如果你正在寻找一个简单的方法来实现这一点，试试我的方法:

- (BOOL)textViewShouldBeginEditing:(UITextView *)textView
{
    if ([[textView text] isEqualToString:PLACE_HOLDER_TEXT]) {
          textView.text = @"";
          textView.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
    }

    return YES;
}

-(BOOL)textViewShouldEndEditing:(UITextView *)textView
{
    if ([[textView text] length] == 0) {
        textView.text = PLACE_HOLDER_TEXT;
        textView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
    }
    return YES;
}

是的，就是它PLACE_HOLDER_TEXT是一个NSString包含你的占位符

另一个答案是:

https://github.com/gcamp/GCPlaceholderTextView

改变类UITextView在IB到GCPlaceholderTextView 并设置占位符属性

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。

你可以在UITextView上设置标签

[UITextView addSubView:lblPlaceHoldaer];

并隐藏在TextViewdidChange方法上。

这是一个简单易行的方法。

模拟本机占位符

一个常见的抱怨是iOS没有为文本视图提供原生占位符功能。下面的UITextView扩展试图通过提供人们期望从本机特性获得的便利来解决这个问题，只需要一行代码就可以向textview实例添加占位符。

这个解决方案的缺点是，因为它菊花链委托调用，它很容易(不太可能)在iOS更新中更改UITextViewDelegate协议。具体来说，如果iOS添加了新的协议方法，并且你在带有占位符的文本视图的委托中实现了它们中的任何一个，这些方法将不会被调用，除非你也更新了扩展来转发这些调用。

或者，内联占位符的答案是一个坚如磐石的和简单的可以。

使用例子:

•如果获得占位符的文本视图没有使用UITextViewDelegate:

    /* Swift 3 */

    class NoteViewController : UIViewController {
        @IBOutlet weak var noteView: UITextView!
        override func viewDidLoad() {
            noteView.addPlaceholder("Enter some text...",  color: UIColor.lightGray)
        }
    }

                                            -- 或者——

•如果获得占位符的文本视图使用了UITextViewDelegate:

    /* Swift 3 */

    class NoteViewController : UIViewController, UITextViewDelegate {
        @IBOutlet weak var noteView: UITextView!
        override func viewDidLoad() {
            noteView.addPlaceholder("Phone #", color: UIColor.lightGray, delegate: self)
        }
    }

实现(UITextView扩展):

/* Swift 3 */

extension UITextView: UITextViewDelegate
{

    func addPlaceholder(_ placeholderText : String, 
                      color : UIColor? = UIColor.lightGray,
                      delegate : UITextViewDelegate? = nil) {

        self.delegate = self             // Make receiving textview instance a delegate
        let placeholder = UITextView()   // Need delegate storage ULabel doesn't provide
        placeholder.isUserInteractionEnabled = false  //... so we *simulate* UILabel
        self.addSubview(placeholder)     // Add to text view instance's view tree               
        placeholder.sizeToFit()          // Constrain to fit inside parent text view
        placeholder.tintColor = UIColor.clear // Unused in textviews. Can host our 'tag'
        placeholder.frame.origin = CGPoint(x: 5, y: 0) // Don't cover I-beam cursor
        placeholder.delegate = delegate  // Use as cache for caller's delegate 
        placeholder.font = UIFont.italicSystemFont(ofSize: (self.font?.pointSize)!)
        placeholder.text = placeholderText
        placeholder.textColor = color
    }

      
    func findPlaceholder() -> UITextView? { // find placeholder by its tag 
        for subview in self.subviews {
            if let textview = subview as? UITextView {
                if textview.tintColor == UIColor.clear { // sneaky tagging scheme
                    return textview
                }
            }
        }
        return nil
    }
     
    /* 
     * Safely daisychain to caller delegate methods as appropriate...
     */

    public func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) { // ←  need this delegate method
        if let placeholder = findPlaceholder() {
            placeholder.isHidden = !self.text.isEmpty // ← ... to do this
            placeholder.delegate?.textViewDidChange?(textView)
        } 
    }

    /* 
     * Since we're becoming a delegate on behalf of this placeholder-enabled
     * text view instance, we must forward *all* that protocol's activity expected
     * by the instance, not just the particular optional protocol method we need to
     * intercept, above.
     */

    public func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
        if let placeholder = findPlaceholder() {
            placeholder.delegate?.textViewDidEndEditing?(textView)
        } 
    }

    public func textViewDidBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
        if let placeholder = findPlaceholder() {
            placeholder.delegate?.textViewDidBeginEditing?(textView)
        } 
    }

    public  func textViewDidChangeSelection(_ textView: UITextView) {
        if let placeholder = findPlaceholder() {
            placeholder.delegate?.textViewDidChangeSelection?(textView)
        } 
    }

    public func textViewShouldEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) -> Bool {
        if let placeholder = findPlaceholder() {
            guard let retval = placeholder.delegate?.textViewShouldEndEditing?(textView) else {
                return true
            }
            return retval
        }
        return true
    }

    public func textViewShouldBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) -> Bool {
        if let placeholder = findPlaceholder() {
            guard let retval = placeholder.delegate?.textViewShouldBeginEditing?(textView) else {
                return true
            }
            return retval
        } 
        return true
    }

    public func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldChangeTextIn range: NSRange, replacementText text: String) -> Bool {
        if let placeholder = findPlaceholder() {
            guard let retval = placeholder.delegate?.textView?(textView, shouldChangeTextIn: range, replacementText: text) else {
                return true
            }
            return retval
        } 
        return true
    }

    public func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldInteractWith URL: URL, in characterRange: NSRange, interaction: UITextItemInteraction) -> Bool {
        if let placeholder = findPlaceholder() {
                guard let retval = placeholder.delegate?.textView?(textView, shouldInteractWith: URL, in: characterRange, interaction:
                    interaction) else {
                        return true
            }
            return retval
        }
        return true
    }

    public func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldInteractWith textAttachment: NSTextAttachment, in characterRange: NSRange, interaction: UITextItemInteraction) -> Bool {
        if let placeholder = findPlaceholder() {
            guard let retval = placeholder.delegate?.textView?(textView, shouldInteractWith: textAttachment, in: characterRange, interaction: interaction) else {
                return true
            }
            return retval
        }
        return true
    }
}

1. 作为一个像UITextView这样的基本iOS类的扩展，重要的是要知道这段代码没有与任何不激活占位符的textview交互，例如textview实例没有被调用addPlaceholder()初始化

2. 支持占位符的文本视图透明地变成一个UITextViewDelegate来跟踪字符计数，以控制占位符可见性。如果一个委托被传递给addPlaceholder()，这段代码会将委托回调给该委托。

3.作者正在研究如何检查UITextViewDelegate协议并自动代理它，而不必硬编码每个方法。这将使代码免受方法签名更改和添加到协议中的新方法的影响。

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;
}