iOS 11 UISearchBar in UINavigationBar

Question

I want to place a search bar in the new navigation bar with the new iOS 11 large titles. However, the color of the search bar is automatically applied by iOS and I can't change it.

if #available(iOS 11.0, *) {
    let sc = UISearchController(searchResultsController: nil)
    navigationItem.searchController = sc
    navigationItem.hidesSearchBarWhenScrolling = false
}

The search bar get's a deep blue background, but I just want to change it to white.

Setting the background color results in this:

navigationItem.searchController?.searchBar.backgroundColor = UIColor.white

I have tried also setScopeBarButtonBackgroundImage and setBackgroundImage on the search bar but everything looks totally weird.

Also when I trigger the search by tapping on the search bar, it switches to a mode with the cancel button on the right side. ("Abbrechen" in German)

And the "Abbrechen" text color also can't be changed. (need it also white)

Any help is appreciated.

Edit: As requested, here the code for the navigation bar styling:

self.navigationBar.tintColor = UIColor.myWhite
self.navigationBar.titleTextAttributes = [NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor : UIColor.myWhite, NSAttributedStringKey.font: UIFont.myNavigationBarTitle()]
self.navigationBar.barTintColor = UIColor.myTint

if #available(iOS 11.0, *) {
    self.navigationBar.prefersLargeTitles = true
    self.navigationBar.largeTitleTextAttributes = [NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor : UIColor.myWhite, NSAttributedStringKey.font: UIFont.myNavigationBarLargeTitle()]
}

Current outcome: I have used Krunals idea to set the color of the search bar background but then the rounded corners are lost. After re-setting the rounded corners the animation of the search bar seems to be broken.

So still no satisfactory solution. Seems that the search bar when embedded into the navigation bar in iOS 11 is not possible to customize. Meanwhile it would be enough for me to just change the color of the placeholder text, but even this seems not to be possible. (I have tried multiple approaches from StackOverflow - doesn't work)

Answer 1

Now it's what you want...

if #available(iOS 11.0, *) {
            let sc = UISearchController(searchResultsController: nil)
            sc.delegate = self
            let scb = sc.searchBar
            scb.tintColor = UIColor.white
            scb.barTintColor = UIColor.white


            if let textfield = scb.value(forKey: "searchField") as? UITextField {
                textfield.textColor = UIColor.blue
                if let backgroundview = textfield.subviews.first {

                    // Background color
                    backgroundview.backgroundColor = UIColor.white

                    // Rounded corner
                    backgroundview.layer.cornerRadius = 10;
                    backgroundview.clipsToBounds = true;

                }
            }

            if let navigationbar = self.navigationController?.navigationBar {
                navigationbar.barTintColor = UIColor.blue
            }
            navigationItem.searchController = sc
            navigationItem.hidesSearchBarWhenScrolling = false

}

Result:

With Rounded corner:
Animation with rounded corner is also working fine.

Answer 2

I changed the background of the text field with this code inside AppDelegate.

Swift 4

func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
        
        //background color of text field
         UITextField.appearance(whenContainedInInstancesOf: [UISearchBar.self]).backgroundColor = .cyan
        
        }

This is the result

Answer 3

This should work for you

func addSearchbar(){
        if #available(iOS 11.0, *) {
            let sc = UISearchController(searchResultsController: nil)
            let scb = sc.searchBar
            scb.tintColor = UIColor.white

            if let navigationbar = self.navigationController?.navigationBar {
                //navigationbar.tintColor = UIColor.green
                //navigationbar.backgroundColor = UIColor.yellow
                navigationbar.barTintColor = UIColor.blue
            }

            navigationController?.navigationBar.tintColor = UIColor.green
            navigationItem.searchController = sc
            navigationItem.hidesSearchBarWhenScrolling = false
        }
}

Result:

Answer 4

Objective C

if (@available(iOS 11.0, *)) {
    self.searchController = [[UISearchController alloc] initWithSearchResultsController:nil];
    self.searchController.searchResultsUpdater = self;
    self.searchController.searchBar.delegate = self;
    self.searchController.dimsBackgroundDuringPresentation = NO;
    self.navigationItem.searchController=self.searchController;
    self.navigationItem.hidesSearchBarWhenScrolling=NO;
    self.searchController.searchBar.searchBarStyle = UISearchBarStyleProminent;
    self.searchController.searchBar.showsBookmarkButton = NO;
    self.searchController.searchBar.placeholder = @"Search";
    self.searchController.searchBar.tintColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:1 green:1 blue:1 alpha:1];
    self.searchController.searchBar.barTintColor=[UIColor colorWithRed:1 green:1 blue:1 alpha:1];
    UITextField *txfSearchField = [self.searchController.searchBar valueForKey:@"_searchField"];
    txfSearchField.tintColor=[UIColor colorWithRed:21/255.0 green:157/255.0 blue:130/255.0 alpha:1];
    txfSearchField.textColor=[UIColor colorWithRed:1 green:1 blue:1 alpha:1];
    txfSearchField.backgroundColor=[UIColor whiteColor];
    UIView *backgroundview= [[txfSearchField subviews]firstObject ];
    backgroundview.backgroundColor=[UIColor whiteColor];
    // Rounded corner
    backgroundview.layer.cornerRadius = 8;
    backgroundview.clipsToBounds = true;
}

Answer 5

This is the code I used to make the search bar white:

if let textfield = searchController.searchBar.value(forKey: "searchField") as? UITextField {
            if let backgroundview = textfield.subviews.first {
                backgroundview.backgroundColor = UIColor.init(white: 1, alpha: 1)
                backgroundview.layer.cornerRadius = 10
                backgroundview.clipsToBounds = true
            }
        }

Answer 6

Tested on ios 13

Perfect white background on searchBar

func setupSearchbarController(){
    if #available(iOS 11.0, *) {
        let sc = UISearchController(searchResultsController: nil)
        sc.delegate = self
        let scb = sc.searchBar
        scb.tintColor = UIColor.white
        scb.barTintColor = UIColor.white

        if let textfield = scb.value(forKey: "searchField") as? UITextField {
            textfield.textColor = UIColor.white
            textfield.backgroundColor = UIColor.white
            if let backgroundview = textfield.subviews.first {

                // Background color
                backgroundview.backgroundColor = UIColor.white

                // Rounded corner
                backgroundview.layer.cornerRadius = 10;
                backgroundview.clipsToBounds = true;
            }
        }

        if let navigationbar = self.navigationController?.navigationBar {
            navigationbar.barTintColor = AppColor.themeColor
        }
        navigationItem.searchController = sc
        navigationItem.hidesSearchBarWhenScrolling = false
    }
}

Answer 7

Try this code,

UITextField *txfSearchField = [_searchBar valueForKey:@"_searchField"];
txfSearchField.backgroundColor = [UIColor redColor];