以下是我解决这个问题的方法(Swift 4):

这个想法是做出最简单的解决方案，允许使用不同颜色的占位符，调整占位符大小，不会覆盖委托，同时保持所有UITextView函数正常工作。

import UIKit

class PlaceholderTextView: UITextView {
    var placeholderColor: UIColor = .lightGray
    var defaultTextColor: UIColor = .black

    private var isShowingPlaceholder = false {
        didSet {
            if isShowingPlaceholder {
                text = placeholder
                textColor = placeholderColor
            } else {
                textColor = defaultTextColor
            }
        }
    }

    var placeholder: String? {
        didSet {
            isShowingPlaceholder = !hasText
        }
    }

    @objc private func textViewDidBeginEditing(notification: Notification) {
        textColor = defaultTextColor
        if isShowingPlaceholder { text = nil }
    }

    @objc private func textViewDidEndEditing(notification: Notification) {
        isShowingPlaceholder = !hasText
    }

    // MARK: - Construction -
    override init(frame: CGRect, textContainer: NSTextContainer?) {
        super.init(frame: frame, textContainer: textContainer)
        setup()
    }

    required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
        super.init(coder: aDecoder)
        setup()
    }

    private func setup() {
        NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self, selector: #selector(textViewDidBeginEditing(notification:)), name: UITextView.textDidBeginEditingNotification, object: nil)
        NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self, selector: #selector(textViewDidEndEditing(notification:)), name: UITextView.textDidEndEditingNotification, object: nil)
    }

    // MARK: - Destruction -
    deinit { NotificationCenter.default.removeObserver(self) }
}

由于声誉问题，我不能发表评论。在@clearlight answer中增加一个委托需求。

func textViewDidBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) { 
        cell.placeholderLabel.isHidden = !textView.text.isEmpty
}

是需要

因为textViewDidChange不是第一次被调用

这就是我所做的。倾向于代码清晰和简单。我需要添加一个textView，将获得一些额外的笔记在我的应用程序。这额外的笔记可以创建或保存后修改。见下文。HTH。：）

class NotesTextView: UITextView {

    var placeholder = "" {
        didSet {
            showPlaceholder()
        }
    }
    
    // if the text is the placeholder, then assign a color fitting for a
    // placeholder text, else, assign it your color of choice.
    override var text: String! {
        didSet {
            textColor = text == placeholder ? .tertiaryLabel : .systemBlue
        }
    }
    
    
    override init(frame: CGRect, textContainer: NSTextContainer?) {
        super.init(frame: frame, textContainer: textContainer)
        
        delegate = self
        //config your font and translateAutoResizingMaskIntoConstraints here
    }
    
    required init?(coder: NSCoder) {
        fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
    }
    
    private func showPlaceholder() {
        text = placeholder
    }
    
    private func hidePlaceholder() {
        text = ""
    }
}

extension NotesTextView: UITextViewDelegate {
    func textViewDidBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
        if text == placeholder {
            hidePlaceholder()
        }
    }
    
    func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
        if text.isEmpty {
            showPlaceholder()
        }
    }
}

这是我准备使用的解决方案，如果您正在处理多个文本视图

func textViewShouldBeginEditing(textView: UITextView) -> Bool {        
    // Set cursor to the beginning if placeholder is set
    if textView.textColor == UIColor.lightGrayColor() {
        textView.selectedTextRange = textView.textRangeFromPosition(textView.beginningOfDocument, toPosition: textView.beginningOfDocument)
    }

    return true
}

func textView(textView: UITextView, shouldChangeTextInRange range: NSRange, replacementText text: String) -> Bool {
    // Remove placeholder
    if textView.textColor == UIColor.lightGrayColor() && text.characters.count > 0 {
        textView.text = ""
        textView.textColor = UIColor.blackColor()
    }

    if text == "\n" {
        textView.resignFirstResponder()
        return false
    }

    return true
}

func textViewDidChange(textView: UITextView) {
    // Set placeholder if text is empty
    if textView.text.isEmpty {
        textView.text = NSLocalizedString("Hint", comment: "hint")
        textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGrayColor()
        textView.selectedTextRange = textView.textRangeFromPosition(textView.beginningOfDocument, toPosition: textView.beginningOfDocument)
    }
}

func textViewDidChangeSelection(textView: UITextView) {
    // Set cursor to the beginning if placeholder is set
    let firstPosition = textView.textRangeFromPosition(textView.beginningOfDocument, toPosition: textView.beginningOfDocument)

    // Do not change position recursively
    if textView.textColor == UIColor.lightGrayColor() && textView.selectedTextRange != firstPosition {
        textView.selectedTextRange = firstPosition
    }
}

var placeholderLabel : UILabel!
  textviewDescription.delegate = self
    placeholderLabel = UILabel()
    placeholderLabel.text = "Add a description"

   func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
             placeholderLabel.isHidden = !textviewDescription.text.isEmpty
    }

我不知道为什么人们会把这个问题复杂化....这是相当直接和简单的。下面是UITextView的一个子类，它提供了所请求的功能。

- (void)customInit
{
    self.contentMode = UIViewContentModeRedraw;
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(textChanged:) name:UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification object:nil];
}

    - (void)textChanged:(NSNotification *)notification
    {
        if (notification.object == self) {
            if(self.textStorage.length != 0 || !self.textStorage.length) {
                [self setNeedsDisplay];
            }
        }
    }


    #pragma mark - Setters

    - (void)setPlaceholderText:(NSString *)placeholderText withFont:(UIFont *)font
    {
        self.placeholderText = placeholderText;
        self.placeholderTextFont = font;

    }



    - (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect
    {
        [super drawRect:rect];
        [[UIColor lightGrayColor] setFill];

        if (self.textStorage.length != 0) {
            return;
        }

        CGRect inset = CGRectInset(rect, 8, 8);//Default rect insets for textView
        NSDictionary *attributes =  @{NSFontAttributeName: self.placeholderTextFont, NSForegroundColorAttributeName: [UIColor grayColor]};
        [self.placeholderText drawInRect:inset withAttributes:attributes];
    }`