UITextField with secure entry, always getting cleared before editing

Set,

textField.clearsOnBeginEditing = NO;

Note: This won't work if secureTextEntry = YES. It seems, by default, iOS clears the text of secure entry text fields before editing, no matter clearsOnBeginEditing is YES or NO.

If you don't want the field to clear, even when secureTextEntry = YES, use:

- (BOOL)textField:(UITextField *)textField shouldChangeCharactersInRange:(NSRange)range replacementString:(NSString *)string {

    NSString *updatedString = [textField.text stringByReplacingCharactersInRange:range withString:string];

    textField.text = updatedString;

    return NO;
}

I encountered a similar issue when adding show/hide password text functionality to a sign-up view.