Try this for adding border, It will work
#import <QuartzCore/QuartzCore.h>
then in viewDidLoad
_btn.layer.borderWidth=1.0f;
_btn.layer.borderColor=[[UIColor blackColor] CGColor];
_btn.layer.cornerRadius = 10;
also you can fill the color for making appearance somewhat like button, or best way is to use image there
Apart from BorderColor, you can do it by using Runtime attributes too.