我建议使用pod 'UITextView+Placeholder'

pod 'UITextView+Placeholder'

在代码中

#import "UITextView+Placeholder.h"

////    

UITextView *textView = [[UITextView alloc] init];
textView.placeholder = @"How are you?";
textView.placeholderColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];

在swift 5。工作很好。

class BaseTextView: UITextView {

    // MARK: - Views
    private var placeholderLabel: UIlabel!

    // MARK: - Init
    override init(frame: CGRect, textContainer: NSTextContainer?) {
        super.init(frame: frame, textContainer: textContainer)
        setupUI()
        startupSetup()
    }

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

    deinit {
        NotificationCenter.default.removeObserver(self)
    }    
}

// MARK: - Setup UI
private extension BaseTextView {
    func setupUI() {
        addPlaceholderLabel()

        textColor = .textColor
    }

    func addPlaceholderLabel() {
        placeholderLabel = BaseLabel(frame: .zero)
        placeholderLabel.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        insertSubview(placeholderLabel, at: 0)

        placeholderLabel.alpha = 0
        placeholderLabel.numberOfLines = 0
        placeholderLabel.backgroundColor = .clear
        placeholderLabel.textColor = .lightTextColor
        placeholderLabel.lineBreakMode = .byWordWrapping
        placeholderLabel.isUserInteractionEnabled = false
        placeholderLabel.font = UIFont.openSansSemibold.withSize(12)

        placeholderLabel.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: topAnchor, constant: 8).isActive = true
        placeholderLabel.leftAnchor.constraint(equalTo: leftAnchor, constant: 5).isActive = true
        placeholderLabel.rightAnchor.constraint(lessThanOrEqualTo: rightAnchor, constant: -8).isActive = true
        placeholderLabel.bottomAnchor.constraint(lessThanOrEqualTo: bottomAnchor, constant: -8).isActive = true
    }
}

// MARK: - Startup
private extension BaseTextView {
    func startupSetup() {
        addObservers()
        textChanged(nil)
        font = UIFont.openSansSemibold.withSize(12)
    }    

    func addObservers() {
        NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self, selector: #selector(textChanged(_:)), name: UITextView.textDidChangeNotification, object: nil)
    }
}

// MARK: - Actions
private extension BaseTextView {
    @objc func textChanged(_ sender: Notification?) {
        UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.2) {
            self.placeholderLabel.alpha = self.text.count == 0 ? 1 : 0
        }    
    }
}

// MARK: - Public methods
extension BaseTextView {
    public func setPlaceholder(_ placeholder: String) {
        placeholderLabel.text = placeholder
    }
}

修改占位符文本颜色最简单的方法是通过XCode故事板接口构建器。选择感兴趣的UITextField并打开右侧的标识检查器。单击User Defined Runtime Attributes中的加号，并添加一个新行，其中Key Path为_placeholderLabel。输入颜色和值到你想要的颜色。

让我们简单点

创建一个UILabel并把它放在你的文本视图上(给文本作为占位符-设置颜色为灰色-你可以在你的xib中做这一切) 现在在头文件中声明UILabel和textviewDelegate 现在你可以简单地隐藏标签，当你点击textview

完整代码如下

头

@interface ViewController :UIViewController<UITextViewDelegate>{
 }
   @property (nonatomic,strong) IBOutlet UILabel *PlceHolder_label;
   @property (nonatomic,strong) IBOutlet UITextView *TextView;

@end

实现

@implementation UploadFoodImageViewController
@synthesize PlceHolder_label,TextView;

  - (void)viewDidLoad
    {
       [super viewDidLoad];
    }


 - (BOOL)textViewShouldBeginEditing:(UITextView *)textView{

       if([textView isEqual:TextView]){
            [PlceHolder_label setHidden:YES];
            [self.tabScrlVw setContentOffset:CGPointMake(0,150) animated:YES];
          }
      return YES;
    }

@end

别忘了连接textView和UILabel文件所有者从xib

    - (void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView
{
    placeholderLabel.hidden = YES;
}

在textview上放一个标签。

还有一个简单的答案，使用CATextLayer。

添加CATextLayer到UITextView的层。 使用UITextViewDelegate方法，简单地改变CATextLayer的颜色。

func txtViewPlaceholder() {
    let textlayer = CATextLayer()

    textlayer.frame = CGRect(x: 5, y: 5, width: 200, height: 18)
    textlayer.contentsScale = UIScreen.main.scale
    textlayer.fontSize = 12
    textlayer.alignmentMode = kCAAlignmentLeft
    textlayer.string = "Enter here"
    textlayer.isWrapped = true
    textlayer.name = "placeholder"
    textlayer.backgroundColor = UIColor.white.cgColor
    textlayer.foregroundColor = UIColor.black.cgColor

    yourTxtVw.layer.insertSublayer(textlayer, at: 0)
}

func removeAddPlaceholder(remove: Bool, textView: UITextView) {
    for layers in textView.layer.sublayers! where layers.name == "placeholder" {
        
        if remove {
            (layers as! CATextLayer).foregroundColor = UIColor.white.cgColor
        } else {
            (layers as! CATextLayer).foregroundColor = UIColor.black.cgColor
        }
        
    }
}


extension YourViewController : UITextViewDelegate {

    func textViewShouldBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) -> Bool {
    
        removeAddPlaceholder(remove: true, textView: textView)
    
        return true
    }

    func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
    
        if textView.text.count <= 0 {
            removeAddPlaceholder(remove: false, textView: textView)
        }
    }

}