Add placeholder text inside UITextView in Swift?

How can I add a placeholder in a UITextView, similar to the one you can set for UITextField, in Swift?

Updated for Swift 4

UITextView doesn't inherently have a placeholder property so you'd have to create and manipulate one programmatically using UITextViewDelegate methods. I recommend using either solution #1 or #2 below depending on the desired behavior.

Note: For either solution, add UITextViewDelegate to the class and set textView.delegate = self to use the text view’s delegate methods.

---

Solution #1 - If you want the placeholder to disappear as soon as the user selects the text view:

First set the UITextView to contain the placeholder text and set it to a light gray color to mimic the look of a UITextField's placeholder text. Either do so in the viewDidLoad or upon the text view's creation.

textView.text = "Placeholder"
textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray

Then when the user begins to edit the text view, if the text view contains a placeholder (i.e. if its text color is light gray) clear the placeholder text and set the text color to black in order to accommodate the user's entry.

func textViewDidBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
    if textView.textColor == UIColor.lightGray {
        textView.text = nil
        textView.textColor = UIColor.black
    }
}

Then when the user finishes editing the text view and it's resigned as the first responder, if the text view is empty, reset its placeholder by re-adding the placeholder text and setting its color to light gray.

func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
    if textView.text.isEmpty {
        textView.text = "Placeholder"
        textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
    }
}

---

Solution #2 - If you want the placeholder to show whenever the text view is empty, even if the text view’s selected:

First set the placeholder in the viewDidLoad:

textView.text = "Placeholder"
textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
    
textView.becomeFirstResponder()
    
textView.selectedTextRange = textView.textRange(from: textView.beginningOfDocument, to: textView.beginningOfDocument)

(Note: Since the OP wanted to have the text view selected as soon as the view loads, I incorporated text view selection into the above code. If this is not your desired behavior and you do not want the text view selected upon view load, remove the last two lines from the above code chunk.)

Then utilize the shouldChangeTextInRange UITextViewDelegate method, like so:

func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldChangeTextIn range: NSRange, replacementText text: String) -> Bool {
    
    // Combine the textView text and the replacement text to
    // create the updated text string
    let currentText:String = textView.text
    let updatedText = (currentText as NSString).replacingCharacters(in: range, with: text)
    
    // If updated text view will be empty, add the placeholder
    // and set the cursor to the beginning of the text view
    if updatedText.isEmpty {
        
        textView.text = "Placeholder"
        textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
        
        textView.selectedTextRange = textView.textRange(from: textView.beginningOfDocument, to: textView.beginningOfDocument)
    }
        
    // Else if the text view's placeholder is showing and the
    // length of the replacement string is greater than 0, set 
    // the text color to black then set its text to the
    // replacement string
     else if textView.textColor == UIColor.lightGray && !text.isEmpty {
        textView.textColor = UIColor.black
        textView.text = text
    }

    // For every other case, the text should change with the usual
    // behavior...
    else {
        return true
    }

    // ...otherwise return false since the updates have already
    // been made
    return false
}

And also implement textViewDidChangeSelection to prevent the user from changing the position of the cursor while the placeholder's visible. (Note: textViewDidChangeSelection is called before the view loads so only check the text view's color if the window is visible):

func textViewDidChangeSelection(_ textView: UITextView) {
    if self.view.window != nil {
        if textView.textColor == UIColor.lightGray {
            textView.selectedTextRange = textView.textRange(from: textView.beginningOfDocument, to: textView.beginningOfDocument)
        }
    }
}

---

Floating Placeholder

---

It's simple, safe and reliable to position a placeholder label above a text view, set its font, color and manage placeholder visibility by tracking changes to the text view's character count.

Swift 5:

class NotesViewController : UIViewController, UITextViewDelegate {

    @IBOutlet var textView : UITextView!
    var placeholderLabel : UILabel!
        
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
    
    	textView.delegate = self
    	placeholderLabel = UILabel()
    	placeholderLabel.text = "Enter some text..."
    	placeholderLabel.font = .italicSystemFont(ofSize: (textView.font?.pointSize)!)
    	placeholderLabel.sizeToFit()
    	textView.addSubview(placeholderLabel)
    	placeholderLabel.frame.origin = CGPoint(x: 5, y: (textView.font?.pointSize)! / 2)
    	placeholderLabel.textColor = .lightGray
    	placeholderLabel.isHidden = !textView.text.isEmpty
    }
    
    func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
    	placeholderLabel.isHidden = !textView.text.isEmpty
    }
}

^{Swift 2: Same, except:italicSystemFontOfSize(textView.font.pointSize), UIColor.lightGrayColor}

---

Swift:

Add your text view programmatically or via Interface Builder, if the last, create the outlet:

@IBOutlet weak var yourTextView: UITextView!

Please add the delegate (UITextViewDelegate):

class ViewController: UIViewController, UITextViewDelegate {

In the viewDidLoad method, do add the following:

override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.

    yourTextView.delegate = self
    yourTextView.text = "Placeholder text goes right here..."
    yourTextView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray

Now let me introduce the magic part, add this function:

func textViewDidBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
    
    if yourTextView.textColor == UIColor.lightGray {
        yourTextView.text = ""
        yourTextView.textColor = UIColor.black
    }
}

Do note that this will execute whenever editing starts, there we will check conditions to tell the state, using the color property. Setting text to nil i do not recommend. Right after that, we set the text color to desired, in this case, black.

Now add this function too:

func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
    
    if yourTextView.text == "" {
     
        yourTextView.text = "Placeholder text ..."
        yourTextView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
    }
}

Let me insist, do not compare to nil, i have already tried that and it would not work. We then set the values back to placeholder style, and set the color back to placeholder color because it is a condition to check in textViewDidBeginEditing.

I am surprised that no one mentioned NSTextStorageDelegate. UITextViewDelegate's methods will only be triggered by user interaction, but not programmatically. E.g. when you set a text view's text property programmatically, you'll have to set the placeholder's visibility yourself, because the delegate methods will not be called.

However, with NSTextStorageDelegate's textStorage(_:didProcessEditing:range:changeInLength:) method, you'll be notified of any change to the text, even if it's done programmatically. Just assign it like this:

textView.textStorage.delegate = self

(In UITextView, this delegate property is nil by default, so it won't affect any default behaviour.)

Combine it with the UILabel technique @clearlight demonstrates, one can easily wrap the whole UITextView's placeholder implementation into an extension.

extension UITextView {
    
    private class PlaceholderLabel: UILabel { }
    
    private var placeholderLabel: PlaceholderLabel {
        if let label = subviews.compactMap( { $0 as? PlaceholderLabel }).first {
            return label
        } else {
            let label = PlaceholderLabel(frame: .zero)
            label.font = font
            addSubview(label)
            return label
        }
    }
    
    @IBInspectable
    var placeholder: String {
        get {
            return subviews.compactMap( { $0 as? PlaceholderLabel }).first?.text ?? ""
        }
        set {
            let placeholderLabel = self.placeholderLabel
            placeholderLabel.text = newValue
            placeholderLabel.numberOfLines = 0
            let width = frame.width - textContainer.lineFragmentPadding * 2
            let size = placeholderLabel.sizeThatFits(CGSize(width: width, height: .greatestFiniteMagnitude))
            placeholderLabel.frame.size.height = size.height
            placeholderLabel.frame.size.width = width
            placeholderLabel.frame.origin = CGPoint(x: textContainer.lineFragmentPadding, y: textContainerInset.top)
            
            textStorage.delegate = self
        }
    }
    
}

extension UITextView: NSTextStorageDelegate {
    
    public func textStorage(_ textStorage: NSTextStorage, didProcessEditing editedMask: NSTextStorageEditActions, range editedRange: NSRange, changeInLength delta: Int) {
        if editedMask.contains(.editedCharacters) {
            placeholderLabel.isHidden = !text.isEmpty
        }
    }
    
}

Note that the use of a private (nested) class called PlaceholderLabel. It has no implementation at all, but it provides us a way to identify the placeholder label, which is far more 'swifty' than using the tag property.

With this approach, you can still assign the delegate of the UITextView to someone else.

You don't even have to change your text views' classes. Just add the extension(s) and you will be able to assign a placeholder string to every UITextView in your project, even in the Interface Builder.

I left out the implementation of a placeholderColor property for clarity reasons, but it can be implemented for just a few more lines with a similar computed variable to placeholder.

Based on some of the great suggestions here already, I was able to put together the following lightweight, Interface-Builder-compatible subclass of UITextView, which:

• Includes configurable placeholder text, styled just like that of UITextField.
• Doesn't require any additional subviews or constraints.
• Doesn't require any delegation or other behaviour from the ViewController.
• Doesn't require any notifications.
• Keeps that placeholder text fully separated from any outside classes looking at the field's text property.

Any improvement suggestions are welcome, especially if there's any way to pull iOS's placeholder color programatically, rather than hard-coding it.

Swift v5:

import UIKit
@IBDesignable class TextViewWithPlaceholder: UITextView {
    
    override var text: String! { // Ensures that the placeholder text is never returned as the field's text
        get {
            if showingPlaceholder {
                return "" // When showing the placeholder, there's no real text to return
            } else { return super.text }
        }
        set { super.text = newValue }
    }
    @IBInspectable var placeholderText: String = ""
    @IBInspectable var placeholderTextColor: UIColor = UIColor(red: 0.78, green: 0.78, blue: 0.80, alpha: 1.0) // Standard iOS placeholder color (#C7C7CD). See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31057746/whats-the-default-color-for-placeholder-text-in-uitextfield
    private var showingPlaceholder: Bool = true // Keeps track of whether the field is currently showing a placeholder
    
    override func didMoveToWindow() {
        super.didMoveToWindow()
        if text.isEmpty {
            showPlaceholderText() // Load up the placeholder text when first appearing, but not if coming back to a view where text was already entered
        }
    }
    
    override func becomeFirstResponder() -> Bool {
        // If the current text is the placeholder, remove it
        if showingPlaceholder {
            text = nil
            textColor = nil // Put the text back to the default, unmodified color
            showingPlaceholder = false
        }
        return super.becomeFirstResponder()
    }
    
    override func resignFirstResponder() -> Bool {
        // If there's no text, put the placeholder back
        if text.isEmpty {
            showPlaceholderText()
        }
        return super.resignFirstResponder()
    }
    
    private func showPlaceholderText() {
        showingPlaceholder = true
        textColor = placeholderTextColor
        text = placeholderText
    }
}

I did this by using two different text views:

1. One in the background that is used as a placeholder.
2. One in the foreground (with a transparent background) that the user actually types in.

The idea is that once the user starts typing stuff in the foreground view, the placeholder in the background disappears (and reappears if the user deletes everything). So it behaves exactly like a placeholder for the single line text field.

Here's the code I used for it. Note that descriptionField is the field the user types in and descriptionPlaceholder is the one in the background.

func textViewDidChange(descriptionField: UITextView) {
    if descriptionField.text.isEmpty == false {
        descriptionPlaceholder.text = ""
    } else {
        descriptionPlaceholder.text = descriptionPlaceholderText
    }
}

Swift:

Add your TextView @IBOutlet:

@IBOutlet weak var txtViewMessage: UITextView!

In the viewWillAppear method, do add the following :

override func viewWillAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
    super.viewWillAppear(animated)

    txtViewMessage.delegate = self    // Give TextViewMessage delegate Method
    
    txtViewMessage.text = "Place Holder Name"
    txtViewMessage.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
}

Please add the Delegate Using extension (UITextViewDelegate):

// MARK: - UITextViewDelegate
extension ViewController: UITextViewDelegate {

    func textViewDidBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {

        if !txtViewMessage.text!.isEmpty && txtViewMessage.text! == "Place Holder Name" {
            txtViewMessage.text = ""
            txtViewMessage.textColor = UIColor.black
        }
    }

    func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
    
        if txtViewMessage.text.isEmpty {
            txtViewMessage.text = "Place Holder Name"
            txtViewMessage.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
        }
    }
}

I tried to make code convenient from clearlight's answer.

extension UITextView{

    func setPlaceholder() {
    
        let placeholderLabel = UILabel()
        placeholderLabel.text = "Enter some text..."
        placeholderLabel.font = UIFont.italicSystemFont(ofSize: (self.font?.pointSize)!)
        placeholderLabel.sizeToFit()
        placeholderLabel.tag = 222
        placeholderLabel.frame.origin = CGPoint(x: 5, y: (self.font?.pointSize)! / 2)
        placeholderLabel.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
        placeholderLabel.isHidden = !self.text.isEmpty
    
        self.addSubview(placeholderLabel)
    }

    func checkPlaceholder() {
        let placeholderLabel = self.viewWithTag(222) as! UILabel
        placeholderLabel.isHidden = !self.text.isEmpty
    }

}

usage

override func viewDidLoad() {
    textView.delegate = self
    textView.setPlaceholder()
}

func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
    textView.checkPlaceholder()
}

Here is what I'm using for getting this job done.

@IBDesignable class UIPlaceholderTextView: UITextView {
    
    var placeholderLabel: UILabel?
    
    override init(frame: CGRect, textContainer: NSTextContainer?) {
        super.init(frame: frame, textContainer: textContainer)
        sharedInit()
    }
    
    required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
        super.init(coder: aDecoder)
        sharedInit()
    }
    
    override func prepareForInterfaceBuilder() {
        sharedInit()
    }
    
    func sharedInit() {
        refreshPlaceholder()
        NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self, selector: #selector(textChanged), name: UITextView.textDidChangeNotification, object: nil)
    }

    @IBInspectable var placeholder: String? {
        didSet {
            refreshPlaceholder()
        }
    }

    @IBInspectable var placeholderColor: UIColor? = .darkGray {
        didSet {
            refreshPlaceholder()
        }
    }
    
    @IBInspectable var placeholderFontSize: CGFloat = 14 {
        didSet {
            refreshPlaceholder()
        }
    }
    
    func refreshPlaceholder() {
        if placeholderLabel == nil {
            placeholderLabel = UILabel()
            let contentView = self.subviews.first ?? self
            
            contentView.addSubview(placeholderLabel!)
            placeholderLabel?.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
            
            placeholderLabel?.leftAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.leftAnchor, constant: textContainerInset.left + 4).isActive = true
            placeholderLabel?.rightAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.rightAnchor, constant: textContainerInset.right + 4).isActive = true
            placeholderLabel?.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.topAnchor, constant: textContainerInset.top).isActive = true
            placeholderLabel?.bottomAnchor.constraint(lessThanOrEqualTo: contentView.bottomAnchor, constant: textContainerInset.bottom).isActive = true
        }
        placeholderLabel?.text = placeholder
        placeholderLabel?.textColor = placeholderColor
        placeholderLabel?.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: placeholderFontSize)
    }
    
    @objc func textChanged() {
        if self.placeholder?.isEmpty ?? true {
            return
        }
        
        UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.25) {
            if self.text.isEmpty {
                self.placeholderLabel?.alpha = 1.0
            } else {
                self.placeholderLabel?.alpha = 0.0
            }
        }
    }
    
    override var text: String! {
        didSet {
            textChanged()
        }
    }

}

I know there're several approaches similar to this but the benefits from this one are that it can:

• Set placeholder text, font size and color in IB.
• No longer shows the warning of "Scroll View has ambiguous scrollable content" in IB.
• Add animation to show/hide of placeholder.

SET value in view load

    txtVw!.autocorrectionType = UITextAutocorrectionType.No
    txtVw!.text = "Write your Placeholder"
    txtVw!.textColor = UIColor.lightGrayColor()



func textViewDidBeginEditing(textView: UITextView) {
    if (txtVw?.text == "Write your Placeholder")
        
    {
        txtVw!.text = nil
        txtVw!.textColor = UIColor.blackColor()
    }
}

func textViewDidEndEditing(textView: UITextView) {
    if txtVw!.text.isEmpty
    {
        txtVw!.text = "Write your Placeholder"
        txtVw!.textColor = UIColor.lightGrayColor()
    }
    textView.resignFirstResponder()
}

One more solution (Swift 3):

import UIKit

protocol PlaceholderTextViewDelegate {
    func placeholderTextViewDidChangeText(_ text:String)
    func placeholderTextViewDidEndEditing(_ text:String)
}

final class PlaceholderTextView: UITextView {
    
    var notifier:PlaceholderTextViewDelegate?
    
    var placeholder: String? {
        didSet {
            placeholderLabel?.text = placeholder
        }
    }
    var placeholderColor = UIColor.lightGray
    var placeholderFont = UIFont.appMainFontForSize(14.0) {
        didSet {
            placeholderLabel?.font = placeholderFont
        }
    }
    
    fileprivate var placeholderLabel: UILabel?
    
    // MARK: - LifeCycle
    
    init() {
        super.init(frame: CGRect.zero, textContainer: nil)
        awakeFromNib()
    }
    
    required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
        super.init(coder: aDecoder)
    }
    
    override func awakeFromNib() {
        super.awakeFromNib()
        
        self.delegate = self
        NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self, selector: #selector(PlaceholderTextView.textDidChangeHandler(notification:)), name: .UITextViewTextDidChange, object: nil)
        
        placeholderLabel = UILabel()
        placeholderLabel?.textColor = placeholderColor
        placeholderLabel?.text = placeholder
        placeholderLabel?.textAlignment = .left
        placeholderLabel?.numberOfLines = 0
    }
    
    override func layoutSubviews() {
        super.layoutSubviews()
        
        placeholderLabel?.font = placeholderFont
        
        var height:CGFloat = placeholderFont.lineHeight
        if let data = placeholderLabel?.text {
                        
            let expectedDefaultWidth:CGFloat = bounds.size.width
            let fontSize:CGFloat = placeholderFont.pointSize
            
            let textView = UITextView()
            textView.text = data
            textView.font = UIFont.appMainFontForSize(fontSize)
            let sizeForTextView = textView.sizeThatFits(CGSize(width: expectedDefaultWidth,
                                                               height: CGFloat.greatestFiniteMagnitude))
            let expectedTextViewHeight = sizeForTextView.height
            
            if expectedTextViewHeight > height {
                height = expectedTextViewHeight
            }
        }
        
        placeholderLabel?.frame = CGRect(x: 5, y: 0, width: bounds.size.width - 16, height: height)
        
        if text.isEmpty {
            addSubview(placeholderLabel!)
            bringSubview(toFront: placeholderLabel!)
        } else {
            placeholderLabel?.removeFromSuperview()
        }
    }
    
    func textDidChangeHandler(notification: Notification) {
        layoutSubviews()
    }
    
}

extension PlaceholderTextView : UITextViewDelegate {
    // MARK: - UITextViewDelegate
    func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldChangeTextIn range: NSRange, replacementText text: String) -> Bool {
        if(text == "\n") {
            textView.resignFirstResponder()
            return false
        }
        return true
    }
    
    func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
        notifier?.placeholderTextViewDidChangeText(textView.text)
    }
    
    func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
        notifier?.placeholderTextViewDidEndEditing(textView.text)
    }
}

result

A simple and quick solution that works for me is:

@IBDesignable
class PlaceHolderTextView: UITextView {

    @IBInspectable var placeholder: String = "" {
         didSet{
             updatePlaceHolder()
        }
    }

    @IBInspectable var placeholderColor: UIColor = UIColor.gray {
        didSet {
            updatePlaceHolder()
        }
    }

    private var originalTextColor = UIColor.darkText
    private var originalText: String = ""

    private func updatePlaceHolder() {

        if self.text == "" || self.text == placeholder  {

            self.text = placeholder
            self.textColor = placeholderColor
            if let color = self.textColor {
            
                self.originalTextColor = color
            }
            self.originalText = ""
        } else {
            self.textColor = self.originalTextColor
            self.originalText = self.text
        }
    
    }

    override func becomeFirstResponder() -> Bool {
        let result = super.becomeFirstResponder()
        self.text = self.originalText
        self.textColor = self.originalTextColor
        return result
    }
    override func resignFirstResponder() -> Bool {
        let result = super.resignFirstResponder()
        updatePlaceHolder()
    
        return result
    }
}

Swift 3.2

extension EditProfileVC:UITextViewDelegate{

    func textViewDidBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
        if textView.textColor == UIColor.lightGray {
            textView.text = nil
            textView.textColor = UIColor.black
       }
    }
    func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
        if textView.text.isEmpty {
            textView.text = "Placeholder"
            textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
        }
    }
}

First when user start editing textViewDidBeginEditing call and then check the if colour of text grey means user didn't write anything then set as textview nil and change the colour to black for user texting.

When user end editing textViewDidEndEditing is call and check if user doesn't write anything in textview then text set as grey colour with text "PlaceHolder"

Here is my way of solving this problem (Swift 4):

The idea was to make the simplest possible solution which allows to use placeholders of different colors, resizes to placeholders size, will not overwrite a delegate meanwhile keeping all UITextView functions work as expected.

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) }
}

We can implement textview PlaceHolder quite easily if we are Using pod IQKeyboardManagerSwift in our project just have to follow 4 steps

1. We have to assign the class IQTextView to our TextView class.
2. We have to import the IQKeyboardManagerSwift in our Controller page
3. Last but not least make the outlet of the textView on the Controller page // if you want :)
4. Give the textView some place holder text through the storyboard inspectable

Swift Answer

Here is the custom class, that animates placeholder.

class CustomTextView: UITextView {
    
    //   MARK: - public
    
    public var placeHolderText: String? = "Enter Reason.."
    
    public lazy var placeHolderLabel: UILabel! = {
        let placeHolderLabel = UILabel(frame: .zero)
        placeHolderLabel.numberOfLines = 0
        placeHolderLabel.backgroundColor = .clear
        placeHolderLabel.alpha = 0.5
        return placeHolderLabel
    }()
    
    //   MARK: - Init
    
    override init(frame: CGRect, textContainer: NSTextContainer?) {
        super.init(frame: frame, textContainer: textContainer)
        enableNotifications()
    }
    
    required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
        super.init(coder: aDecoder)
        enableNotifications()
    }
    
    func setup() {
        placeHolderLabel.frame = CGRect(x: 8, y: 8, width: self.bounds.size.width - 16, height: 15)
        placeHolderLabel.sizeToFit()
    }
    
    //   MARK: - Cycle
    
    override func awakeFromNib() {
        super.awakeFromNib()
        
        textContainerInset = UIEdgeInsets(top: 8, left: 5, bottom: 8, right: 8)
        returnKeyType = .done
        addSubview(placeHolderLabel)
        placeHolderLabel.frame = CGRect(x: 8, y: 8, width: self.bounds.size.width - 16, height: 15)
        placeHolderLabel.textColor = textColor
        placeHolderLabel.font = font
        placeHolderLabel.text = placeHolderText
        bringSubviewToFront(placeHolderLabel)
    }
    
    override func layoutSubviews() {
        super.layoutSubviews()
        setup()
    }
    
    //   MARK: - Notifications
    
    private func enableNotifications() {
        NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self, selector: #selector(textDidChangeNotification(_:)), name: UITextView.textDidChangeNotification , object: nil)
    }
    
    @objc func textDidChangeNotification(_ notify: Notification) {
        guard self == notify.object as? UITextView else { return }
        guard placeHolderText != nil else { return }
        
        UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.25, animations: {
            self.placeHolderLabel.alpha = (self.text.count == 0) ? 0.5 : 0
        }, completion: nil)
    }
    
}

I don't know why people over complicate this issue so much.... It's fairly straight forward and simple. Here's a subclass of UITextView that provides the requested functionality.

- (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];
    }`

This is my ready to use solution if you are working with multiple text views

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
    }
}

Swift - I wrote a class that inherited UITextView and I added a UILabel as a subview to act as a placeholder.

  import UIKit
  @IBDesignable
  class HintedTextView: UITextView {

      @IBInspectable var hintText: String = "hintText" {
          didSet{
              hintLabel.text = hintText
          }
      }

      private lazy var hintLabel: UILabel = {
          let label = UILabel()
          label.font = UIFont.systemFontOfSize(16)
          label.textColor = UIColor.lightGrayColor()
          label.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
          return label
      }()


      override init(frame: CGRect, textContainer: NSTextContainer?) {
          super.init(frame: frame, textContainer: textContainer)
          setupView()
      }

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

      override func prepareForInterfaceBuilder() {
         super.prepareForInterfaceBuilder()
         setupView()
      }

      private func setupView() {
    
        translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        delegate = self
        font = UIFont.systemFontOfSize(16)

        addSubview(hintLabel)
    
        NSLayoutConstraint.activateConstraints([
        
           hintLabel.leftAnchor.constraintEqualToAnchor(leftAnchor, constant: 4),
           hintLabel.rightAnchor.constraintEqualToAnchor(rightAnchor, constant: 8),
           hintLabel.topAnchor.constraintEqualToAnchor(topAnchor, constant: 4),
           hintLabel.heightAnchor.constraintEqualToConstant(30)
         ])
        }

      override func layoutSubviews() {
        super.layoutSubviews()
        setupView()
     }

}

Swift 3.1

This extension worked well for me: https://github.com/devxoul/UITextView-Placeholder

Here is a code snippet:

Install it via pod:

pod 'UITextView+Placeholder', '~> 1.2'

Import it to your class

import UITextView_Placeholder

And add placeholder property to your already created UITextView

textView.placeholder = "Put some detail"

Thats it... Here how it looks (Third box is a UITextView)

I had to dispatch queue to get my placeholder text to reappear once editing was completed.

func textViewDidBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {

    if textView.text == "Description" {
        textView.text = nil
    }
}

func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {

    if textView.text.isEmpty {
        DispatchQueue.main.async {
            textView.text = "Description"
        }
    }
}

Contrary to just about every answer on this post, UITextView does have a placeholder property. For reasons beyond my comprehension, it is only exposed in IB, as such:

<userDefinedRuntimeAttributes>
  <userDefinedRuntimeAttribute type="string" keyPath="placeholder" value="My Placeholder"/>
</userDefinedRuntimeAttributes>

So if you are using storyboards and a static placeholder will suffice, just set the property on the inspector.

You can also set this property in code like this:

textView.setValue("My Placeholder", forKeyPath: "placeholder")

Its cloudy as to weather this is accessed via private API, as the property is exposed.

I haven't tried submitting with this method. But I will be submitting this way shortly and will update this answer accordingly.

UPDATE:

I have shipped this code in multiple releases with no issues from Apple.

UPDATE: This will only work in Xcode pre 11.2

Swift 4, 4.2 and 5

[![@IBOutlet var detailTextView: UITextView!

override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        detailTextView.delegate = self
}

extension ContactUsViewController : UITextViewDelegate {
    
    public func textViewDidBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
        if textView.text == "Write your message here..." {
            detailTextView.text = ""
            detailTextView.textColor = UIColor.init(red: 0/255, green: 0/255, blue: 0/255, alpha: 0.86)
            
        }
        textView.becomeFirstResponder()
    }
    
    public func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
        
        if textView.text == "" {
            detailTextView.text = "Write your message here..."
            detailTextView.textColor = UIColor.init(red: 0/255, green: 0/255, blue: 0/255, alpha: 0.30)
        }
        textView.resignFirstResponder()
    }
[![}][1]][1]

Swift 5.2

Standalone class

Use this if you want a class which you can use anywhere as it is self contained

import UIKit
class PlaceHolderTextView:UITextView, UITextViewDelegate{
var placeholderText = "placeholderText"

override func willMove(toSuperview newSuperview: UIView?) {
    textColor = .lightText
    delegate = self
}

func textViewDidBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
    if textView.text == placeholderText{
        placeholderText = textView.text
        textView.text = ""
        textView.textColor = .darkText
    }
}

func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
    if textView.text == ""{
        textView.text = placeholderText
        textColor = .lightText
    }
}    
}

The key here is the willMove(toSuperView:) function as it allows you to setup the view before being added to another view's hierarchy (similar to viewDidLoad/viewWillAppear in ViewControllers)

No need to add any third party library. Just use below code...

class SubmitReviewVC : UIViewController, UITextViewDelegate {

@IBOutlet var txtMessage : UITextView!
var lblPlaceHolder : UILabel!

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()

    txtMessage.delegate = self
    lblPlaceHolder = UILabel()
    lblPlaceHolder.text = "Enter message..."
    lblPlaceHolder.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: txtMessage.font!.pointSize)
    lblPlaceHolder.sizeToFit()
    txtMessage.addSubview(lblPlaceHolder)
    lblPlaceHolder.frame.origin = CGPoint(x: 5, y: (txtMessage.font?.pointSize)! / 2)
    lblPlaceHolder.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
    lblPlaceHolder.isHidden = !txtMessage.text.isEmpty
}

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

}

There is no such property in ios to add placeholder directly in TextView rather you can add a label and show/hide on the change in textView. SWIFT 2.0 and make sure to implement the textviewdelegate

func textViewDidChange(TextView: UITextView)
{

 if  txtShortDescription.text == ""
    {
        self.lblShortDescription.hidden = false
    }
    else
    {
        self.lblShortDescription.hidden = true
    }

}

I like @nerdist's solution. Based on that, I created an extension to UITextView:

import Foundation
import UIKit

extension UITextView
{
  private func add(_ placeholder: UILabel) {
    for view in self.subviews {
        if let lbl = view as? UILabel  {
            if lbl.text == placeholder.text {
                lbl.removeFromSuperview()
            }
        }
    }
    self.addSubview(placeholder)
  }

  func addPlaceholder(_ placeholder: UILabel?) {
    if let ph = placeholder {
      ph.numberOfLines = 0  // support for multiple lines
      ph.font = UIFont.italicSystemFont(ofSize: (self.font?.pointSize)!)
      ph.sizeToFit()
      self.add(ph)
      ph.frame.origin = CGPoint(x: 5, y: (self.font?.pointSize)! / 2)
      ph.textColor = UIColor(white: 0, alpha: 0.3)
      updateVisibility(ph)
    }
  }

  func updateVisibility(_ placeHolder: UILabel?) {
    if let ph = placeHolder {
      ph.isHidden = !self.text.isEmpty
    }
  }
}

In a ViewController class, for example, this is how I use it:

class MyViewController: UIViewController, UITextViewDelegate {
  private var notePlaceholder: UILabel!
  @IBOutlet weak var txtNote: UITextView!
  ...
  // UIViewController
  override func viewDidLoad() {
    notePlaceholder = UILabel()
    notePlaceholder.text = "title\nsubtitle\nmore..."
    txtNote.addPlaceholder(notePlaceholder)
    ...
  }

  // UITextViewDelegate
  func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
    txtNote.updateVisbility(notePlaceholder)
    ...
  }

Placeholder on UITextview!

UPDATE:

In case you change textview's text in code, remember to call updateVisibitly method to hide placeholder:

txtNote.text = "something in code"
txtNote.updateVisibility(self.notePlaceholder) // hide placeholder if text is not empty.

To prevent the placeholder being added more than once, a private add() function is added in extension.

In swift2.2:

public class CustomTextView: UITextView {

private struct Constants {
    static let defaultiOSPlaceholderColor = UIColor(red: 0.0, green: 0.0, blue: 0.0980392, alpha: 0.22)
}
private let placeholderLabel: UILabel = UILabel()

private var placeholderLabelConstraints = [NSLayoutConstraint]()

@IBInspectable public var placeholder: String = "" {
    didSet {
        placeholderLabel.text = placeholder
    }
}

@IBInspectable public var placeholderColor: UIColor = CustomTextView.Constants.defaultiOSPlaceholderColor {
    didSet {
        placeholderLabel.textColor = placeholderColor
    }
}

override public var font: UIFont! {
    didSet {
        placeholderLabel.font = font
    }
}

override public var textAlignment: NSTextAlignment {
    didSet {
        placeholderLabel.textAlignment = textAlignment
    }
}

override public var text: String! {
    didSet {
        textDidChange()
    }
}

override public var attributedText: NSAttributedString! {
    didSet {
        textDidChange()
    }
}

override public var textContainerInset: UIEdgeInsets {
    didSet {
        updateConstraintsForPlaceholderLabel()
    }
}

override public init(frame: CGRect, textContainer: NSTextContainer?) {
    super.init(frame: frame, textContainer: textContainer)
    commonInit()
}

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

private func commonInit() {
    NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().addObserver(self,
                                                     selector: #selector(textDidChange),
                                                     name: UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification,
                                                     object: nil)
    
    placeholderLabel.font = font
    placeholderLabel.textColor = placeholderColor
    placeholderLabel.textAlignment = textAlignment
    placeholderLabel.text = placeholder
    placeholderLabel.numberOfLines = 0
    placeholderLabel.backgroundColor = UIColor.clearColor()
    placeholderLabel.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
    addSubview(placeholderLabel)
    updateConstraintsForPlaceholderLabel()
}

private func updateConstraintsForPlaceholderLabel() {
    var newConstraints = NSLayoutConstraint.constraintsWithVisualFormat("H:|-(\(textContainerInset.left + textContainer.lineFragmentPadding))-[placeholder]",
                                                                        options: [],
                                                                        metrics: nil,
                                                                        views: ["placeholder": placeholderLabel])
    newConstraints += NSLayoutConstraint.constraintsWithVisualFormat("V:|-(\(textContainerInset.top))-[placeholder]",
                                                                     options: [],
                                                                     metrics: nil,
                                                                     views: ["placeholder": placeholderLabel])
    newConstraints.append(NSLayoutConstraint(
        item: placeholderLabel,
        attribute: .Width,
        relatedBy: .Equal,
        toItem: self,
        attribute: .Width,
        multiplier: 1.0,
        constant: -(textContainerInset.left + textContainerInset.right + textContainer.lineFragmentPadding * 2.0)
        ))
    removeConstraints(placeholderLabelConstraints)
    addConstraints(newConstraints)
    placeholderLabelConstraints = newConstraints
}

@objc private func textDidChange() {
    placeholderLabel.hidden = !text.isEmpty
}

public override func layoutSubviews() {
    super.layoutSubviews()
    placeholderLabel.preferredMaxLayoutWidth = textContainer.size.width - textContainer.lineFragmentPadding * 2.0
}

deinit {
    NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().removeObserver(self,
                                                        name: UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification,
                                                        object: nil)
}

}

In swift3:

import UIKit

class CustomTextView: UITextView {

private struct Constants {
    static let defaultiOSPlaceholderColor = UIColor(red: 0.0, green: 0.0, blue: 0.0980392, alpha: 0.22)
}
private let placeholderLabel: UILabel = UILabel()

private var placeholderLabelConstraints = [NSLayoutConstraint]()

@IBInspectable public var placeholder: String = "" {
    didSet {
        placeholderLabel.text = placeholder
    }
}

@IBInspectable public var placeholderColor: UIColor = CustomTextView.Constants.defaultiOSPlaceholderColor {
    didSet {
        placeholderLabel.textColor = placeholderColor
    }
}

override public var font: UIFont! {
    didSet {
        placeholderLabel.font = font
    }
}

override public var textAlignment: NSTextAlignment {
    didSet {
        placeholderLabel.textAlignment = textAlignment
    }
}

override public var text: String! {
    didSet {
        textDidChange()
    }
}

override public var attributedText: NSAttributedString! {
    didSet {
        textDidChange()
    }
}

override public var textContainerInset: UIEdgeInsets {
    didSet {
        updateConstraintsForPlaceholderLabel()
    }
}

override public init(frame: CGRect, textContainer: NSTextContainer?) {
    super.init(frame: frame, textContainer: textContainer)
    commonInit()
}

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

private func commonInit() {
    NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self,
                                                     selector: #selector(textDidChange),
                                                     name: NSNotification.Name.UITextViewTextDidChange,
                                                     object: nil)
    
    placeholderLabel.font = font
    placeholderLabel.textColor = placeholderColor
    placeholderLabel.textAlignment = textAlignment
    placeholderLabel.text = placeholder
    placeholderLabel.numberOfLines = 0
    placeholderLabel.backgroundColor = UIColor.clear
    placeholderLabel.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
    addSubview(placeholderLabel)
    updateConstraintsForPlaceholderLabel()
}

private func updateConstraintsForPlaceholderLabel() {
    var newConstraints = NSLayoutConstraint.constraints(withVisualFormat: "H:|-(\(textContainerInset.left + textContainer.lineFragmentPadding))-[placeholder]",
        options: [],
        metrics: nil,
        views: ["placeholder": placeholderLabel])
    newConstraints += NSLayoutConstraint.constraints(withVisualFormat: "V:|-(\(textContainerInset.top))-[placeholder]",
        options: [],
        metrics: nil,
        views: ["placeholder": placeholderLabel])
    newConstraints.append(NSLayoutConstraint(
        item: placeholderLabel,
        attribute: .width,
        relatedBy: .equal,
        toItem: self,
        attribute: .width,
        multiplier: 1.0,
        constant: -(textContainerInset.left + textContainerInset.right + textContainer.lineFragmentPadding * 2.0)
    ))
    removeConstraints(placeholderLabelConstraints)
    addConstraints(newConstraints)
    placeholderLabelConstraints = newConstraints
}

@objc private func textDidChange() {
    placeholderLabel.isHidden = !text.isEmpty
}

public override func layoutSubviews() {
    super.layoutSubviews()
    placeholderLabel.preferredMaxLayoutWidth = textContainer.size.width - textContainer.lineFragmentPadding * 2.0
}

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

}

I wrote a class in swift. You need to import this class whenever required.

I can't add comment because of reputation. add one more delegate need in @clearlight answer.

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

is need

because textViewDidChange is not called first time

no there is not any placeholder available for textview. you have to put label above it when user enter in textview then hide it or set by default value when user enters remove all values.

func setPlaceholder(){
var placeholderLabel = UILabel()
        placeholderLabel.text = "Describe your need..."
        placeholderLabel.font = UIFont.init(name: "Lato-Regular", size: 15.0) ?? UIFont.boldSystemFont(ofSize: 14.0)
        placeholderLabel.sizeToFit()
        descriptionTextView.addSubview(placeholderLabel)
        placeholderLabel.frame.origin = CGPoint(x: 5, y: (descriptionTextView.font?.pointSize)! / 2)
        placeholderLabel.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
        placeholderLabel.isHidden = !descriptionTextView.text.isEmpty
}



//Delegate Method.

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

Our solution avoids mucking with the UITextView text and textColor properties, which is handy if you're maintaining a character counter.

It's simple:

1. Create a dummy UITextView in Storyboard with the same properties as the master UITextView. Assign placeholder text to the dummy text.

2. Align the top, left, and right edges of the two UITextViews.

3. Place the dummy behind the master.

4. Override the textViewDidChange(textView:) delegate function of the master, and show the dummy if the master has 0 characters. Otherwise, show the master.

This assumes both UITextViews have transparent backgrounds. If they do not, place the dummy on top when there are 0 characters, and push it underneath when there are > 0 characters. You will also have to swap responders to make sure the cursor follows the right UITextView.

I believe this is a very clean solution. It adds a dummy text view underneath the actual text view and shows or hides it depending on the text in the actual text view:

import Foundation
import UIKit

class TextViewWithPlaceholder: UITextView {

    private var placeholderTextView: UITextView = UITextView()

    var placeholder: String? {
        didSet {
            placeholderTextView.text = placeholder
        }
    }

    override var text: String! {
        didSet {
            placeholderTextView.isHidden = text.isEmpty == false
        }
    }

    override init(frame: CGRect, textContainer: NSTextContainer?) {
        super.init(frame: frame, textContainer: textContainer)
        commonInit()
    }

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

    private func commonInit() {
        applyCommonTextViewAttributes(to: self)
        configureMainTextView()
        addPlaceholderTextView()
        NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self,
                                               selector: #selector(textDidChange),
                                               name: UITextView.textDidChangeNotification,
                                               object: nil)
    }

    func addPlaceholderTextView() {
        applyCommonTextViewAttributes(to: placeholderTextView)
        configurePlaceholderTextView()
        insertSubview(placeholderTextView, at: 0)
    }

    private func applyCommonTextViewAttributes(to textView: UITextView) {
        textView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        textView.textContainer.lineFragmentPadding = 0
        textView.textContainerInset = UIEdgeInsets(top: 10,
                                                   left: 10,
                                                   bottom: 10,
                                                   right: 10)
    }

    private func configureMainTextView() {
        // Do any configuration of the actual text view here
    }

    private func configurePlaceholderTextView() {
        placeholderTextView.text = placeholder
        placeholderTextView.font = font
        placeholderTextView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
        placeholderTextView.frame = bounds
        placeholderTextView.autoresizingMask = [.flexibleWidth, .flexibleHeight]
    }

    override func layoutSubviews() {
        super.layoutSubviews()
        placeholderTextView.frame = bounds
    }

    @objc func textDidChange() {
        placeholderTextView.isHidden = !text.isEmpty
    }

}

SWIFTUI

Here is a Swiftui TextView made using UIVIewRepresentable that has placeholder functionality and border colors

struct TextView: UIViewRepresentable {

@Binding var text: String
var placeholderText: String
var textStyle: UIFont.TextStyle

func makeUIView(context: Context) -> UITextView {
    let textView = UITextView()

    textView.font = UIFont.preferredFont(forTextStyle: textStyle)
    textView.autocapitalizationType = .sentences
    textView.isSelectable = true
    textView.isUserInteractionEnabled = true
    textView.delegate = context.coordinator
    textView.layer.borderWidth = 0.6
    textView.layer.borderColor = UIColor.lightGray.cgColor
    textView.layer.cornerRadius = 10
    textView.text = placeholderText
    textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
    return textView
}

func updateUIView(_ uiView: UITextView, context: Context) {
    uiView.text = text
    uiView.font = UIFont.preferredFont(forTextStyle: textStyle)
}

func makeCoordinator() -> Coordinator {
    Coordinator(self)
}
 
class Coordinator: NSObject, UITextViewDelegate {
    var parent: TextView
 
    init(_ parent: TextView) {
        self.parent = parent
    }
 
    func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
        self.parent.text = textView.text
    }
    
    func textViewDidBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
        if textView.textColor == UIColor.lightGray {
            textView.text = nil
            textView.textColor = UIColor.black
        }
    }
    
    func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
        if textView.text.isEmpty {
            textView.text = self.parent.placeholderText
            textView.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
        }
    }
}

}

then in your View you can use it like this

TextView(text: self.$viewModel.addPostCommentText, placeholderText: "Share your story about this cash", textStyle: .body)
                .padding()
                .frame(height: 150)

Protocol version of clearlight's answer above, because protocols are great. Pop in it where ever you please. Dunk!

extension UITextViewPlaceholder where Self: UIViewController {

    // Use this in ViewController's ViewDidLoad method.
    func addPlaceholder(text: String, toTextView: UITextView, font: UIFont? = nil) {
        placeholderLabel = UILabel()
        placeholderLabel.text = text
        placeholderLabel.font = font ?? UIFont.italicSystemFont(ofSize: (toTextView.font?.pointSize)!)
        placeholderLabel.sizeToFit()
        toTextView.addSubview(placeholderLabel)
        placeholderLabel.frame.origin = CGPoint(x: 5, y: (toTextView.font?.pointSize)! / 2)
        placeholderLabel.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
        placeholderLabel.isHidden = !toTextView.text.isEmpty
    }
    
    // Use this function in the ViewController's textViewDidChange delegate method.
    func textViewWithPlaceholderDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
        placeholderLabel.isHidden = !textView.text.isEmpty
    }
}

TEXT VIEW DELEGATE METHODS

Use these two delegate methods and also write UITextViewDelegate in your class

func textViewDidBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
    if (commentsTextView.text == "Type Your Comments")
    {
        commentsTextView.text = nil
        commentsTextView.textColor = UIColor.darkGray
    }
}

func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
    if commentsTextView.text.isEmpty
    {
        commentsTextView.text = "Type Your Comments"
        commentsTextView.textColor = UIColor.darkGray
    }
    textView.resignFirstResponder()
}

Here's something that can be dropped into a UIStackView, it will size itself using an internal height constraint. Tweaking may be required to suit specific requirements.

import UIKit

public protocol PlaceholderTextViewDelegate: class {
  func placeholderTextViewTextChanged(_ textView: PlaceholderTextView, text: String)
}

public class PlaceholderTextView: UIView {

  public weak var delegate: PlaceholderTextViewDelegate?
  private var heightConstraint: NSLayoutConstraint?

  public override init(frame: CGRect) {
    self.allowsNewLines = true

    super.init(frame: frame)

    self.heightConstraint = self.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 0)
    self.heightConstraint?.isActive = true

    self.addSubview(self.placeholderTextView)
    self.addSubview(self.textView)

    self.pinToCorners(self.placeholderTextView)
    self.pinToCorners(self.textView)

    self.updateHeight()
  }

  public override func didMoveToSuperview() {
    super.didMoveToSuperview()

    self.updateHeight()
  }

  private func pinToCorners(_ view: UIView) {
    NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
      view.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.leadingAnchor),
      view.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.trailingAnchor),
      view.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.topAnchor),
      view.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.bottomAnchor)
    ])
  }

  // Accessors
  public var text: String? {
    didSet {
      self.textView.text = text
      self.textViewDidChange(self.textView)
      self.updateHeight()
    }
  }

  public var textColor: UIColor? {
    didSet {
      self.textView.textColor = textColor
      self.updateHeight()
    }
  }

  public var font: UIFont? {
    didSet {
      self.textView.font = font
      self.placeholderTextView.font = font
      self.updateHeight()
    }
  }

  public override var tintColor: UIColor? {
    didSet {
      self.textView.tintColor = tintColor
      self.placeholderTextView.tintColor = tintColor
    }
  }

  public var placeholderText: String? {
    didSet {
      self.placeholderTextView.text = placeholderText
      self.updateHeight()
    }
  }

  public var placeholderTextColor: UIColor? {
    didSet {
      self.placeholderTextView.textColor = placeholderTextColor
      self.updateHeight()
    }
  }

  public var allowsNewLines: Bool

  public required init?(coder _: NSCoder) {
    fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
  }

  private lazy var textView: UITextView = self.newTextView()
  private lazy var placeholderTextView: UITextView = self.newTextView()

  private func newTextView() -> UITextView {
    let textView = UITextView()
    textView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
    textView.isScrollEnabled = false
    textView.delegate = self
    textView.backgroundColor = .clear
    return textView
  }

  private func updateHeight() {
    let maxSize = CGSize(width: self.frame.size.width, height: .greatestFiniteMagnitude)

    let textViewSize = self.textView.sizeThatFits(maxSize)
    let placeholderSize = self.placeholderTextView.sizeThatFits(maxSize)

    let maxHeight = ceil(CGFloat.maximum(textViewSize.height, placeholderSize.height))

    self.heightConstraint?.constant = maxHeight
  }
}

extension PlaceholderTextView: UITextViewDelegate {
  public func textViewDidChangeSelection(_: UITextView) {
    self.placeholderTextView.alpha = self.textView.text.isEmpty ? 1 : 0
    self.updateHeight()
  }

  public func textViewDidChange(_: UITextView) {
    self.delegate?.placeholderTextViewTextChanged(self, text: self.textView.text)
  }

  public func textView(_: UITextView, shouldChangeTextIn _: NSRange,
                       replacementText text: String) -> Bool {
    let containsNewLines = text.rangeOfCharacter(from: .newlines)?.isEmpty == .some(false)
    guard !containsNewLines || self.allowsNewLines else { return false }

    return true
  }
}

Another solution could be to use keyboardWillHide and keyboardWillShow notifications, as I did.

First you need to handle listening, and unlistening to the notifications in the viewWillAppear and viewWillAppear methods respectively (to handle memory leaks).

override func viewWillAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
    super.viewWillAppear(animated)
    setupKeyboardNotificationListeners(enable: true)
}

override func viewWillDisappear(_ animated: Bool) {
    super.viewWillDisappear(animated)
    setupKeyboardNotificationListeners(enable: false)
}

Then the method to handle listening/unlistening to the notifications:

private func setupKeyboardNotificationListeners(enable: Bool) {
        if enable {
            NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self, selector: #selector(self.keyboardWillShow), name: NSNotification.Name.UIKeyboardWillShow, object: nil)
            NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self, selector: #selector(self.keyboardWillHide), name: NSNotification.Name.UIKeyboardWillHide, object: nil)
        } else {
            NotificationCenter.default.removeObserver(self)
        }
    }

Then in the both methods for keyboardWillHide and keyboardWillShow you handle the placeholder and color changes of the text.

@objc func keyboardWillShow(notification: NSNotification) {
    if self.textView.text == self.placeholder {
        self.textView.text = ""
        self.textView.textColor = .black
    }
}

@objc func keyboardWillHide(notification: NSNotification) {
    if self.textView.text.isEmpty {
        self.textView.text = self.placeholder
        self.textView.textColor = .lightGrey
    }
}

I found this solution to be the best one so far since the text will be removed as soon as the keyboard appears instead of when the user starts typing, which can cause confusion.

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

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

there is my simple version of UITextView with placeholder. The main idea is:

• hide placeholder if user starts editing and placeholder is visible
• show placeholder if user ends editing and text of text view is empty.

class PlaceholderTextView: UITextView {

    var placeholder = "" {
        didSet {
            if isPlaceholderVisible {
                showPlaceholder()
            }
        }
    }

    var isPlaceholderVisible = true {
        didSet {
            isPlaceholderVisible ? showPlaceholder() : hidePlaceholder()
        }
    }

    init() {
        super.init(frame: .zero, textContainer: nil)
        delegate = self
    }

    required init?(coder: NSCoder) {
        fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
    }

    private func showPlaceholder() {
        text = placeholder
        // Set other things like color of text for placeholder, ...
    }

    private func hidePlaceholder() {
        text = ""
        // Set other things like color of text for normal input, ...
    }

}

extension PlaceholderTextView: UITextViewDelegate {
    func textViewDidBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
        if isPlaceholderVisible {
            isPlaceholderVisible = false
        }
    }

    func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
        if text.isEmpty {
            isPlaceholderVisible = true
        }
    }
}

This is what I did. Leaning towards code clarity and simplicity. I needed to add a textView that will get some additional notes on my app. This additional notes can be created or amended after being saved. See below. 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()
        }
    }
}

import UIKit
import RxSwift

@IBDesignable class TextViewWithPlaceholder: UITextView {
    
    //MARK: - Propertise
    @IBInspectable var placeholderText: String = ""
    
    let placeholderLabel = LocalizedUILabel()
    private let hidePlaceholderObserver = PublishSubject<Bool>()
    let disposeBag = DisposeBag()
    
    
    //MARK: - Did Move To Window
    override func didMoveToWindow() {
        super.didMoveToWindow()
        observeOnTextViewEditing()
        configurePlaceholder()
    }
    
    
    //MARK: - Observe On Text View Editing
    private func observeOnTextViewEditing() {
        rx.text.subscribe(onNext: { [weak self] selectedText in
            guard let self = self else { return }
            self.hidePlaceholderObserver.onNext((selectedText?.isEmpty ?? true) ? false : true)
            
        }).disposed(by: disposeBag)
    }
    
    
    //MARK: - Observe On Show Hide Placeholder
    private func configurePlaceholder() {
        hidePlaceholderObserver
            .bind(to: placeholderLabel.rx.isHidden)
            .disposed(by: disposeBag)
        
        placeholderLabel.text = placeholderText
        placeholderLabel.font = UIFont(name: "Poppins-Semibold", size: 16) ?? UIFont()
        placeholderLabel.textColor = .lightGray
        
        placeholderLabel.sizeToFit()
        placeholderLabel.frame.origin = CGPoint(x: 8, y: 8)
        addSubview(placeholderLabel)
    }
    
}

Probably the most simple out-of-the-box solution for UITextView placeholder implementation that does not suffer from:

• using UILabel instead of UITextView that might perform differently
• switching to and from placeholder 'UITextView' copy that would capture first typed character that will miss from main UITextView control
• messing with main UITextView controls text content replacing placeholder with empty string or first typed character. Border case is that if user enters placeholder text, some proposed implementation will treat it as a placeholder itself.

Swift 5:

import UIKit
import SnapKit
import RxSwift
import RxCocoa

class TextAreaView: UIView {
    let textArea = UITextView()
    let textAreaPlaceholder = UITextView()
    
    override init(frame: CGRect) {
        super.init(frame: frame)
        commonSetup()
    }
    
    required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
        super.init(coder: aDecoder)
        commonSetup()
    }
    
    private func commonSetup() {
        
        addSubview(textAreaPlaceholder)
        addSubview(textArea)
        
        textArea.isScrollEnabled = false
        textArea.delegate = self

        textAreaPlaceholder.isScrollEnabled = false
        textAreaPlaceholder.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
        
        textArea.snp.makeConstraints { make in
            make.top.bottom.leading.trailing.equalToSuperview()
        }

        textAreaPlaceholder.snp.makeConstraints { make in
            make.top.bottom.leading.trailing.equalTo(textArea.snp.top)
        }

        textAreaPlaceholder.text = "Placeholder"
        
        updatePlaceholder()
    }
    
    func updatePlaceholder() {
        if textArea.text.count > 0 {
            textArea.alpha = 1.0
        } else {
            textArea.alpha = 0.0
        }
    }
}

extension TextAreaView: UITextViewDelegate {
    func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) {
        updatePlaceholder()
    }
}

I know this is a an old question but wanted to share what I thought was a useful way of extending UITextView to have placeholderText and placeholderColor fields. Basically you cast the UITextView into a UITextField and then set the attributedPlaceholder field. PlaceholderText and placeholderColor are IBInspectable fields, so their values can be set in IB and behaves exactly as the UITextField placeholder functionality.

UITextView+Extend.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface UITextView (Extend)

@property (nonatomic) IBInspectable NSString *placeholderText;
@property (nonatomic) IBInspectable UIColor *placeholderColor;

@end

UITextView+Extend.m

#import "UITextView+Extend.h"
#import "objc/runtime.h"

@implementation UITextView (Extend)

- (void)setPlaceholderText:(NSString *)placeholderText
{
    objc_setAssociatedObject(self, @selector(placeholderText), placeholderText, OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC);
    [self updatePlaceholderText];
}

- (NSString*)placeholderText
{
    return objc_getAssociatedObject(self, @selector(placeholderText));
}

- (void)setPlaceholderColor:(UIColor *)placeholderColor
{
    objc_setAssociatedObject(self, @selector(placeholderColor), placeholderColor, OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC);
    [self updatePlaceholderText];
}

- (UIColor*)placeholderColor
{
    return objc_getAssociatedObject(self, @selector(placeholderColor));
}

- (void)updatePlaceholderText
{
    NSString *text = self.placeholderText;
    UIColor *color = self.placeholderColor;
    if(text && color)
    {
        UITextField *textField = (UITextField*)self;
        textField.attributedPlaceholder = [[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:text attributes:@{NSForegroundColorAttributeName:color}];
    }
}

@end