我扩展了KmKndy的答案，这样在用户开始编辑UITextView之前，占位符仍然是可见的，而不仅仅是点击它。这反映了Twitter和Facebook应用程序的功能。我的解决方案不需要你子类和工作，如果用户类型直接或粘贴文本!

- (void)textViewDidChangeSelection:(UITextView *)textView{
    if ([textView.text isEqualToString:@"What's happening?"] && [textView.textColor isEqual:[UIColor lightGrayColor]])[textView setSelectedRange:NSMakeRange(0, 0)];

}

- (void)textViewDidBeginEditing:(UITextView *)textView{

    [textView setSelectedRange:NSMakeRange(0, 0)];
}

- (void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView
{
    if (textView.text.length != 0 && [[textView.text substringFromIndex:1] isEqualToString:@"What's happening?"] && [textView.textColor isEqual:[UIColor lightGrayColor]]){
        textView.text = [textView.text substringToIndex:1];
        textView.textColor = [UIColor blackColor]; //optional

    }
    else if(textView.text.length == 0){
        textView.text = @"What's happening?";
        textView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
        [textView setSelectedRange:NSMakeRange(0, 0)];
    }
}

- (void)textViewDidEndEditing:(UITextView *)textView
{
    if ([textView.text isEqualToString:@""]) {
        textView.text = @"What's happening?";
        textView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor]; //optional
    }
    [textView resignFirstResponder];
}

- (BOOL)textView:(UITextView *)textView shouldChangeTextInRange:(NSRange)range replacementText:(NSString *)text{
    if (textView.text.length > 1 && [textView.text isEqualToString:@"What's happening?"]) {
         textView.text = @"";
         textView.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
    }

    return YES;
}

只需要记住在创建时使用准确的文本设置myUITextView即可。

UITextView *myUITextView = [[UITextView alloc] init];
myUITextView.delegate = self;
myUITextView.text = @"What's happening?";
myUITextView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor]; //optional

在包含这些方法之前，让父类成为一个UITextView委托。

@interface MyClass () <UITextViewDelegate>
@end

我对发布的任何解决方案都不太满意，因为它们有点重。向视图中添加视图并不理想(尤其是在drawRect:)。它们都有漏洞，这也是不可接受的。

这是我的解决方案:SAMTextView

SAMTextView.h

//
//  SAMTextView.h
//  SAMTextView
//
//  Created by Sam Soffes on 8/18/10.
//  Copyright 2010-2013 Sam Soffes. All rights reserved.
//

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

/**
 UITextView subclass that adds placeholder support like UITextField has.
 */
@interface SAMTextView : UITextView

/**
 The string that is displayed when there is no other text in the text view.

 The default value is `nil`.
 */
@property (nonatomic, strong) NSString *placeholder;

/**
 The color of the placeholder.

 The default is `[UIColor lightGrayColor]`.
 */
@property (nonatomic, strong) UIColor *placeholderTextColor;

/**
 Returns the drawing rectangle for the text views’s placeholder text.

 @param bounds The bounding rectangle of the receiver.
 @return The computed drawing rectangle for the placeholder text.
 */
- (CGRect)placeholderRectForBounds:(CGRect)bounds;

@end

SAMTextView.m

//
//  SAMTextView.m
//  SAMTextView
//
//  Created by Sam Soffes on 8/18/10.
//  Copyright 2010-2013 Sam Soffes. All rights reserved.
//

#import "SAMTextView.h"

@implementation SAMTextView

#pragma mark - Accessors

@synthesize placeholder = _placeholder;
@synthesize placeholderTextColor = _placeholderTextColor;

- (void)setText:(NSString *)string {
  [super setText:string];
  [self setNeedsDisplay];
}


- (void)insertText:(NSString *)string {
  [super insertText:string];
  [self setNeedsDisplay];
}


- (void)setAttributedText:(NSAttributedString *)attributedText {
  [super setAttributedText:attributedText];
  [self setNeedsDisplay];
}


- (void)setPlaceholder:(NSString *)string {
  if ([string isEqual:_placeholder]) {
    return;
  }

  _placeholder = string;
  [self setNeedsDisplay];
}


- (void)setContentInset:(UIEdgeInsets)contentInset {
  [super setContentInset:contentInset];
  [self setNeedsDisplay];
}


- (void)setFont:(UIFont *)font {
  [super setFont:font];
  [self setNeedsDisplay];
}


- (void)setTextAlignment:(NSTextAlignment)textAlignment {
  [super setTextAlignment:textAlignment];
  [self setNeedsDisplay];
}


#pragma mark - NSObject

- (void)dealloc {
  [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self name:UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification object:self];
}


#pragma mark - UIView

- (id)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)aDecoder {
  if ((self = [super initWithCoder:aDecoder])) {
    [self initialize];
  }
  return self;
}


- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame {
  if ((self = [super initWithFrame:frame])) {
    [self initialize];
  }
  return self;
}


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

  if (self.text.length == 0 && self.placeholder) {
    rect = [self placeholderRectForBounds:self.bounds];

    UIFont *font = self.font ? self.font : self.typingAttributes[NSFontAttributeName];

    // Draw the text
    [self.placeholderTextColor set];
    [self.placeholder drawInRect:rect withFont:font lineBreakMode:NSLineBreakByTruncatingTail alignment:self.textAlignment];
  }
}


#pragma mark - Placeholder

- (CGRect)placeholderRectForBounds:(CGRect)bounds {
  // Inset the rect
  CGRect rect = UIEdgeInsetsInsetRect(bounds, self.contentInset);

  if (self.typingAttributes) {
    NSParagraphStyle *style = self.typingAttributes[NSParagraphStyleAttributeName];
    if (style) {
      rect.origin.x += style.headIndent;
      rect.origin.y += style.firstLineHeadIndent;
    }
  }

  return rect;
}


#pragma mark - Private

- (void)initialize {
  [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(textChanged:) name:UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification object:self];

  self.placeholderTextColor = [UIColor colorWithWhite:0.702f alpha:1.0f];
}


- (void)textChanged:(NSNotification *)notification {
  [self setNeedsDisplay];
}

@end

它比其他的要简单得多，因为它不使用子视图(或有泄漏)。请随意使用。

更新11/10/11:它现在是文档化的，并支持在接口生成器中使用。

更新11/24/13:指向新的回购。

我已经创建了一个快速3版本的最高排名的答案

你只需要做UITextView的子类化。

import UIKit

 class UIPlaceHolderTextView: UITextView {


//MARK: - Properties
@IBInspectable var placeholder: String?
@IBInspectable var placeholderColor: UIColor?
var placeholderLabel: UILabel?


//MARK: - Initializers
override func awakeFromNib() {
    super.awakeFromNib()


}

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

    // Use Interface Builder User Defined Runtime Attributes to set
    // placeholder and placeholderColor in Interface Builder.
    if self.placeholder == nil {
        self.placeholder = ""
    }

    if self.placeholderColor == nil {
        self.placeholderColor = UIColor.black
    }

    NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self, selector: #selector(textChanged(_:)), name: NSNotification.Name.UITextViewTextDidChange, object: nil)

}

func textChanged(_ notification: Notification) -> Void {
    if self.placeholder?.count == 0 {
        return
    }

    UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.25) {
        if self.text.count == 0 {
            self.viewWithTag(999)?.alpha = 1
        }
        else {
            self.viewWithTag(999)?.alpha = 0
        }
    }
}

// Only override draw() if you perform custom drawing.
// An empty implementation adversely affects performance during animation.
override func draw(_ rect: CGRect) {
    super.draw(rect)

    if (self.placeholder?.count ?? 0) > 0 {
        if placeholderLabel == nil {
            placeholderLabel = UILabel.init()
            placeholderLabel?.lineBreakMode = .byWordWrapping
            placeholderLabel?.numberOfLines = 0
            placeholderLabel?.font = self.font
            placeholderLabel?.backgroundColor = self.backgroundColor
            placeholderLabel?.textColor = self.placeholderColor
            placeholderLabel?.alpha = 0
            placeholderLabel?.tag = 999
            self.addSubview(placeholderLabel!)

            placeholderLabel?.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
            placeholderLabel?.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.topAnchor, constant: 7).isActive = true
            placeholderLabel?.leftAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.leftAnchor, constant: 4).isActive = true
            placeholderLabel?.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.bottomAnchor).isActive = true
            placeholderLabel?.rightAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.rightAnchor).isActive = true
        }

        placeholderLabel?.text = self.placeholder
        placeholderLabel?.sizeToFit()
        self.sendSubview(toBack: self.placeholderLabel!)
    }

    if self.text.count == 0 && (self.placeholder?.count ?? 0) > 0 {
        self.viewWithTag(999)?.alpha = 1
    }
 }
}

这完美地模仿了UITextField的占位符，其中占位符文本一直保留到您实际键入一些内容为止。

private let placeholder = "Type here"

@IBOutlet weak var textView: UITextView! {
    didSet {
        textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
        textView.text = placeholder
        textView.selectedRange = NSRange(location: 0, length: 0)
    }
}

extension ViewController: UITextViewDelegate {

    func textViewDidChangeSelection(_ textView: UITextView) {
        // Move cursor to beginning on first tap
        if textView.text == placeholder {
            textView.selectedRange = NSRange(location: 0, length: 0)
        }
    }

    func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldChangeTextIn range: NSRange, replacementText text: String) -> Bool {
        if textView.text == placeholder && !text.isEmpty {
            textView.text = nil
            textView.textColor = UIColor.black
            textView.selectedRange = NSRange(location: 0, length: 0)
        }
        return true
    }

    func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
        if textView.text.isEmpty {
            textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
            textView.text = placeholder
        }
    }
}

你能做的是在文本属性中设置文本视图的初始值，并将textColor更改为[UIColor grayColor]或类似的东西。然后，每当文本视图变为可编辑时，清除文本并显示游标，如果文本字段再次为空，则将占位符文本放回。根据需要将颜色更改为[UIColor blackColor]。

它与UITextField中的占位符功能不完全相同，但很接近。

我刚刚发现，在iOS 10中，你现在可以将UITextView转换为方法的UITextField，并在方法中设置占位符。刚试过，它不需要子类化UITextView就能工作。

下面是一个对我有用的例子:

-(void)customizeTextField:(UITextField *)textField placeholder:(NSString *)pText withColor:(UIColor *)pTextColor{

        textField.attributedPlaceholder = [[NSAttributedString alloc]
                                          initWithString:pText
                                          attributes:@{NSForegroundColorAttributeName:pTextColor}];
    }

为了将它用于UITextView，你只需要将它传递给方法，使用像这样的类型转换:

[self customizeTextField:(UITextField*)_myTextView placeholder:@"Placeholder" withColor:[UIColor blackColor]];

注:经过测试，我发现这个解决方案在iOS9上也很好。但是会在iOS8.x上导致崩溃