Is it possible for a theme to control the foreground colour in the iOS/iPadOS status bar? (clock, battery icon etc.)

Syntaxes & Themes
1

Hi

Is it possible for a custom theme to control whether white or black is used for the iOS clock/battery indicator etc?

The built-in light themes switch to black foreground, so I was wondering if there’s a way that a custom theme can indicate this?

e.g. if using Catppuccin Latte that was shared here then the foreground is in white which can be harder to read.

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Thanks!

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2

No, the status bar color is controlled by the system and cannot be altered by an app. It is black text when your device (or the foreground app) is in light mode, and white text when in dark mode.

If you had white text on the light background, you likely selected a light theme to be your dark theme in Drafts.

3

Hi Greg

Thanks for taking a look at this thread. I’ve just given it another check and I’m definitely selecting the theme to be the light theme.

Just in case you can spot anything else I’m doing differently I did a quick screen recording.

https://share.josephson.org/drafts-theme-MCsaw1o1Y2.mp4

  • Device in light mode, Drafts set to match system
  • Starting with the light theme set to the built-in Light Gray theme - status bar text is black
  • Switch the light theme to Catppuccin Latte - status bar text is white

Also spotted that if I pick a built-in dark theme to be my light theme then that uses white text and conversely if switch the device to dark mode and pick a built-in light theme to be the dark theme then that uses black text.

One other thing I thought of is that I’m still on iOS 18 (18.7.7) so not sure if this is something that’s been changed/fixed in iOS 26?

Thanks again

Michael

4

OK, sorry, there is an isDark property in theme definitions that can make the theme override the dark/light mode. Not commonly used, and not used in any of the standard themes…but I guess this one has it set.

5

Hi! Thanks for looking into this, that makes total sense.

I’ve just edited a local copy of the theme and it looks great now :sparkles:

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I also put together a quick PR so hopefully @FlohGro can include the change to the theme.

Thanks again,

Michael

1 Like
6

Probably worth noting here that there is also an option in Editor Settings to totally hide the status bar when in Drafts, as well - if you are just wanting less distractions.

7

Updated the theme, thanks for flagging it :wink:

I almost exclusively use my phone & Drafts in dark mode so never found that issue.

2 Likes
8

Oh, thank you. I didn’t know about that setting but think it will come in useful for reducing distractions when doing longer form writing :+1: