我修改了Sam Soffes的实现以适应iOS7:

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

    if (_shouldDrawPlaceholder)
    {
        UIEdgeInsets insets = self.textContainerInset;        
        CGRect placeholderRect = CGRectMake(
                insets.left + self.textContainer.lineFragmentPadding,
                insets.top,
                self.frame.size.width - insets.left - insets.right,
                self.frame.size.height - insets.top - insets.bottom);

        [_placeholderText drawWithRect:placeholderRect
                           options:NSStringDrawingUsesLineFragmentOrigin | NSStringDrawingTruncatesLastVisibleLine
                        attributes:self.placeholderAttributes
                           context:nil];
    }
}

- (NSDictionary *)placeholderAttributes
{
    if (_placeholderAttributes == nil)
    {
        _placeholderAttributes = @
        {
            NSFontAttributeName : self.font,
            NSForegroundColorAttributeName : self.placeholderColor
        };
    }

    return _placeholderAttributes;
}

记住在可能改变字体和其他可能影响它们的东西的方法中设置_placeholderattributes = nil。如果没有问题的话，您可能还想跳过属性字典的“惰性”创建。

编辑:

如果你想让占位符在自动布局动画之后看起来更好，记得在setBounds的重写版本中调用setNeedsDisplay。

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。

一个更简单的方法是创建一个次要的UITextView，它具有与原始文本视图相同的所有属性，除了不同的textColor，并带有约束以确保它们保持对齐。然后当任何字符进入主文本视图时，隐藏克隆文本视图，否则显示带有一些文本的克隆文本视图。

这可以通过几种方式实现，但相对简单的方法是子类化UITextView并将所有这些逻辑保留在子类中。

所以，子类UITextView并允许它惰性地创建它的占位符视图

接口文件:

@interface FOOTextView : UITextView <UITextViewDelegate>

@property (nonatomic, copy) NSString *placeholderText;

- (void)checkPlaceholder;

@end

实现文件:

#import "FOOTextView.h"

@interface FOOTextView ()

@property (nonatomic, strong) UITextView *placeholderTextView;

@end

@implementation FOOTextView

- (void)checkPlaceholder {
    // Hide the placeholder text view if we've got any text
    self.placeholderTextView.hidden = (self.text.length > 0 || self.attributedText.length > 0);
}

- (void)setPlaceholderText:(NSString *)placeholderText {
    _placeholderText = [placeholderText copy];

    // Setup the placeholder text view if we haven't already
    [self setupPlaceholderTextView];

    // Apply the placeholder text to the placeholder text view
    self.placeholderTextView.text = placeholderText;
}

- (void)setupPlaceholderTextView {
    if (!self.placeholderTextView) {

        // Setup the place holder text view, duplicating our visual setup
        self.placeholderTextView = [[UITextView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectZero];
        self.placeholderTextView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = NO;
        self.placeholderTextView.textColor = self.placeholderTextColor ? self.placeholderTextColor : [UIColor colorWithRed:199.f/255.f green:199.f/255.f blue:205.f/255.f alpha:1.f];
        self.placeholderTextView.userInteractionEnabled = NO;
        self.placeholderTextView.font = self.font;
        self.placeholderTextView.textAlignment = self.textAlignment;
        self.placeholderTextView.backgroundColor = self.backgroundColor;
        self.placeholderTextView.editable = NO;

        // Our background color must be clear for the placeholder text view to show through
        self.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];

        // Insert the placeholder text view into our superview, below ourself so it shows through
        [self.superview insertSubview:self.placeholderTextView belowSubview:self];

        // Setup constraints to ensure the placeholder text view stays aligned with us
        NSLayoutConstraint *constraintCenterX = [NSLayoutConstraint constraintWithItem:self.placeholderTextView attribute:NSLayoutAttributeCenterX relatedBy:NSLayoutRelationEqual toItem:self attribute:NSLayoutAttributeCenterX multiplier:1.f constant:0.f];
        NSLayoutConstraint *constraintCenterY = [NSLayoutConstraint constraintWithItem:self.placeholderTextView attribute:NSLayoutAttributeCenterY relatedBy:NSLayoutRelationEqual toItem:self attribute:NSLayoutAttributeCenterY multiplier:1.f constant:0.f];
        NSLayoutConstraint *constraintWidth = [NSLayoutConstraint constraintWithItem:self.placeholderTextView attribute:NSLayoutAttributeWidth relatedBy:NSLayoutRelationEqual toItem:self attribute:NSLayoutAttributeWidth multiplier:1.f constant:0.f];
        NSLayoutConstraint *constraintHeight = [NSLayoutConstraint constraintWithItem:self.placeholderTextView attribute:NSLayoutAttributeHeight relatedBy:NSLayoutRelationEqual toItem:self attribute:NSLayoutAttributeHeight multiplier:1.f constant:0.f];
        NSArray *constraints = @[constraintCenterX, constraintCenterY, constraintWidth, constraintHeight];
        [self.superview addConstraints:constraints];

    }
}

- (void)setPlaceholderTextColor:(UIColor *)placeholderTextColor {
    _placeholderTextColor = placeholderTextColor;
    self.placeholderTextView.textColor = _placeholderTextColor;
}

- (void)setBackgroundColor:(UIColor *)backgroundColor {
    // We don't want a background color ourselves, instead we want our placeholder text view to have the desired background color
    [self.placeholderTextView setBackgroundColor:backgroundColor];
}

- (void)removeFromSuperview {
    // Ensure we also remove our placeholder text view
    [self.placeholderTextView removeFromSuperview];
    self.placeholderTextView = nil;
    [super removeFromSuperview];
}

#pragma mark - Text View Delegation 
- (void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView {
    [self checkPlaceholder];
}

@end

使用上面的类，如果你设置了一个FOOTextView的委托实例到它自己，一切都将开箱工作:

FOOTextView *myTextView = ...
myTextView.placeholderText = @"What's on your mind?";
myTextView.placeholderTextColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
myTextView.delegate = myTextView;

如果你想另一个对象接管作为委托，那么你只需要在textViewDidChange: delegate方法中调用文本视图的checkPlaceholder方法，例如;

FOOTextView *myTextView = ...
myTextView.placeholderText = @"What's on your mind?";
myTextView.placeholderTextColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
myTextView.delegate = self;
self.myTextView = myTextView;

- (void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView {
    // Call the checkPlaceholder method to update the visuals
    [self.myTextView checkPlaceholder];
}

Jason的答案在iOS7中看起来有点不对劲，通过调整_placeHolderLabel的偏移量来修复它:

- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect
{
    if( [[self placeholder] length] > 0 )
    {
        if (_placeHolderLabel == nil )
        {
            if ([[UIDevice currentDevice].systemVersion floatValue] >= 7)
                _placeHolderLabel = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(4,8,self.bounds.size.width - 8,0)];
            else
                _placeHolderLabel = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(8,8,self.bounds.size.width - 16,0)];
            _placeHolderLabel.lineBreakMode = NSLineBreakByWordWrapping;
            _placeHolderLabel.numberOfLines = 0;
            _placeHolderLabel.font = self.font;
            _placeHolderLabel.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
            _placeHolderLabel.textColor = self.placeholderColor;
            _placeHolderLabel.alpha = 0;
            _placeHolderLabel.tag = 999;
            [self addSubview:_placeHolderLabel];
        }

        _placeHolderLabel.text = self.placeholder;
        [_placeHolderLabel sizeToFit];
        [self sendSubviewToBack:_placeHolderLabel];
    }

    if( [[self text] length] == 0 && [[self placeholder] length] > 0 )
    {
        [[self viewWithTag:999] setAlpha:1];
    }

    [super drawRect:rect];
}

抱歉添加了另一个答案，但我只是拉出了这样的东西，这创建了最接近uitextfield的占位符。

希望这能帮助到一些人。

-(void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView{
    if(textView.textColor == [UIColor lightGrayColor]){
        textView.textColor  = [UIColor blackColor]; // look at the comment section in this answer
        textView.text       = [textView.text substringToIndex: 0];// look at the comment section in this answer
    }else if(textView.text.length == 0){
        textView.text       = @"This is some placeholder text.";
        textView.textColor  = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
        textView.selectedRange = NSMakeRange(0, 0);
    }
}

-(void)textViewDidChangeSelection:(UITextView *)textView{
    if(textView.textColor == [UIColor lightGrayColor] && (textView.selectedRange.location != 0 || textView.selectedRange.length != 0)){
        textView.selectedRange = NSMakeRange(0, 0);
    }
}

你也可以创建一个新的类TextViewWithPlaceholder作为UITextView的子类。

(这段代码有点粗糙——但我认为它在正确的轨道上。)

@interface TextViewWithPlaceholder : UITextView
{

    NSString *placeholderText;  // make a property
    UIColor *placeholderColor;  // make a property
    UIColor *normalTextColor;   // cache text color here whenever you switch to the placeholderColor
}

- (void) setTextColor: (UIColor*) color
{
   normalTextColor = color;
   [super setTextColor: color];
}

- (void) updateForTextChange
{
    if ([self.text length] == 0)
    { 
        normalTextColor = self.textColor;
        self.textColor = placeholderColor;
        self.text = placeholderText;
    }
    else
    {
        self.textColor = normalTextColor;
    }

}

在委托中，添加以下内容:

- (void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView
{
    if ([textView respondsToSelector: @selector(updateForTextChange)])
    {
        [textView updateForTextChange];
    }

}