How to change UISearchBar Placeholder and image tint color?

Question

I've been trying search results for hours, but I can't get this figured out. Perhaps it isn't possible. I'm trying to change the tint color of the placeholder text and magnifying glass of a UISearchBar. I'm only targeting iOS 8.0+ if that matters. Here's my code and what it looks like now:

let searchBar = UISearchBar()
searchBar.placeholder = "Search"
searchBar.searchBarStyle = UISearchBarStyle.Minimal
searchBar.tintColor = UIColor.whiteColor()

I'd like for the search and magnifying glass to be white, or perhaps a dark green.

Solution 1

If you have a custom image you could use, you can set the image and change the placeholder text color using something similar to the following:

[searchBar setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"SearchWhite"] forSearchBarIcon:UISearchBarIconSearch state:UIControlStateNormal];

UITextField *searchTextField = [searchBar valueForKey:@"_searchField"];    
if ([searchTextField respondsToSelector:@selector(setAttributedPlaceholder:)]) {
    UIColor *color = [UIColor purpleColor];
    [searchTextField setAttributedPlaceholder:[[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:@"Search" attributes:@{NSForegroundColorAttributeName: color}]];
}

In that example I used purpleColor, instead you can use the + (UIColor *)colorWithRed:(CGFloat)red green:(CGFloat)green blue:(CGFloat)blue alpha:(CGFloat)alpha method to create your custom dark green color.

EDIT: I just realized you were writing it in swift... duh. Quickly typed this out so I didn't leave the answer in just Obj-C.

    searchBar.setImage(UIImage(named: "SearchWhite"), forSearchBarIcon: UISearchBarIcon.Search, state: UIControlState.Normal);

    var searchTextField: UITextField? = searchBar.valueForKey("searchField") as? UITextField
    if searchTextField!.respondsToSelector(Selector("attributedPlaceholder")) {
        var color = UIColor.purpleColor()
        let attributeDict = [NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.purpleColor()]
        searchTextField!.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "search", attributes: attributeDict)
    }

Swift 3.0

    var searchTextField: UITextField? = searchBar.value(forKey: "searchField") as? UITextField
    if searchTextField!.responds(to: #selector(getter: UITextField.attributedPlaceholder)) {
        let attributeDict = [NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.white]
        searchTextField!.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "Search", attributes: attributeDict)
    }

Solution 2

Details

• Xcode Version 11.0 (11A420a), iOS 13, swift 5

Solution

import UIKit

extension UISearchBar {

    func getTextField() -> UITextField? { return value(forKey: "searchField") as? UITextField }
    func set(textColor: UIColor) { if let textField = getTextField() { textField.textColor = textColor } }
    func setPlaceholder(textColor: UIColor) { getTextField()?.setPlaceholder(textColor: textColor) }
    func setClearButton(color: UIColor) { getTextField()?.setClearButton(color: color) }

    func setTextField(color: UIColor) {
        guard let textField = getTextField() else { return }
        switch searchBarStyle {
        case .minimal:
            textField.layer.backgroundColor = color.cgColor
            textField.layer.cornerRadius = 6
        case .prominent, .default: textField.backgroundColor = color
        @unknown default: break
        }
    }

    func setSearchImage(color: UIColor) {
        guard let imageView = getTextField()?.leftView as? UIImageView else { return }
        imageView.tintColor = color
        imageView.image = imageView.image?.withRenderingMode(.alwaysTemplate)
    }
}

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) }
    }


    private class ClearButtonImage {
        static private var _image: UIImage?
        static private var semaphore = DispatchSemaphore(value: 1)
        static func getImage(closure: @escaping (UIImage?)->()) {
            DispatchQueue.global(qos: .userInteractive).async {
                semaphore.wait()
                DispatchQueue.main.async {
                    if let image = _image { closure(image); semaphore.signal(); return }
                    guard let window = UIApplication.shared.windows.first else { semaphore.signal(); return }
                    let searchBar = UISearchBar(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: -200, width: UIScreen.main.bounds.width, height: 44))
                    window.rootViewController?.view.addSubview(searchBar)
                    searchBar.text = "txt"
                    searchBar.layoutIfNeeded()
                    _image = searchBar.getTextField()?.getClearButton()?.image(for: .normal)
                    closure(_image)
                    searchBar.removeFromSuperview()
                    semaphore.signal()
                }
            }
        }
    }

    func setClearButton(color: UIColor) {
        ClearButtonImage.getImage { [weak self] image in
            guard   let image = image,
                let button = self?.getClearButton() else { return }
            button.imageView?.tintColor = color
            button.setImage(image.withRenderingMode(.alwaysTemplate), for: .normal)
        }
    }

    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)
        setValue(label, forKey: "placeholderLabel")
    }

    func getClearButton() -> UIButton? { return value(forKey: "clearButton") as? UIButton }
}

Full Sample

import UIKit

class ViewController: UIViewController {
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        let searchBar = UISearchBar(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 20, width: UIScreen.main.bounds.width, height: 44))
        searchBar.searchBarStyle = .default
        view.addSubview(searchBar)

        searchBar.placeholder = "placeholder"
        searchBar.set(textColor: .brown)
        searchBar.setTextField(color: UIColor.green.withAlphaComponent(0.3))
        searchBar.setPlaceholder(textColor: .white)
        searchBar.setSearchImage(color: .white)
        searchBar.setClearButton(color: .red)
    }
}

Result

Solution 3

Swift 3: If you want to change the placeholder, clearbutton and magnifier glass

    let textFieldInsideSearchBar = searchBar.value(forKey: "searchField") as? UITextField
    textFieldInsideSearchBar?.textColor = UIColor.white

    let textFieldInsideSearchBarLabel = textFieldInsideSearchBar!.value(forKey: "placeholderLabel") as? UILabel
    textFieldInsideSearchBarLabel?.textColor = UIColor.white

    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

Solution 4

You can change the color of the text without violating the private api rule:

UILabel.appearanceWhenContainedInInstancesOfClasses([UITextField.self]).textColor = UIColor.whiteColor()

Solution 5

I made a Swift 4.1 search bar extension:

import Foundation
import UIKit
extension UISearchBar{
    func setTextField(placeHolderColor:UIColor = .gray,placeHolder:String = "Search Something",textColor:UIColor = .white,backgroundColor:UIColor = .black,
                      placeHolderFont:UIFont = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 12.0),
                      textFont:UIFont =  UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 12.0) ){
        for item in self.subviews{
            for mainView in (item as UIView).subviews{
                mainView.backgroundColor = backgroundColor
                if mainView is UITextField{
                    let textField = mainView as? UITextField
                    if let _textF = textField{
                        _textF.text = "success"
                        _textF.textColor = textColor
                        _textF.font      = textFont
                        _textF.attributedPlaceholder = NSMutableAttributedString.init(string: placeHolder, attributes: [NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor : placeHolderColor,
                                                                                                                               NSAttributedStringKey.font : placeHolderFont])
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

You can use this for your searchBar like this :

controller.searchBar.setTextField(placeHolderColor: .white,
 placeHolder: "Search A Pet",
 textColor: .white,
 backgroundColor: .green,
 placeHolderFont: UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 14.0),
 textFont: UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 14.0))

View more solutions

Comments

[Kyle Bashour]

This is perfect, thank you so much. I hadn't seen searchBar.valueForKey("searchField") as? UITextField before, which is brilliant. Any chance you know how to change the clear button (the little round x) as well?

[c_rath]

I would imagine it would be the same way as the setImage but instead of using the UISearchBarIcon.Search, you would instead use .Clear??? I haven't actually tried that though. Outside of that I know the actual word "Cancel" is affected by the searchBar.tintColor...

[Iulian Onofrei]

Accessing private properties or APIs is a sure way to get your app rejected.

[netshark1000]

don't use private APIs

[Elijah]

appearanceWhenContainedInInstancesOfClasses is only available in ios9+

[ethanfox27]

Do you have the source code for this? I am having trouble understanding this.

[Jerome]

Hi @ethanfox27, here is the source code, hope for help. github.com/JeromeTW/XZY-s-Blog/blob/master/ReadMe.txt github.com/JeromeTW/XZY-s-Blog/blob/master/…

[Ansal Antony]

self.searcBar.setTextFieldColor(color: .white) not working why ? still showing light lightGray color, but other colors are working but white not working any idea ? ....

[Renato]

I've been trying to get this to work on iOS 11 when SearchBar is within the NavigationBar without success. Any ideas?

[Vasily Bodnarchuk]

Hello Renato. I can't understand your problem. You can't add SearchBar to NavigationBar?

[Mikhail Sein]

Thank you so much!

[John Stephen]

The question is how to change the colors, not how to set the text

[Gautam Sareriya]

Magnifying glass and search placeholder not in centre as per your output.

[Kevin_TA]

This solution looks great, but for UISearchController you need to subclass both UISearchController and it's UISearchBar. Even then, the clear button coloring still doesn't work. Any ideas why?

[feb]

This is a good solution but it can easily be broken if Apple decides to change the internal subview structure of UISearchBar in a future iOS release. I'm amazed they don't expose simple appearance customisations like this as a public API.

[Vineeth Joseph]

@VasilyBodnarchuk Great answer. In swift 4 I think NSForegroundColorAttributeName has been changed to NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor.

[Chintan Shah]

Great Solution! One issue is ClearButtonColor is not working in iOS 12.0.

[Isuru]

@VasilyBodnarchuk I think what @Renato meant was if you add the searchController straight to the navigationItem like this navigationItem.searchController = searchController, these methods don't work. I noticed however if you add the searchBar of the searchController to the titleView of the navigationItem like this, navigationItem.titleView = searchController.searchBar, it works.

[Vasily Bodnarchuk]

@Isuru It can be true. Because searchController has own searchBar. In this case I suggest to inherit searchController and updated its searchBar.

[Soumen]

Searchbar's placeholder color is not changing on iOS 13.

[Tum]

Nice solution! Icon works fine, placeholder text doesn't change for me though.