preferredStatusBarStyle is not working

Question

I used to use setStatusBarStyle in my project and it works fine, but it is deprecated so I use preferredStatusBarStyle, that didn't work. knowing that I've:

1. Call the method setNeedsStatusBarAppearanceUpdate.
2. Set "View controller-based status bar appearance" to NO in info.plist

3. Override the function

   • (UIStatusBarStyle)preferredStatusBarStyle { return UIStatusBarStyleLightContent; }

   this function is not called

Note: I'm using navigation controller.

Solution

Here is Apple Guidelines/Instruction about status bar change.

If you want to set status bar style, application level then set UIViewControllerBasedStatusBarAppearance to NO in your .plist file. And in your appdelegate > didFinishLaunchingWithOptions add following ine (programatically you can do it from app delegate).

Objective C

[[UIApplication sharedApplication] setStatusBarStyle:UIStatusBarStyleLightContent animated:YES];

Swift

func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
    application.statusBarStyle = .lightContent
    return true
}

---

if you want to set status bar style, at view controller level then follow these steps:

1. Set the UIViewControllerBasedStatusBarAppearance to YES in the .plist file, if you need to set status bar style at UIViewController level only.

2. In the viewDidLoad add function - setNeedsStatusBarAppearanceUpdate

3. override preferredStatusBarStyle in your view controller.

Objective C

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];
    [self setNeedsStatusBarAppearanceUpdate];
}

- (UIStatusBarStyle)preferredStatusBarStyle
{
    return UIStatusBarStyleLightContent;
}

Swift

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    self.setNeedsStatusBarAppearanceUpdate()
}

override var preferredStatusBarStyle: UIStatusBarStyle {
    return .lightContent
}

Set value of .plist according to status bar style setup level.

---

You can set background color for status bar during application launch or during viewDidLoad of your view controller.

extension UIApplication {

    var statusBarView: UIView? {
        return value(forKey: "statusBar") as? UIView
    }

}

// Set upon application launch, if you've application based status bar
class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {

    var window: UIWindow?

    func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
        UIApplication.shared.statusBarView?.backgroundColor = UIColor.red
        return true
    }
}


or 
// Set it from your view controller if you've view controller based statusbar
class ViewController: UIViewController {

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        UIApplication.shared.statusBarView?.backgroundColor = UIColor.red
    }

}

Here is result:

---

Comments

[Steve]

This is the only thing that works for me and yet it is deprecated.

[AfnanAhmad]

It doesn't work if the viewcontroller is wrapped in a UINavigationController

[Scott]

if your application use navigationController，you should also implement childViewControllerForStatusBarStyle.

[abhimanyu jindal]

I added my answer here, Please have a look. stackoverflow.com/a/56801660/299610