还有一个简单的答案，使用CATextLayer。

添加CATextLayer到UITextView的层。 使用UITextViewDelegate方法，简单地改变CATextLayer的颜色。

func txtViewPlaceholder() {
    let textlayer = CATextLayer()

    textlayer.frame = CGRect(x: 5, y: 5, width: 200, height: 18)
    textlayer.contentsScale = UIScreen.main.scale
    textlayer.fontSize = 12
    textlayer.alignmentMode = kCAAlignmentLeft
    textlayer.string = "Enter here"
    textlayer.isWrapped = true
    textlayer.name = "placeholder"
    textlayer.backgroundColor = UIColor.white.cgColor
    textlayer.foregroundColor = UIColor.black.cgColor

    yourTxtVw.layer.insertSublayer(textlayer, at: 0)
}

func removeAddPlaceholder(remove: Bool, textView: UITextView) {
    for layers in textView.layer.sublayers! where layers.name == "placeholder" {
        
        if remove {
            (layers as! CATextLayer).foregroundColor = UIColor.white.cgColor
        } else {
            (layers as! CATextLayer).foregroundColor = UIColor.black.cgColor
        }
        
    }
}


extension YourViewController : UITextViewDelegate {

    func textViewShouldBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) -> Bool {
    
        removeAddPlaceholder(remove: true, textView: textView)
    
        return true
    }

    func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView) {
    
        if textView.text.count <= 0 {
            removeAddPlaceholder(remove: false, textView: textView)
        }
    }

}

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

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

}

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

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

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

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

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

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

    return YES;
}

只需要记住在创建时使用准确的文本设置myUITextView即可。

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

在包含这些方法之前，让父类成为一个UITextView委托。

@interface MyClass () <UITextViewDelegate>
@end

    - (void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView
{
    placeholderLabel.hidden = YES;
}

在textview上放一个标签。

我已经创建了一个快速3版本的最高排名的答案

你只需要做UITextView的子类化。

import UIKit

 class UIPlaceHolderTextView: UITextView {


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


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


}

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

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

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

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

}

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)
}
}

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;
}