feat: support hintTextColor on iOS search bar by skrtdev · Pull Request #4089 · software-mansion/react-native-screens

skrtdev · 2026-05-23T20:15:13Z

Summary

apply hintTextColor to the iOS search bar placeholder
keep the placeholder string stable when the hint color changes
update search bar types/docs so hintTextColor is no longer marked Android-only

Test plan

git diff --check

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Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds iOS support for the hintTextColor SearchBar option by applying it to the iOS search bar placeholder and keeping the placeholder string stable across hint color updates. This also updates the public types/spec so hintTextColor is no longer presented as Android-only.

Changes:

Apply hintTextColor to the iOS UISearchTextField placeholder via attributedPlaceholder.
Persist placeholder text in native (_placeholder) so changing hint color doesn’t unintentionally change placeholder content.
Update TypeScript types/codegen spec to treat hintTextColor as non-Android-only.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
src/types.tsx	Removes Android-only annotation from `hintTextColor` in `SearchBarProps` docs.
src/fabric/SearchBarNativeComponent.ts	Moves `hintTextColor` into the shared prop set (not under “Android only”).
ios/RNSSearchBar.mm	Implements `setHintTextColor`, stores placeholder, and updates Fabric + legacy prop export.

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kligarski · 2026-05-25T09:09:50Z

@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ export interface NativeProps extends ViewProps {
  barTintColor?: ColorValue | undefined;
  tintColor?: ColorValue | undefined;
  textColor?: ColorValue | undefined;
+  hintTextColor?: ColorValue | undefined;


I'd move it above the comment.

kligarski · 2026-05-25T09:12:08Z

+  if (_hintTextColor != nil && _placeholder != nil) {
+    _controller.searchBar.searchTextField.attributedPlaceholder =
+        [[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:_placeholder attributes:@{NSForegroundColorAttributeName : _hintTextColor}];
+  } else {
+    [_controller.searchBar setPlaceholder:_placeholder];
+  }


kligarski

Hi, @skrtdev. Thank you for the PR. I left some questions and suggestions.

I also think it would be nice to create a dedicated test for the new prop. For current stack we're using apps/src/tests/issue-tests directory. We can create Test4089.tsx there. We should check different search bar placements and placeholder x hintTextColor configurations, including empty values and restoring default values in runtime.

Also, the title of the PR start with feat: as we're adding new functionality to iOS implementation rather than fixing something.

kligarski · 2026-05-25T09:09:50Z

@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ export interface NativeProps extends ViewProps {
  barTintColor?: ColorValue | undefined;
  tintColor?: ColorValue | undefined;
  textColor?: ColorValue | undefined;
+  hintTextColor?: ColorValue | undefined;


I'd move it above the comment.

kligarski · 2026-05-25T09:12:08Z

+  if (_hintTextColor != nil && _placeholder != nil) {
+    _controller.searchBar.searchTextField.attributedPlaceholder =
+        [[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:_placeholder attributes:@{NSForegroundColorAttributeName : _hintTextColor}];
+  } else {
+    [_controller.searchBar setPlaceholder:_placeholder];
+  }


kligarski · 2026-05-25T09:12:39Z


+- (void)setHintTextColor:(UIColor *)hintTextColor
+{
+#if !TARGET_OS_TV


Why do we need tvOS guard here?

kligarski · 2026-05-25T09:14:30Z

+{
+#if !TARGET_OS_TV
+  _hintTextColor = hintTextColor;
+  [self setPlaceholder:_placeholder];


I wouldn't call the setter here. I suggest that we keep the setters simple (just set the _placeholder/_hintTextColor properties, if any of them we're changed (oldScreenProps.XXX != newScreenProps.XXX), set new local flag in updateProps to YES) and at the end of updateProps if props were invalidated, let's call new method like updatePlaceholder that will check both props and apply the placeholder/attributedPlaceholder accordingly.

kligarski · 2026-05-25T09:14:49Z

  /**
   * The search hint text color
-   *
-   * @plaform android


We should also remove (Android only) from GUIDE_FOR_LIBRARY_AUTHORS.md

kligarski · 2026-05-25T09:26:28Z

+    _controller.searchBar.searchTextField.attributedPlaceholder =
+        [[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:_placeholder attributes:@{NSForegroundColorAttributeName : _hintTextColor}];
+  } else {
+    [_controller.searchBar setPlaceholder:_placeholder];


If the user provides only _hintTextColor and _placeholder remains nil, we get empty search bar instead of the default text. We need to fix this.

Simulator.Screen.Recording.-.iPhone.17.Pro.-.2026-05-25.at.11.25.00.mov

kligarski · 2026-05-25T09:28:04Z

+  _placeholder = placeholder;
+
+  if (_hintTextColor != nil && _placeholder != nil) {
+    _controller.searchBar.searchTextField.attributedPlaceholder =


It seems like it doesn't work on iOS 26 for new search bar at the bottom. We should investigate why & if we can't fix it, describe the limitations in the prop docs.

Simulator.Screen.Recording.-.iPhone.17.Pro.-.2026-05-25.at.11.24.44.mov

skrtdev · 2026-05-25T22:12:02Z

You're right: it doesn't work on iOS 26 for new search bar at the bottom. I also noticed that even on non-bottom search bar, styling is ignored when the search bar is focused. It seems like we can't fix it. I also think there's a bug after the first focus. 2nd and subsequent focuses dont fully focus the search bar. The user can type but it's not the native focused state. I'll investigate more on that and eventually open a separate PR / issue.

kligarski · 2026-05-28T14:24:49Z

The search bar doesn't really support runtime changes for e.g. placement so we should probably have configuration on root screen and then apply the config on new pushed screen with the config.

kligarski · 2026-05-28T14:25:26Z

            }
          }
 #endif /* Check for iOS 26.0 */
+          [searchBar updatePlaceholder];


I'm not sure if we need this. We will be informed about any changes in updateProps right?

kligarski · 2026-05-28T14:31:34Z

 }

-RCT_EXPORT_VIEW_PROPERTY(placeholder, NSString)
+RCT_CUSTOM_VIEW_PROPERTY(placeholder, NSString, RNSSearchBar)


We've dropped support for Paper so these are not necessary. I think recently PR removing those landed on main. We should merge/rebase onto current main.

fix: support hintTextColor on iOS search bar

42fde59

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings May 23, 2026 20:15

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of skrtdev May 23, 2026 20:15 View session

Copilot AI reviewed May 23, 2026

View reviewed changes

kligarski requested changes May 25, 2026

View reviewed changes

skrtdev changed the title ~~fix: support hintTextColor on iOS search bar~~ feat: support hintTextColor on iOS search bar May 25, 2026

skrtdev added 5 commits May 25, 2026 19:33

Move hintTextColor above the comment

015d02d

Remove (Android only) from GUIDE_FOR_LIBRARY_AUTHORS.md

6278fec

fix: update iOS search bar placeholder handling

a94c5d8

Add tests

dc6aced

Keep it in sync and improve placeholder handling on reset to default

6fbb400

kligarski reviewed May 28, 2026

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skrtdev commented May 23, 2026

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kligarski left a comment • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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skrtdev commented May 25, 2026

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