Answer by Burhanuddin Sunelwala for Modifying UISearchBar Cancel button font text color and style

A much better solution here

UIButton *cancelButton = [searchBar valueForKey:@"_cancelButton"];[cancelButton setTitleColor:[UIColor yourColor] forState:UIControlStateNormal];[cancelButton setTitle:@"Your Text" forState:UIControlStateNormal];

and similarly you can change other style and text properties of the button.

For iOS 13.* (@AnujAroshA answer in comments)

UIButton *cancelButton = [searchBar valueForKey:@"cancelButton"];