Customize UITextfield of the UISearchbar - iOS

Question

I'm trying to customize the textfield for the UISearchbar. The picture below shows my half done work.

I have subclasses the UISearchbar and called it from my view controller. I'm trying to remove those dark gray lines from the textfield. Below is the implementation of the UISearchbar adding to subview of the viewcontroller.

searchbar = [[SearchBar alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(35,78, 250, 17)];
searchbar.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
searchbar.layer.borderColor = [[UIColor clearColor] CGColor];
searchbar.layer.borderWidth = 0;

for(UIView *view in searchbar.subviews){
    if([view isKindOfClass:[UITextField class]]){
        UITextField *tf= (UITextField *)view;
        tf.layer.borderColor = [[UIColor clearColor] CGColor];
        tf.delegate = self;
        break;
    }
}
[self.view addSubview:searchbar];
searchbar.delegate = self;

UISearchBar subclass:

   - (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame
  {
   self = [super initWithFrame:frame];
if (self) {
      // Initialization code
     }
     return self;
}

-(void)layoutSubviews{
     UITextField *searchField;
     [[[self subviews] objectAtIndex:0] removeFromSuperview];
     [self setTintColor:[UIColor clearColor]];
     self.clipsToBounds = YES;
     NSUInteger numViews = [self.subviews count];
     for(int i = 0; i < numViews; i++) {
        if([[self.subviews objectAtIndex:i] isKindOfClass:[UITextField class]]) { 
            searchField = [self.subviews objectAtIndex:i];
             searchField.leftViewMode = UITextFieldViewModeNever;
             searchField.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];

        }


    }
    if(!(searchField == nil)) {            
        searchField.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
        searchField.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
        searchField.frame = CGRectMake(self.frame.origin.x,self.frame.origin.y,self.frame.size.width,self.frame.size.height-10);

        [searchField setBorderStyle:UITextBorderStyleRoundedRect];

    }

    [super layoutSubviews];

}

I'm trying to achive something like this: The textfield should not have any boundaries. The icons are flattened UIImageView.

Answer 1

iOS 13.x & Swift 5.x:

Do the following to access the UITextField in UISearchBar.

extension UISearchBar {

    /// Returns the`UITextField` that is placed inside the text field.
    var textField: UITextField {
        if #available(iOS 13, *) {
            return searchTextField
        } else {
            return self.value(forKey: "_searchField") as! UITextField
        }
    }

}

Answer 2

For those still looking for an answer, Apple has added the searchTextField property to UISearchBar in iOS 13. searchTextField is a UISeachTextField which inherits from UITextField.

let searchBar = UISearchBar()
var searchField : UITextField
if #available(iOS 13.0, *) {
    searchField = searchBar.searchTextField
} else {
    searchField = //One of the other methods listed
}