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I want to be able to set my own image for the little magnifying glass icon on a UISearchBar. I'd also like to be able to move it around if possible. Any ideas? Currently, I only need support for iOS5 and above.

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  • @ACB was kind enough to answer this in another posting I had about UISearchBar where I asked this as an added question in the comments. He said: "You can use for iOS 5 app as mentioned below. For apps which uses OS version before this, this wont work. - (void)setImage:(UIImage *)iconImage forSearchBarIcon:(UISearchBarIcon)icon state:(UIControlState)state;"
    – user319436
    Commented Nov 17, 2012 at 4:12

6 Answers 6

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For apps which supports iOS 5 onwards, you can use the below method to do this,

- (void)setImage:(UIImage *)iconImage forSearchBarIcon:(UISearchBarIcon)icon state:(UIControlState)state;

UIControlStateNormal and UIControlStateDisabled are the two possible states for search bar.

For apps which uses OS version before this, this wont work. You might have to create a category on UISearchbar and change the icon by enumerating the subviews.

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  • For others who are lazy or wanted a little further clarification (for example that this is a method for the UISearchBar): [self.searchController.searchBar setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"YourImageHere"] forSearchBarIcon:UISearchBarIconSearch state:UIControlStateNormal]; or wherever else you have your search controller/bar
    – gadu
    Commented Oct 6, 2015 at 2:46
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If you want to just change the color of the default magnifying icon, you can set the image to use template mode and then set the image view’s tintColor.

if ([view isKindOfClass:[UITextField class]]) {
    UITextField *textField = (id)view;

    UIImageView *iconView = (id)textField.leftView;
    iconView.image = [iconView.image imageWithRenderingMode:UIImageRenderingModeAlwaysTemplate];
    iconView.tintColor = <##dimmedColor##>;

    // other styling:
    textField.font = <##font##>;
    textField.textColor = <##activeColor##>;
    textField.attributedPlaceholder = [[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:<##searchBar##>.placeholder
                                                                      attributes:@{NSForegroundColorAttributeName: <##dimmedColor##>}];
}
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  • The imageWithRenderingMode was key. Missed it at first glance!
    – Colin Tremblay
    Commented Mar 2, 2015 at 18:38
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For Swift :- 

UISearchBar.appearance().setImage(UIImage(named: "new_search_icon"), forSearchBarIcon: UISearchBarIcon.Search, state: UIControlState.Normal)
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Use 

- (void)setImage:(UIImage *)iconImage forSearchBarIcon:(UISearchBarIcon)icon state:(UIControlState)state;
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For Swift 5

  searchBar.setImage(UIImage(named: "your_favicon"), for: .search, state: .normal)
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try print all subviews... iOS indipendent.

for (id obj in _SearchBar.subviews) {
  NSLog(@"%@", obj);

  if ( [obj isKindOfClass:[UIImage class]] )  {
     NSLog(@"probably found...");

     UIImage *img = obj;
     [img setImage....];
  }
}
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