Change status bar color dynamically in Swift 4

Question

I would like to change the status bar color between .lightContent and .default dynamically (since my background can change in the same ViewController).

Answer 1

Override preferredStatusBarStyle and call setNeedsStatusBarAppearanceUpdate() when it needs an update. In my example I used a simple dark mode controlled by a boolean property useDarkMode. As soon as it gets changed the UI is updated (including the status bar):

var useDarkMode = false {
    didSet {
        if useDarkMode != oldValue {
            updateUI()
        }
    }
}

private func updateUI() {
    UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.25) {
        if self.useDarkMode {
            self.view.backgroundColor = .darkGray
            self.view.tintColor = .white
        } else {
            self.view.backgroundColor = .white
            self.view.tintColor = nil
        }

        self.setNeedsStatusBarAppearanceUpdate()
    }
}

override var preferredStatusBarStyle: UIStatusBarStyle {
    return useDarkMode ? .lightContent : .default
}