How to change inside background color of UISearchBar component on iOS

Just customize the text field itself.

I am simply doing this and it works fine for me (iOS 7).

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

This way you don't need to create an image, size it, etc...

Solution which doesn't involve any private API ! :)

Currently (probably since iOS 5 ) you can do this, for simply one colour cases, in this way:

[[UITextField appearanceWhenContainedIn:[UISearchBar class], nil] setBackgroundColor:[UIColor redColor]];

but please keep in mind that as it basis on appearance the change will be global for the app (it can be an advantage or a disadvantage of the solution).

For Swift you can use (it will work for iOS 9 and above):

if #available(iOS 9.0, *) {
    UITextField.appearanceWhenContainedInInstancesOfClasses([UISearchBar.self]).backgroundColor = UIColor.darkGrayColor()
}

You do not need #available if your project supports iOS 9 and newer.

If you need to support earlier versions of iOS and want to use Swift take a look at this question.

Details

• Xcode Version 11.0 (11A420a), swift 5

UISearchBar customising sample

Solution

import UIKit

extension UISearchBar {
    func getTextField() -> UITextField? { return value(forKey: "searchField") as? UITextField }
    func setTextField(color: UIColor) {
        guard let textField = getTextField() else { return }
        switch searchBarStyle {
        case .minimal:
            textField.layer.backgroundColor = color.cgColor
            textField.layer.cornerRadius = 6
        case .prominent, .default: textField.backgroundColor = color
        @unknown default: break
        }
    }
}

Usage

let searchBar = UISearchBar(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 20, width: UIScreen.main.bounds.width, height: 44))
//searchBar.searchBarStyle = .prominent
view.addSubview(searchBar)
searchBar.placeholder = "placeholder"
searchBar.setTextField(color: UIColor.green.withAlphaComponent(0.3))

Result 1

 searchBar.searchBarStyle = .prominent // or default

Result 2

 searchBar.searchBarStyle = .minimal

Full sample

import UIKit

class ViewController: UIViewController {

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        let searchBar = UISearchBar(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 20, width: UIScreen.main.bounds.width, height: 44))
        //searchBar.searchBarStyle = .minimal
        searchBar.searchBarStyle = .prominent
        view.addSubview(searchBar)
        searchBar.placeholder = "placeholder"
        searchBar.setTextField(color: UIColor.green.withAlphaComponent(0.3))
    }
}