[![Things 3 Screenshot](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mBabn.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mBabn.png)

In [Things 3](https://culturedcode.com/things/), the status bar text (wireless signal, time, battery, etc.) in the iOS app is a medium-gray color. Normally you can only have black or white text in the status bar.

**How are they doing this?**

My first guess is they have a semi-transparent white `UIView` covering the status bar, but I'm unsure how they pulled that off. I'd love to know how to do this in Swift.