How to change UISearchBar Placeholder and image tint color?

Question

I've been trying search results for hours, but I can't get this figured out. Perhaps it isn't possible. I'm trying to change the tint color of the placeholder text and magnifying glass of a UISearchBar. I'm only targeting iOS 8.0+ if that matters. Here's my code and what it looks like now:

let searchBar = UISearchBar()
searchBar.placeholder = "Search"
searchBar.searchBarStyle = UISearchBarStyle.Minimal
searchBar.tintColor = UIColor.whiteColor()

I'd like for the search and magnifying glass to be white, or perhaps a dark green.

Answer 1

If you have a custom image you could use, you can set the image and change the placeholder text color using something similar to the following:

[searchBar setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"SearchWhite"] forSearchBarIcon:UISearchBarIconSearch state:UIControlStateNormal];

UITextField *searchTextField = [searchBar valueForKey:@"_searchField"];    
if ([searchTextField respondsToSelector:@selector(setAttributedPlaceholder:)]) {
    UIColor *color = [UIColor purpleColor];
    [searchTextField setAttributedPlaceholder:[[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:@"Search" attributes:@{NSForegroundColorAttributeName: color}]];
}

In that example I used purpleColor, instead you can use the + (UIColor *)colorWithRed:(CGFloat)red green:(CGFloat)green blue:(CGFloat)blue alpha:(CGFloat)alpha method to create your custom dark green color.

EDIT: I just realized you were writing it in swift... duh. Quickly typed this out so I didn't leave the answer in just Obj-C.

    searchBar.setImage(UIImage(named: "SearchWhite"), forSearchBarIcon: UISearchBarIcon.Search, state: UIControlState.Normal);

    var searchTextField: UITextField? = searchBar.valueForKey("searchField") as? UITextField
    if searchTextField!.respondsToSelector(Selector("attributedPlaceholder")) {
        var color = UIColor.purpleColor()
        let attributeDict = [NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.purpleColor()]
        searchTextField!.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "search", attributes: attributeDict)
    }

Swift 3.0

    var searchTextField: UITextField? = searchBar.value(forKey: "searchField") as? UITextField
    if searchTextField!.responds(to: #selector(getter: UITextField.attributedPlaceholder)) {
        let attributeDict = [NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.white]
        searchTextField!.attributedPlaceholder = NSAttributedString(string: "Search", attributes: attributeDict)
    }