Changing Placeholder Text Color with Swift - ios

Question

I have a design that implements a dark blue UITextField, as the placeholder text is by default a dark grey colour I can barely make out what the place holder text says.
I've googled the problem of course but I have yet to come up with a solution while using the Swift language and not Obj-c.
Is there a way to change the placeholder text colour in a UITextField using Swift?

Answer 1

You can set the placeholder text using an attributed string. Just pass the color you want to the attributes parameter.
Swift 5:
let myTextField = UITextField(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 200, height: 30))
myTextField.backgroundColor = .blue
myTextField.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(
string: "Placeholder Text",
attributes: [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.white]
)
Swift 3:
myTextField.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(
string: "Placeholder Text",
attributes: [NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: UIColor.white]
)
Older Swift:
myTextField.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(
string: "Placeholder Text",
attributes: [NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.white]
)

Answer 2

You can accomplish this quickly, without adding a line of code, using Interface Builder.
Select the UITextField and open the identity inspector on the right:
Click on the plus button and add a new runtime attribute:
placeholderLabel.textColor (Swift 4)
_placeholderLabel.textColor (Swift 3 or less)
Use Color as type and select the color.
That's it.
You wont see the result until you run your app again.

Answer 3

Create UITextField Extension like this:
extension UITextField{
#IBInspectable var placeHolderColor: UIColor? {
get {
return self.placeHolderColor
}
set {
self.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string:self.placeholder != nil ? self.placeholder! : "", attributes:[NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: newValue!])
}
}
}
And in your storyboard or .xib. You will see

Answer 4

In Swift 3.0, Use
let color = UIColor.lightText
textField.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: textField.placeholder, attributes: [NSForegroundColorAttributeName : color])
In Siwft 5.0 + Use
let color = UIColor.lightText
let placeholder = textField.placeholder ?? "" //There should be a placeholder set in storyboard or elsewhere string or pass empty
textField.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: placeholder, attributes: [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor : color])

Answer 5

This code is working in Swift3:
yourTextFieldName .setValue(UIColor.init(colorLiteralRed: 80/255, green: 80/255, blue: 80/255, alpha: 1.0), forKeyPath: "_placeholderLabel.textColor")
let me know if you have any issue.

Answer 6

To set the placeholder color once for all the UITextField in your app you can do:
UILabel.appearanceWhenContainedInInstancesOfClasses([UITextField.self]).textColor = UIColor.redColor()
This will set the desired color for all TextField placeholders in the entire app. But it is only available since iOS 9.
There is no appearenceWhenContainedIn....() method before iOS 9 in swift but you can use one of the solutions provided here appearanceWhenContainedIn in Swift

Answer 7

In my case, I use Swift 4
I create extension for UITextField
extension UITextField {
func placeholderColor(color: UIColor) {
let attributeString = [
NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: color.withAlphaComponent(0.6),
NSAttributedStringKey.font: self.font!
] as [NSAttributedStringKey : Any]
self.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: self.placeholder!, attributes: attributeString)
}
}
yourField.placeholderColor(color: UIColor.white)

Answer 8

Xcode 9.2 Swift 4
extension UITextField{
#IBInspectable var placeHolderColor: UIColor? {
get {
return self.placeHolderColor
}
set {
self.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string:self.placeholder != nil ? self.placeholder! : "", attributes:[NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: newValue!])
}
}
}

Answer 9

For Swift
Create UITextField Extension
extension UITextField{
func setPlaceHolderColor(){
self.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: self.placeholder!, attributes: [NSForegroundColorAttributeName : UIColor.white])
}
}
If Are you set from storyboard.
extension UITextField{
#IBInspectable var placeHolderColor: UIColor? {
get {
return self.placeHolderColor
}
set {
self.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string:self.placeholder != nil ? self.placeholder! : "", attributes:[NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor : newValue!])
}
}
}

Answer 10

Swift 4 :
txtControl.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "Placeholder String...",attributes: [NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: UIColor.gray])
Objective-C :
UIColor *color = [UIColor grayColor];
txtControl.attributedPlaceholder = [[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:#"Placeholder String..." attributes:#{NSForegroundColorAttributeName: color}];

Answer 11

Here is my quick implementation for swift 4:
extension UITextField {
func placeholderColor(_ color: UIColor){
var placeholderText = ""
if self.placeholder != nil{
placeholderText = self.placeholder!
}
self.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: placeholderText, attributes: [NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor : color])
}
}
use like:
streetTextField?.placeholderColor(AppColor.blueColor)
hope it helps someone!

Answer 12

Swift 3 (probably 2), you can override didSet on placeholder in UITextField subclass to apply attribute on it, this way:
override var placeholder: String? {
didSet {
guard let tmpText = placeholder else {
self.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "")
return
}
let textRange = NSMakeRange(0, tmpText.characters.count)
let attributedText = NSMutableAttributedString(string: tmpText)
attributedText.addAttribute(NSForegroundColorAttributeName , value:UIColor(white:147.0/255.0, alpha:1.0), range: textRange)
self.attributedPlaceholder = attributedText
}
}

Answer 13

I'm surprised to see how many poor solutions there are here.
Here is a version that will always work.
Swift 4.2
extension UITextField{
#IBInspectable var placeholderColor: UIColor {
get {
return self.attributedPlaceholder?.attribute(.foregroundColor, at: 0, effectiveRange: nil) as? UIColor ?? .lightText
}
set {
self.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: self.placeholder ?? "", attributes: [.foregroundColor: newValue])
}
}
}
TIP: If you change the placeholder text after setting the color- the color will reset.

Answer 14

For Swift 3 and 3.1 this works perfectly fine:
passField.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "password", attributes: [NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.white])

Answer 15

For Swift 4.0, X-code 9.1 version or iOS 11 you can use following syntax to have different placeholder color
textField.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "Placeholder Text", attributes: [NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor : UIColor.white])

Answer 16

Just write below code into Appdelegate's didFinishLaunchingWithOptions method use this if you want to change in the whole app written in Swift 4.2
UILabel.appearance(whenContainedInInstancesOf: [UITextField.self]).textColor = UIColor.white

Answer 17

Here am i writing all UIDesignable of UITextField. With the help of this code you can directly access it from UI file Inspector in storyboard
#IBDesignable
class CustomTextField: UITextField {
#IBInspectable var leftImage: UIImage? {
didSet {
updateView()
}
}
#IBInspectable var leftPadding: CGFloat = 0 {
didSet {
updateView()
}
}
#IBInspectable var rightImage: UIImage? {
didSet {
updateView()
}
}
#IBInspectable var rightPadding: CGFloat = 0 {
didSet {
updateView()
}
}
private var _isRightViewVisible: Bool = true
var isRightViewVisible: Bool {
get {
return _isRightViewVisible
}
set {
_isRightViewVisible = newValue
updateView()
}
}
func updateView() {
setLeftImage()
setRightImage()
// Placeholder text color
attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: placeholder != nil ? placeholder! : "", attributes:[NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: tintColor])
}
func setLeftImage() {
leftViewMode = UITextField.ViewMode.always
var view: UIView
if let image = leftImage {
let imageView = UIImageView(frame: CGRect(x: leftPadding, y: 0, width: 20, height: 20))
imageView.image = image
// Note: In order for your image to use the tint color, you have to select the image in the Assets.xcassets and change the "Render As" property to "Template Image".
imageView.tintColor = tintColor
var width = imageView.frame.width + leftPadding
if borderStyle == UITextField.BorderStyle.none || borderStyle == UITextField.BorderStyle.line {
width += 5
}
view = UIView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: width, height: 20))
view.addSubview(imageView)
} else {
view = UIView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: leftPadding, height: 20))
}
leftView = view
}
func setRightImage() {
rightViewMode = UITextField.ViewMode.always
var view: UIView
if let image = rightImage, isRightViewVisible {
let imageView = UIImageView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 20, height: 20))
imageView.image = image
// Note: In order for your image to use the tint color, you have to select the image in the Assets.xcassets and change the "Render As" property to "Template Image".
imageView.tintColor = tintColor
var width = imageView.frame.width + rightPadding
if borderStyle == UITextField.BorderStyle.none || borderStyle == UITextField.BorderStyle.line {
width += 5
}
view = UIView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: width, height: 20))
view.addSubview(imageView)
} else {
view = UIView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: rightPadding, height: 20))
}
rightView = view
}
#IBInspectable public var borderColor: UIColor = UIColor.clear {
didSet {
layer.borderColor = borderColor.cgColor
}
}
#IBInspectable public var borderWidth: CGFloat = 0 {
didSet {
layer.borderWidth = borderWidth
}
}
#IBInspectable public var cornerRadius: CGFloat = 0 {
didSet {
layer.cornerRadius = cornerRadius
}
}
#IBInspectable public var bottomBorder: CGFloat = 0 {
didSet {
borderStyle = .none
layer.backgroundColor = UIColor.white.cgColor
layer.masksToBounds = false
// layer.shadowColor = UIColor.gray.cgColor
layer.shadowOffset = CGSize(width: 0.0, height: 1.0)
layer.shadowOpacity = 1.0
layer.shadowRadius = 0.0
}
}
#IBInspectable public var bottomBorderColor : UIColor = UIColor.clear {
didSet {
layer.shadowColor = bottomBorderColor.cgColor
layer.shadowOffset = CGSize(width: 0.0, height: 1.0)
layer.shadowOpacity = 1.0
layer.shadowRadius = 0.0
}
}
/// Sets the placeholder color
#IBInspectable var placeHolderColor: UIColor? {
get {
return self.placeHolderColor
}
set {
self.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string:self.placeholder != nil ? self.placeholder! : "", attributes:[NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: newValue!])
}
}
}

Answer 18

Use like this in Swift,
let placeHolderText = textField.placeholder ?? ""
let str = NSAttributedString(string:placeHolderText!, attributes: [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor :UIColor.lightGray])
textField.attributedPlaceholder = str
In Objective C
NSString *placeHolder = [textField.placeholder length]>0 ? textField.placeholder: #"";
NSAttributedString *str = [[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:placeHolder attributes:#{ NSForegroundColorAttributeName : [UIColor lightGrayColor] }];
textField.attributedPlaceholder = str;

Answer 19

In my case, I had to make the placeholder into black color. The name of my UITextField is passwordText. Below code is tested in Swift 5 and is working fine for me. I also had an existing text for the corresponding placeholder.
let placeholderColor = UIColor.black
passwordText.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: passwordText.placeholder!, attributes: [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor : placeholderColor])

Answer 20

crubio's answer update for Swift 4
Select the UITextField and open the identity inspector on the right:
Click on the plus button and add a new runtime attribute: placeholderLabel.textColor (instead of _placeholderLabel.textColor)
Use Color as type and select the color.
If you run your project, you will see the changes.

Answer 21

For swift 4.2 and above you can do it as below:
textField.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "Placeholder Text", attributes: [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.white])

Answer 22

In my case, I have done following:
extension UITextField {
#IBInspectable var placeHolderColor: UIColor? {
get {
if let color = self.attributedPlaceholder?.attribute(.foregroundColor, at: 0, effectiveRange: nil) as? UIColor {
return color
}
return nil
}
set (setOptionalColor) {
if let setColor = setOptionalColor {
let string = self.placeholder ?? ""
self.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: string , attributes:[NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: setColor])
}
}
}
}

Answer 23

extension UITextField{
#IBInspectable var placeHolderColor: UIColor? {
get {
return self.placeHolderColor
}
set {
self.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string:self.placeholder != nil ?
self.placeholder! : "",
attributes:[NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor : newValue!])
}
}
}

Answer 24

For Swift
func setPlaceholderColor(textField: UITextField, placeholderText: String) {
textField.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: placeholderText, attributes: [NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.pelorBlack])
}
You can use this;
self.setPlaceholderColor(textField: self.emailTextField, placeholderText: "E-Mail/Username")

Answer 25

It is more about personalize your textField but anyways I'll share this code got from another page and made it a little better:
import UIKit
extension UITextField {
func setBottomLine(borderColor: UIColor, fontColor: UIColor, placeHolderColor:UIColor, placeHolder: String) {
self.borderStyle = UITextBorderStyle.none
self.backgroundColor = UIColor.clear
let borderLine = UIView()
let height = 1.0
borderLine.frame = CGRect(x: 0, y: Double(self.frame.height) - height, width: Double(self.frame.width), height: height)
self.textColor = fontColor
borderLine.backgroundColor = borderColor
self.addSubview(borderLine)
self.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(
string: placeHolder,
attributes: [NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: placeHolderColor]
)
}
}
And you can use it like this:
self.textField.setBottomLine(borderColor: lineColor, fontColor: fontColor, placeHolderColor: placeHolderColor, placeHolder: placeHolder)
Knowing that you have an UITextField connected to a ViewController.
Source: http://codepany.com/blog/swift-3-custom-uitextfield-with-single-line-input/

Answer 26

For Objective C:
UIColor *color = [UIColor colorWithRed:0.44 green:0.44 blue:0.44 alpha:1.0];
emailTextField.attributedPlaceholder = [[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:#"Friend's Email" attributes:#{NSForegroundColorAttributeName: color}];
For Swift:
emailTextField.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "Friend's Email",
attributes: [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.white])

Answer 27

Objective C code for changing placeholder text color.
First import this objc/runtime class -
#import <objc/runtime.h>
then replace your textfield name -
Ivar ivar = class_getInstanceVariable([UITextField class], "_placeholderLabel");
UILabel *placeholderLabel = object_getIvar(YourTxtField, ivar);
placeholderLabel.textColor = [UIColor whiteColor];

Answer 28

for iOS13
+(void)ChangeplaceholderColor :(UITextField *)TxtFld andColor:(UIColor*)color {
NSMutableAttributedString *placeholderAttributedString = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithAttributedString:TxtFld.attributedPlaceholder];
[placeholderAttributedString addAttribute:NSForegroundColorAttributeName value:color range:NSMakeRange(0, [placeholderAttributedString length])];
TxtFld.attributedPlaceholder = placeholderAttributedString;
}

Answer 29

Use this for adding an attributed placeholder:
let attributes : [String : Any] = [ NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.lightGray,
NSFontAttributeName : UIFont(name: "Helvetica Neue Light Italic", size: 12.0)!
]
x_textfield.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "Placeholder Text", attributes:attributes)

Answer 30

For Swift 4
txtField1.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "-", attributes: [NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: UIColor.white])