简单的方法，使用以下UITextViewDelegate方法在UITextView中创建占位符文本:

- (void)textViewDidBeginEditing:(UITextView *)textView
{
    if ([textView.text isEqualToString:@"placeholder text here..."]) {
         textView.text = @"";
         textView.textColor = [UIColor blackColor]; //optional
    }
    [textView becomeFirstResponder];
}

- (void)textViewDidEndEditing:(UITextView *)textView
{
    if ([textView.text isEqualToString:@""]) {
        textView.text = @"placeholder text here...";
        textView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor]; //optional
    }
    [textView resignFirstResponder];
}

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 = @"placeholder text here...";
myUITextView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor]; //optional

在包含这些方法之前，让父类成为一个UITextViewDelegate。

@interface MyClass () <UITextViewDelegate>
@end

Swift 3.1代码

func textViewDidBeginEditing(_ textView: UITextView) 
{
    if (textView.text == "placeholder text here..." && textView.textColor == .lightGray)
    {
        textView.text = ""
        textView.textColor = .black
    }
    textView.becomeFirstResponder() //Optional
}

func textViewDidEndEditing(_ textView: UITextView)
{
    if (textView.text == "")
    {
        textView.text = "placeholder text here..."
        textView.textColor = .lightGray
    }
    textView.resignFirstResponder()
}

只需要记住在创建时使用准确的文本设置myUITextView即可。

 let myUITextView = UITextView.init()
 myUITextView.delegate = self
 myUITextView.text = "placeholder text here..."
 myUITextView.textColor = .lightGray

在包含这些方法之前，让父类成为一个UITextViewDelegate。

class MyClass: UITextViewDelegate
{

}

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

我修改了Sam Soffes的实现以适应iOS7:

- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect
{
    [super drawRect:rect];

    if (_shouldDrawPlaceholder)
    {
        UIEdgeInsets insets = self.textContainerInset;        
        CGRect placeholderRect = CGRectMake(
                insets.left + self.textContainer.lineFragmentPadding,
                insets.top,
                self.frame.size.width - insets.left - insets.right,
                self.frame.size.height - insets.top - insets.bottom);

        [_placeholderText drawWithRect:placeholderRect
                           options:NSStringDrawingUsesLineFragmentOrigin | NSStringDrawingTruncatesLastVisibleLine
                        attributes:self.placeholderAttributes
                           context:nil];
    }
}

- (NSDictionary *)placeholderAttributes
{
    if (_placeholderAttributes == nil)
    {
        _placeholderAttributes = @
        {
            NSFontAttributeName : self.font,
            NSForegroundColorAttributeName : self.placeholderColor
        };
    }

    return _placeholderAttributes;
}

记住在可能改变字体和其他可能影响它们的东西的方法中设置_placeholderattributes = nil。如果没有问题的话，您可能还想跳过属性字典的“惰性”创建。

编辑:

如果你想让占位符在自动布局动画之后看起来更好，记得在setBounds的重写版本中调用setNeedsDisplay。

我是这样做的:

UITextView2.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

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

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

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

@end

UITextView2.m

@implementation UITextView2

@synthesize placeholder, placeholderColor;

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

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

}

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

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


@end

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];

    self.textViewEmpty = YES;

    // Text view
    self.textView = [[UITextView alloc] init];
    self.textView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = NO; // For AutoLayout
    self.textView.delegate = self;
    self.textView.textColor = [UIColor grayColor];
    self.textView.text = @"Placeholder";

    // Add subview and constraints
}

#pragma mark - UITextView

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

    return YES;
}

- (void)textViewDidChange:(UITextView *)textView {
    if (textView.text.length > 0) {
        self.textViewEmpty = NO;
    } else {
        self.textViewEmpty = YES;
    }
}

- (BOOL)textViewShouldEndEditing:(UITextView *)textView {
    if (self.isTextViewEmpty) {
        textView.textColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
        textView.text = placeholderText;
    }

    return YES;
}

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

在textview上放一个标签。