我是这样做的:

UITextView2.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface UITextView2 : UITextView <UITextViewDelegate> {
 NSString *placeholder;
 UIColor *placeholderColor;
}

@property(nonatomic, retain) NSString *placeholder;
@property(nonatomic, retain) UIColor *placeholderColor;

-(void)textChanged:(NSNotification*)notif;

@end

UITextView2.m

@implementation UITextView2

@synthesize placeholder, placeholderColor;

- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame {
    if (self = [super initWithFrame:frame]) {
        [self setPlaceholder:@""];
        [self setPlaceholderColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor]];
        [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(textChanged:) name:UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification object:nil];
    }
    return self;
}

-(void)textChanged:(NSNotification*)notif {
    if ([[self placeholder] length]==0)
        return;
    if ([[self text] length]==0) {
        [[self viewWithTag:999] setAlpha:1];
    } else {
        [[self viewWithTag:999] setAlpha:0];
    }

}

- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect {
    if ([[self placeholder] length]>0) {
        UILabel *l = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(8, 8, 0, 0)];
        [l setFont:self.font];
        [l setTextColor:self.placeholderColor];
        [l setText:self.placeholder];
        [l setAlpha:0];
        [l setTag:999];
        [self addSubview:l];
        [l sizeToFit];
        [self sendSubviewToBack:l];
        [l release];
    }
    if ([[self text] length]==0 && [[self placeholder] length]>0) {
        [[self viewWithTag:999] setAlpha:1];
    }
    [super drawRect:rect];
}

- (void)dealloc {
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self];
    [super dealloc];
}


@end

我做了我自己版本的UITextView的子类。我喜欢Sam Soffes使用通知的想法，但我不喜欢drawRect: overwrite。对我来说太过分了。我认为我做了一个非常干净的实现。

你可以看看我的子类。还包括一个演示项目。

下面是swift 3.1的代码

原始代码由杰森乔治在第一个答案。

不要忘记设置你的自定义类的TextView在接口生成器UIPlaceHolderTextView，然后设置占位符和占位符属性。

import UIKit

@IBDesignable
class UIPlaceHolderTextView: UITextView {

@IBInspectable var placeholder: String = ""
@IBInspectable var placeholderColor: UIColor = UIColor.lightGray

private let uiPlaceholderTextChangedAnimationDuration: Double = 0.05
private let defaultTagValue = 999

private var placeHolderLabel: UILabel?

override func awakeFromNib() {
    super.awakeFromNib()
    NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(
        self,
        selector: #selector(textChanged),
        name: NSNotification.Name.UITextViewTextDidChange,
        object: nil
    )
}

override init(frame: CGRect, textContainer: NSTextContainer?) {
    super.init(frame: frame, textContainer: textContainer)
    NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(
        self,
        selector: #selector(textChanged),
        name: NSNotification.Name.UITextViewTextDidChange,
        object: nil
    )
}

required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
    super.init(coder: aDecoder)
    NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(
        self,
        selector: #selector(textChanged),
        name: NSNotification.Name.UITextViewTextDidChange,
        object: nil
    )
}

deinit {
    NotificationCenter.default.removeObserver(
        self,
        name: NSNotification.Name.UITextViewTextDidChange,
        object: nil
    )
}

@objc private func textChanged() {
    guard !placeholder.isEmpty else {
        return
    }
    UIView.animate(withDuration: uiPlaceholderTextChangedAnimationDuration) {
        if self.text.isEmpty {
            self.viewWithTag(self.defaultTagValue)?.alpha = CGFloat(1.0)
        }
        else {
            self.viewWithTag(self.defaultTagValue)?.alpha = CGFloat(0.0)
        }
    }
}

override var text: String! {
    didSet{
        super.text = text
        textChanged()
    }
}

override func draw(_ rect: CGRect) {
    if !placeholder.isEmpty {
        if placeHolderLabel == nil {
            placeHolderLabel = UILabel.init(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 8, width: bounds.size.width - 16, height: 0))
            placeHolderLabel!.lineBreakMode = .byWordWrapping
            placeHolderLabel!.numberOfLines = 0
            placeHolderLabel!.font = font
            placeHolderLabel!.backgroundColor = UIColor.clear
            placeHolderLabel!.textColor = placeholderColor
            placeHolderLabel!.alpha = 0
            placeHolderLabel!.tag = defaultTagValue
            self.addSubview(placeHolderLabel!)
        }

        placeHolderLabel!.text = placeholder
        placeHolderLabel!.sizeToFit()
        self.sendSubview(toBack: placeHolderLabel!)

        if text.isEmpty && !placeholder.isEmpty {
            viewWithTag(defaultTagValue)?.alpha = 1.0
        }
    }

    super.draw(rect)
}
}

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。

更简单，并且仍然考虑到用户在某些时候输入的一些文本

BOOL placeHolderTextVisible;

在viewDidLoad上，设置它为YES(或DidMoveToSuperview，或awakeFromNib)

然后,在 - (BOOL) textView:(UITextView*)textView shouldBeginEditing

    - (BOOL)textViewShouldBeginEditing:(UITextView *)textView;
{
   if (placeHolderTextVisible) {
    placeHolderTextVisible = NO;
    textView.text = @"";
   }
 return YES;
}

这里有一个更简单的解决方案，它的行为完全像UITextField的占位符，但不需要绘制自定义视图，或辞职第一响应器。

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

    if (textView.text.length == 0){
        textView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
        textView.text = placeholderText;
        [textView setSelectedRange:NSMakeRange(0, 0)];
        isPlaceholder = YES;

    } else if (isPlaceholder && ![textView.text isEqualToString:placeholderText]) {
        textView.text = [textView.text substringToIndex:1];
        textView.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
        isPlaceholder = NO;
    }

}

(else if语句中的第二个检查是针对没有输入任何内容且用户按下退格键的情况)

只需要将你的类设置为UITextViewDelegate。在viewDidLoad中，你应该这样初始化

- (void) viewDidLoad{
    // initialize placeholder text
    placeholderText = @"some placeholder";
    isPlaceholder = YES;
    self.someTextView.text = placeholderText;
    self.someTextView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
    [self.someTextView setSelectedRange:NSMakeRange(0, 0)];

    // assign UITextViewDelegate
    self.someTextView.delegate = self;
}