UISearchBar change placeholder color - ios

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

for iOS5+ use the appearance proxy
[[UILabel appearanceWhenContainedIn:[UISearchBar class], nil] setTextColor:[UIColor redColor]];

Answer 2

Found the answer from Change UITextField's placeholder text color programmatically
// Get the instance of the UITextField of the search bar
UITextField *searchField = [searchBar valueForKey:#"_searchField"];
// Change search bar text color
searchField.textColor = [UIColor redColor];
// Change the search bar placeholder text color
[searchField setValue:[UIColor blueColor] forKeyPath:#"_placeholderLabel.textColor"];

Answer 3

First solution is OK, but if you use multiple UISearchBar, or create a lot of instances it may fail. The one solution that always work for me is to use also appearance proxy but directly on UITextField
NSDictionary *placeholderAttributes = #{
NSForegroundColorAttributeName: [UIColor darkButtonColor],
NSFontAttributeName: [UIFont fontWithName:#"HelveticaNeue" size:15],
};
NSAttributedString *attributedPlaceholder = [[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:self.searchBar.placeholder
attributes:placeholderAttributes];
[[UITextField appearanceWhenContainedInInstancesOfClasses:#[[UISearchBar class]]] setAttributedPlaceholder:attributedPlaceholder];

Answer 4

Here is a Solution for Swift:
Swift 2
var textFieldInsideSearchBar = searchBar.valueForKey("searchField") as? UITextField
textFieldInsideSearchBar?.textColor = UIColor.whiteColor()
var textFieldInsideSearchBarLabel = textFieldInsideSearchBar!.valueForKey("placeholderLabel") as? UILabel
textFieldInsideSearchBarLabel?.textColor = UIColor.whiteColor()
Swift 3
let textFieldInsideSearchBar = searchBar.value(forKey: "searchField") as? UITextField
textFieldInsideSearchBar?.textColor = UIColor.white
let textFieldInsideSearchBarLabel = textFieldInsideSearchBar!.value(forKey: "placeholderLabel") as? UILabel
textFieldInsideSearchBarLabel?.textColor = UIColor.white

Answer 5

Try this and see: (I tested below code with Swift 4.1 - Xcode 9.3-beta4)
#IBOutlet weak var sbSearchBar: UISearchBar!
if let textfield = sbSearchBar.value(forKey: "searchField") as? UITextField {
textfield.backgroundColor = UIColor.yellow
textfield.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: textfield.placeholder ?? "", attributes: [NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor : UIColor.red])
textfield.textColor = UIColor.green
if let leftView = textfield.leftView as? UIImageView {
leftView.image = leftView.image?.withRenderingMode(.alwaysTemplate)
leftView.tintColor = UIColor.red
}
}
Here is result:

Answer 6

It is easy from iOS 13.0 onwards, You can simply use searchTextField property of a search bar to update attributed properties of the placeholder.
self.searchController.searchBar.searchTextField.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString.init(string: "Search anything...", attributes: [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor:UIColor.red])
One line solution

Answer 7

if let textFieldInsideSearchBar = searchBar.value(forKey: "searchField") as ? UITextField {
textFieldInsideSearchBar ? .textColor = UIColor.white
if let textFieldInsideSearchBarLabel = textFieldInsideSearchBar!.value(forKey: "placeholderLabel") as ? UILabel {
textFieldInsideSearchBarLabel ? .textColor = UIColor.white
if let clearButton = textFieldInsideSearchBar ? .value(forKey: "clearButton") as!UIButton {
clearButton.setImage(clearButton.imageView ? .image ? .withRenderingMode(.alwaysTemplate),
for : .normal)
clearButton.tintColor = UIColor.white
}
}
let glassIconView = textFieldInsideSearchBar ? .leftView as ? UIImageView
glassIconView ? .image = glassIconView ? .image ? .withRenderingMode(.alwaysTemplate)
glassIconView ? .tintColor = UIColor.white
}

Answer 8

Swift 5 - ios 13:
Those who are stuck let me tell you it is going to work only in viewDidLayoutSubviews not in viewDidLoad
override func viewDidLayoutSubviews() {
setupSearchBar(searchBar: YourSearchBar)
}
func setupSearchBar(searchBar : UISearchBar) {
searchBar.setPlaceholderTextColorTo(color: UIColor.white)
}
extension UISearchBar
{
func setPlaceholderTextColorTo(color: UIColor)
{
let textFieldInsideSearchBar = self.value(forKey: "searchField") as? UITextField
textFieldInsideSearchBar?.textColor = color
let textFieldInsideSearchBarLabel = textFieldInsideSearchBar!.value(forKey: "placeholderLabel") as? UILabel
textFieldInsideSearchBarLabel?.textColor = color
}
}
Happy coding :)

Answer 9

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 = ""
}

Answer 10

Swift 3
UILabel.appearance(whenContainedInInstancesOf: [UISearchBar.self]).textColor = UIColor.white

Answer 11

iOS 13
Previous solutions may not work on iOS 13 because new searchTextField has been added, and you can set attributed string on it.
I wrapped that into category:
#interface UISearchBar (AttributtedSetter)
- (void)setThemedPlaceholder:(NSString*)localizationKey;
#end
#implementation UISearchBar (AttributtedSetter)
- (void)setThemedPlaceholder:(NSString*)localizationKey {
ThemeObject *currentTheme = [[ThemeManager standardThemeManager] currentTheme];
self.searchTextField.attributedPlaceholder = [[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:NSLocalizedString(localizationKey, #"") attributes:#{NSForegroundColorAttributeName : currentTheme.colorSearchBarText}];
}
#end

Answer 12

iOS 13
Use a custom search bar subclass.
This also works when part of a UISearchController inside a UINavigationItem (with hidesSearchBarWhenScrolling = true).
We want to apply our changes immediately after UIAppearance proxies are being applied since those are the most likely root cause:
class MySearchBar : UISearchBar {
// Appearance proxies are applied when a view is added to a view hierarchy, so apply your tweaks after that:
override func didMoveToSuperview() {
super.didMoveToSuperview() // important! - system colors will not apply correctly on ios 11-12 without this
let placeholderColor = UIColor.white.withAlphaComponent(0.75)
let placeholderAttributes = [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor : placeholderColor]
let attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "My custom placeholder", attributes: placeholderAttributes)
self.searchTextField.attributedPlaceholder = attributedPlaceholder
// Make the magnifying glass the same color
(self.searchTextField.leftView as? UIImageView)?.tintColor = placeholderColor
}
}
// Override `searchBar` as per the documentation
private class MySearchController : UISearchController {
private lazy var customSearchBar = MySearchBar()
override var searchBar: UISearchBar { customSearchBar }
}
That took quite some time to get working properly...

Answer 13

Try this:
[self.searchBar setValue:[UIColor whatever] forKeyPath:#"_searchField._placeholderLabel.textColor"];
You can also set this in storyboard, select search bar, add entry under User Defined Runtime Attributes:
_searchField._placeholderLabel.textColor
of type Color and select the color you need.

Answer 14

worked for me on IOS 13
searchBar.searchTextField.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(
string: "Search something blabla",
attributes: [.foregroundColor: UIColor.red]
)

Answer 15

After surveyed a couple of answers, I come out this, hope its help
for (UIView *subview in searchBar.subviews) {
for (UIView *sv in subview.subviews) {
if ([NSStringFromClass([sv class]) isEqualToString:#"UISearchBarTextField"]) {
if ([sv respondsToSelector:#selector(setAttributedPlaceholder:)]) {
((UITextField *)sv).attributedPlaceholder = [[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:searchBar.placeholder attributes:#{NSForegroundColorAttributeName: [UIColor whiteColor]}];
}
break;
}
}
}

Answer 16

This solution works on Xcode 8.2.1. with Swift 3.0. :
extension UISearchBar
{
func setPlaceholderTextColorTo(color: UIColor)
{
let textFieldInsideSearchBar = self.value(forKey: "searchField") as? UITextField
textFieldInsideSearchBar?.textColor = color
let textFieldInsideSearchBarLabel = textFieldInsideSearchBar!.value(forKey: "placeholderLabel") as? UILabel
textFieldInsideSearchBarLabel?.textColor = color
}
}
Usage example:
searchController.searchBar.setPlaceholderTextColorTo(color: mainColor)

Answer 17

This is an old question, but for anyone stumbling on it nowadays, you can change the search icon on iOS 8.x - 10.3 using the following:
[_searchBar setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:#"your-image-name"] forSearchBarIcon:UISearchBarIconSearch state:UIControlStateNormal];
Regarding the placeholder text color, you may check my other answer, which uses a Category, here: UISearchBar change placeholder color

Answer 18

Try this:
UITextField *searchField = [searchbar valueForKey:#"_searchField"];
field.textColor = [UIColor redColor]; //You can put any color here.