preferredStatusBarStyle isn't called

Question

I followed this thread to override -preferredStatusBarStyle, but it isn't called. Are there any options that I can change to enable it? (I'm using XIBs in my project.)

Answer 1

For anyone using a UINavigationController:

The UINavigationController does not forward on preferredStatusBarStyle calls to its child view controllers. Instead it manages its own state - as it should, it is drawing at the top of the screen where the status bar lives and so should be responsible for it. Therefor implementing preferredStatusBarStyle in your VCs within a nav controller will do nothing - they will never be called.

The trick is what the UINavigationController uses to decide what to return for UIStatusBarStyleDefault or UIStatusBarStyleLightContent. It bases this on its UINavigationBar.barStyle. The default (UIBarStyleDefault) results in the dark foreground UIStatusBarStyleDefault status bar. And UIBarStyleBlack will give a UIStatusBarStyleLightContent status bar.

TL;DR:

If you want UIStatusBarStyleLightContent on a UINavigationController use:

self.navigationController.navigationBar.barStyle = UIBarStyleBlack;