Enable copy and paste on UITextField without making it editable

My final solution was the following:

I created a subclass of UILabel (UITextField should work the same) that displays a UIMenuController after being tapped. CopyableLabel.m looks like this:

@implementation CopyableLabel- (BOOL)canPerformAction:(SEL)action withSender:(id)sender {if(action == @selector(copy:)) {    return YES;}else {    return [super canPerformAction:action withSender:sender];}}- (BOOL)canBecomeFirstResponder {return YES;}- (BOOL)becomeFirstResponder {if([super becomeFirstResponder]) {    self.highlighted = YES;    return YES;}return NO;}- (void)copy:(id)sender {UIPasteboard *board = [UIPasteboard generalPasteboard];[board setString:self.text];self.highlighted = NO;[self resignFirstResponder];}- (void)touchesEnded:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event {if([self isFirstResponder]) {    self.highlighted = NO;    UIMenuController *menu = [UIMenuController sharedMenuController];    [menu setMenuVisible:NO animated:YES];    [menu update];    [self resignFirstResponder];}else if([self becomeFirstResponder]) {    UIMenuController *menu = [UIMenuController sharedMenuController];    [menu setTargetRect:self.bounds inView:self];    [menu setMenuVisible:YES animated:YES];}}@end

This question is pretty old and I'm surprised nobody has posted a solution without subclassing. The idea presented in @mrueg's answer is correct, but you shouldn't need to subclass anything. I just came across this problem and solved it like this:

In my view controller:

- (void)viewDidLoad {    self.textField.delegate = self;    self.textField.text = @"Copyable, non-editable string.";}- (BOOL)canBecomeFirstResponder {    return YES;}- (void)copyTextFieldContent:(id)sender {    UIPasteboard* pb = [UIPasteboard generalPasteboard];    pb.string = self.textField.text;}- (BOOL)textFieldShouldBeginEditing:(UITextField *)textField {    // UIKit changes the first responder after this method, so we need to show the copy menu after this method returns.    dispatch_after(dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, (int64_t)(0.3*NSEC_PER_SEC)), dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{         [self becomeFirstResponder];         UIMenuController* menuController = [UIMenuController sharedMenuController];         UIMenuItem* copyItem = [[UIMenuItem alloc] initWithTitle:@"Copy"                                                           action:@selector(copyTextFieldContent:)];         menuController.menuItems = @[copyItem];         CGRect selectionRect = textField.frame;         [menuController setTargetRect:selectionRect inView:self.view];         [menuController setMenuVisible:YES animated:YES];     });     return NO;}

If you want to make this work for a UILabel, it should work the same way with just adding a tap gesture recognizer instead of using the delegate method.

This will do everything you need. Will be copyable. But not editable, and won't show a keyboard or a cursor.

class ViewController: UIViewController {    @IBOutlet weak var copyableUneditableTextfield: UITextField!    override func viewDidLoad() {        super.viewDidLoad()        copyableUneditableTextfield.delegate = self        copyableUneditableTextfield.inputView = UIView()   //prevents keyboard             copyableUneditableTextfield.tintColor = .clear     //prevents cursor        copyableUneditableTextfield.text = "Some Text You Want User To Copy But Not Edit"    }}extension ViewController: UITextFieldDelegate {    func textField(_ textField: UITextField, shouldChangeCharactersIn range: NSRange, replacementString string: String) -> Bool {        return false //prevents editing    }}