How do I make UILabel display outlined text?

I was able to do it by overriding drawTextInRect:

- (void)drawTextInRect:(CGRect)rect {

  CGSize shadowOffset = self.shadowOffset;
  UIColor *textColor = self.textColor;

  CGContextRef c = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
  CGContextSetLineWidth(c, 1);
  CGContextSetLineJoin(c, kCGLineJoinRound);

  CGContextSetTextDrawingMode(c, kCGTextStroke);
  self.textColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
  [super drawTextInRect:rect];

  CGContextSetTextDrawingMode(c, kCGTextFill);
  self.textColor = textColor;
  self.shadowOffset = CGSizeMake(0, 0);
  [super drawTextInRect:rect];

  self.shadowOffset = shadowOffset;

}

A simpler solution is to use an Attributed String like so:

Swift 4:

let strokeTextAttributes: [NSAttributedStringKey : Any] = [
    NSAttributedStringKey.strokeColor : UIColor.black,
    NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor : UIColor.white,
    NSAttributedStringKey.strokeWidth : -2.0,
    ]

myLabel.attributedText = NSAttributedString(string: "Foo", attributes: strokeTextAttributes)

Swift 4.2:

let strokeTextAttributes: [NSAttributedString.Key : Any] = [
    .strokeColor : UIColor.black,
    .foregroundColor : UIColor.white,
    .strokeWidth : -2.0,
    ]

myLabel.attributedText = NSAttributedString(string: "Foo", attributes: strokeTextAttributes)

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On a UITextField you can set the defaultTextAttributes and the attributedPlaceholder as well.

Note that the NSStrokeWidthAttributeName has to be negative in this case, i.e. only the inner outlines work.