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

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

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

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

    [super drawRect:rect];
}

你可以在textview上设置一个标签。

MyUITextView.h

@interface MyUITextView : UITextView {
    UILabel* _placeholderLabel;
}

@property(nonatomic, assign)NSString *placeholder;

MyUITextView.m

@implementation MyUITextView

- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame {
    if (self = [super initWithFrame:frame]) {
        // Create placeholder
        viewFrame = CGRectMake(0, 0, frame.size.width, 15);
        _placeholderLabel = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:viewFrame];
        _placeholderLabel.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
        [self addSubview:_placeholderLabel];

        // Add text changed notification 
        [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(textChanged:) name:UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification object:nil];
    }
    return self;
}

- (void)setPlaceholder:(NSString *)placeholder {
    _placeholderLabel.text = placeholder;
}

- (NSString*)placeholder {
    return _placeholderLabel.text;
}

#pragma mark UITextViewTextDidChangeNotification

- (void)textChanged:(NSNotification *)notification {
    _placeholderLabel.hidden = ([self.text lenght] == 0);
}

@end

我遵循了这个链接的代码。只有7个简单的步骤。它添加了一个UILabel的textView和隐藏/显示标签时，文本输入或从textView通过textView的textViewDidChangeSelection(_ textView: UITextView)委托方法。我将步骤放在代码上方的注释中。

// 1. make sure to include the UITextViewDelegate
class YourClass: UITextViewDelegate {

    @IBOutlet weak var textView : UITextView!

    // 2. create placeholder textLabel
    let placeHolderTextLabel: UILabel = {
        let placeholderLabel = UILabel()
        placeholderLabel.text = "Placeholder text..."
        placeholderLabel.sizeToFit()
        placeholderLabel.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
        return placeholderLabel
    }()

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        // 3. set textView delegate
        textView.delegate = self

        configurePlaceholderTextLabel()
    }


    func configurePlaceholderTextLabel() {

        // 4. add placeholder label to textView, set it's frame and font
        textView.addSubview(placeHolderTextLabel)
        placeHolderTextLabel.frame.origin = CGPoint(x: 5, y: (textView.font?.pointSize)! / 2)
        placeHolderTextLabel.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: (textView.font?.pointSize)!)

        // 5. decide wether the placeHolderTextLabel is hidden or not depending on if there is or isn't text inside the textView
        placeHolderTextLabel.isHidden = !textView.text.isEmpty

    }

    // 6. implement textView delegate method to update the placeHolderTextLabel when the text is changed
    func textViewDidChangeSelection(_ textView: UITextView) {

        // 7. decide wether the placeHolderTextLabel is hidden or not depending on if there is or isn't text inside the textView when text in textView is changed
        placeHolderTextLabel.isHidden = !textView.text.isEmpty
    }

}

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

我通读了所有这些，但提出了一个非常简短的Swift 3解决方案，在我的所有测试中都有效。它可以更一般化一点，但过程很简单。这是整个东西，我称之为“TextViewWithPlaceholder”。

import UIKit

class TextViewWithPlaceholder: UITextView {

    public var placeholder: String?
    public var placeholderColor = UIColor.lightGray

    private var placeholderLabel: UILabel?

    // Set up notification listener when created from a XIB or storyboard.
    // You can also set up init() functions if you plan on creating
    // these programmatically.
    override func awakeFromNib() {
        super.awakeFromNib()

        NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self,
                                           selector: #selector(TextViewWithPlaceholder.textDidChangeHandler(notification:)),
                                           name: .UITextViewTextDidChange,
                                           object: self)

        placeholderLabel = UILabel()
        placeholderLabel?.alpha = 0.85
        placeholderLabel?.textColor = placeholderColor
    }

    // By using layoutSubviews, you can size and position the placeholder
    // more accurately. I chose to hard-code the size of the placeholder
    // but you can combine this with other techniques shown in previous replies.
    override func layoutSubviews() {
        super.layoutSubviews()

        placeholderLabel?.textColor = placeholderColor
        placeholderLabel?.text = placeholder

        placeholderLabel?.frame = CGRect(x: 6, y: 4, width: self.bounds.size.width-16, height: 24)

        if text.isEmpty {
            addSubview(placeholderLabel!)
            bringSubview(toFront: placeholderLabel!)
        } else {
            placeholderLabel?.removeFromSuperview()
        }
    }

    // Whenever the text changes, just trigger a new layout pass.
    func textDidChangeHandler(notification: Notification) {
        layoutSubviews()
    }
}

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。