I reconsidered all points and think that first a release of cordova-android and cordova-ios should be made before cordova-plugin-statusbar should be deprecated. It make no sense do deprecate it, when some necessary replacement features are not released yet. There is only one PR for cordova-android thats needs to be merged:
fix(CordovaActivity): adjust dispatched window insets for WebView margins PR #2022 (https://github.com/apache/cordova-android/pull/2022) This fixes the CSS safe-area-inset-* vars not be 0 when AndroidEdgeToEdge is false. Previously I wrote that cordova-android lags the possibilty of using the config.xml preference "<preference name="StatusBarOverlaysWebView" value="true" />“ when not in edge-to-edge mode, but the replacement of the core would be to enable edge-to-edge and create itself a translucent status bar background via HTML. I would overtake it in the deprecation notices for cordova-plugin-statusbar on PR #296 (https://github.com/apache/cordova-plugin-statusbar/pull/296). Regards, Manuel > Am 18.09.2026 um 21:50 schrieb Manuel Beck <[email protected]>: > > Hi Norman, > > thanks for the detailed research. I updated PR #296 > (https://github.com/apache/cordova-plugin-statusbar/pull/296) on > cordova-plugin-statusbar to add a feature list of cordova-plugin-statusbar > and what the replacement is on the cores. > > Manuel > >> Am 09.09.2026 um 18:15 schrieb Norman Breau via dev <[email protected]>: >> >> The JS API is enabled for the core system bars in Cordova Android 15.1.0 via >> Since 15.1.0 via https://github.com/apache/cordova-android/pull/1971 >> >> I think the features of the old status bar plugin was: >> - Controlling light or dark content (basically black or white font style) >> - Showing or hiding the status bar >> - Setting the status bar background colour >> - Setting the status bar as a solid bar or as an overlay on top of the >> webview. >> - On iOS I guess the statusbar plugin supports a statusbar tap or the >> ability to tap the scrollbar to scroll to top via >> *StatusBarDefaultScrollToTop* config preference. >> >> On the last note, I'm not sure if the core system bar plugin has a direct >> equivalent but I'd also point out that the goal for the core system bar >> plugin is to add the "basic" feature set as you would expect as a core >> feature of any app. And this particular feature might exceed that scope, and >> given that it's an iOS only feature I'd argue it's an unfinished feature of >> the original product and can be something we could "drop" (by deprecating >> the status bar plugin without a replacement) >> >> The original statusbar plugin also offered both declarative API (via config >> preferences) and a JS API for controlling all the options mentioned above, >> except for visibility state, which only appears to be controlled via the JS >> API. The core system bars API I believe matches the same capabilities as of >> Cordova Android v15.1.0, noting that controlling light and dark content is >> not directly controllable, but is influenced by the background colour state >> instead (imposed opinion). The imposed opinion I don't believe is a blocker, >> and if desired we can likely incorporate a configuration parameter to >> influence the luminance formula without introducing a breaking change. So I >> believe the core system bar API is now on par with the capabilities of the >> original status bar plugin. >> >> I'd also point out that all the APIs on the android implementation that the >> older statusbar plugin depends on is deprecated so without drastic changes >> to that plugin, I don't foresee us being able to maintain that plugin in the >> longer term anyway. I believe most of the refactoring required will end up >> being similar to what is implemented at the core platform, and maintaining >> two separate statusbar plugins does not make much sense to me in the long >> term. >> >> At [email protected], there was issues that made the status bar plugin >> still mandatory to obtain certain level of functionality that might have >> been necessary for some apps, and I think 15.1.0 has corrected all of those >> issues. So I believe we are probably ok in deprecating >> cordova-plugin-statusbar. >> >> So assuming that my analysis is accurate, I vote +1 >> >> On 2026-09-09 12:53 p.m., Manuel Beck wrote: >>> Hi Alexandre, >>> >>> it's like you wrote. Setting the status bar background color will change >>> the dark/light appearance in edge-to-edge mode. You can set the background >>> color dynamically by the Status Bar JavaScript API >>> window.statusbar.setBackgroundColor('css-color'). Setting >>> window.statusbar.setBackgroundColor('black') >>> for e.g. will make the status bar appear in light mode. >>> >>> Manuel >>> >>> ________________________________ >>> Von: Alexandre Alves<[email protected]> >>> Gesendet: Wednesday, 09 September 2026 16:20:25 >>> An: Manuel Beck<[email protected]>;[email protected] >>> <[email protected]> >>> Betreff: Re: [VOTE] Deprecation of cordova-plugin-statusbar >>> >>> Hi >>> >>> Do you mean that by setting StatusBarBackgroundColor in edge-to-edge, it >>> will make text colour dark if the background is light and the opposite if >>> dark? Is there a method to set the background colour dynamically? >>> >>> Alexandre Alves >>> ________________________________ >>> From: Manuel Beck<[email protected]> >>> Sent: 09 September 2026 13:31 >>> To:[email protected] <[email protected]> >>> Cc: Alexandre Alves<[email protected]> >>> Subject: AW: [VOTE] Deprecation of cordova-plugin-statusbar >>> >>> Hi, >>> >>> you are correct, Darrel was against your PR and I closed it 😃. But after I >>> worked some more time on the status bar issue, I noticed that the >>> config.xml preference „StatusBarBackgroundColor“ changes the dark/light >>> appearance of the status bar on Android edge-to-edge mode even if the >>> background color is not seen itself. To make it fully functional I created >>> PR #1971 on cordova-android >>> (https://github.com/apache/cordova-android/pull/1971) which makes it also >>> possible with the Status Bar JavaScript API. Since iOS 18.5 the system >>> handles the appearance automatically. To make it work on older iOS versions >>> I fixed that with PR #1689 >>> (https://github.com/apache/cordova-ios/pull/1689), but which is not >>> released yet. So it’s now possible to handle the dark/light appearance of >>> the status bar with the cores only. >>> >>> Manuel >>> >>> >>> Von: Alexandre Alves via dev<[email protected]> >>> Datum: Mittwoch, 9. September 2026 um 14:13 >>> An:[email protected] <[email protected]> >>> Cc: Alexandre Alves<[email protected]> >>> Betreff: Re: [VOTE] Deprecation of cordova-plugin-statusbar >>> >>> Hi, >>> >>> I tried to push a PR (https://github.com/apache/cordova-android/pull/1917) >>> to cordova android to be able to control the color of the content (light or >>> dark) but the opinion was that it should not be included in the platform >>> and developers who needed that feature would have to continue relying on >>> the statusbar plugin. A function to control the color of the content in the >>> statusbar is not available in each platform. >>> >>> If this is the case, then it should not be deprecated. >>> >>> Alexandre Alves >>> ________________________________ >>> From: Manuel Beck<[email protected]> >>> Sent: 09 September 2026 13:04 >>> To:[email protected] <[email protected]> >>> Subject: AW: [VOTE] Deprecation of cordova-plugin-statusbar >>> >>> I have a correction to be made at the notes on point 3: >>> cordova-android lags the possibilty of using the config.xml preference >>> "<preference name="StatusBarOverlaysWebView" value="false" />" in >>> non-edge-to-edge mode >>> It should be meant >>> lags the possibilty of using the config.xml preference "<preference >>> name="StatusBarOverlaysWebView" value="true" />" in non-edge-to-edge mode >>> >>> Von: Manuel Beck<[email protected]> >>> Datum: Mittwoch, 9. September 2026 um 13:59 >>> An:[email protected] <[email protected]> >>> Betreff: [VOTE] Deprecation of cordova-plugin-statusbar >>> >>> Hi, >>> >>> I want to vote for deprecating cordova-plugin-statusbar. Most of the >>> functionality moved to cordova-android since 15.0.0 and cordov-ios since >>> 8.0.0. I want to add a deprecation note on cordova-plugin-statusbar on top >>> of the readme to inform people about that and directing to the blog post >>> articles for cordova-android 15.0.0 and cordova-ios 8.0.0 where some >>> replacements are described. PR #296 >>> (https://github.com/apache/cordova-plugin-statusbar/pull/296) would add the >>> note. Also a blog post article could be created, which informs the user of >>> the deprecation and how to use the cores instead. Also the Status Bar >>> JavaScript API could be mentioned there. >>> >>> Here are some things to note about the status bar compatibility of the >>> cores: >>> >>> 1. cordova-android lagged the possibility to hide the status bar >>> completely, which is fixed by PR #2000 >>> (https://github.com/apache/cordova-android/pull/2000) but not released yet. >>> 2. Since cordova-android 15.1.0 the dark/light appearance of the status bar >>> can bet by the Status Bar JS API >>> (https://github.com/apache/cordova-android/pull/1971). On iOS this is done >>> automatically since iOS 18.5. For iOS older than 18.5 the PR #1689 >>> (https://github.com/apache/cordova-ios/pull/1689) fixed that, but which is >>> not released. >>> 3. cordova-android lags the possibilty of using the config.xml preference >>> "<preference name="StatusBarOverlaysWebView" value="false" />" in >>> non-edge-to-edge mode, because „StatusBarOverlaysWebView“ is not supported >>> by the cores. On iOS this behaviour can be obtained by using "<meta >>> name="viewport" content="viewport-fit=cover“>“, which is currently not >>> supported by Android. Darrel opened a PR #2010 on cordova-android >>> (https://github.com/apache/cordova-android/pull/2010) which would resolve >>> this. >>> >>> I think, there will be done no more work on cordova-plugin-statusbar and >>> the cores will take care of the functionality. >>> >>> Regards, >>> >>> Manuel >>> <https://github.com/apache/cordova-android/pull/2000> >
