _textColor }
}
init(label: UILabel, textColor: UIColor = .lightGray) {
_textColor = textColor
super.init(frame: label.frame)
self.text = label.text
self.font = label.font
}
required init?(coder: NSCoder) { super.init(coder: coder) }
}
Usage
yourSearchBarObject.setPlaceholder(textColor: .red)

Answer 5

You need to style everything in viewDidAppear