regression: black empty status bar on Android 14

[diegolmello]

Proposed changes

On Android 14 the status bar showed as a black strip with no clock or icons, and content started below it instead of drawing edge-to-edge.

This is a regression from the React Native 0.86 / Expo SDK 57 upgrade (#7691):

• expo-status-bar 3.0.9 rendered the React Native StatusBar with translucent defaulting to true and forwarded backgroundColor, which the app set to surfaceNeutral.
• expo-status-bar 57 no longer passes translucent or backgroundColor, and the upgrade removed the backgroundColor prop from the app's StatusBar wrapper.
• React Native then falls back to its defaults and sends setTranslucent(false) and a black setColor to the native StatusBar module.
• React Native's own module ignores both under edge-to-edge, but react-native-keyboard-controller replaces that module while KeyboardProvider is mounted and applies them: it adds a status-bar-height top margin to the content and paints the bar black.

The StatusBar container now renders the React Native StatusBar directly with translucent, a transparent background and the matching bar style.

Issue(s)

https://rocketchat.atlassian.net/browse/NATIVE-1701

How to test or reproduce

1. Open the app on an Android 14 (API 34) device or emulator and log in.
2. Check the top of the rooms list: the header draws behind the status bar, and the clock and icons are visible.
3. Open the drawer, then Profile, and check the same.
4. Repeat on Android 16 (API 36).

Screenshots

Before, Android 14 (API 34):

After, Android 14 (API 34), launch from splash to the rooms list:

statusbar-launch-api34.mp4

After, Android 16 (API 36), launch from splash to the rooms list:

statusbar-launch-api36.mp4

Types of changes

• Bugfix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
• Improvement (non-breaking change which improves a current function)
• New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
• Documentation update (if none of the other choices apply)

Checklist

• I have read the CONTRIBUTING doc
• I have signed the CLA
• Lint and unit tests pass locally with my changes
• I have added tests that prove my fix is effective or that my feature works (if applicable)
• I have added necessary documentation (if applicable)
• Any dependent changes have been merged and published in downstream modules

Further comments

expo-status-bar is no longer imported by the app after this change.

On Android 16 (API 36) the status bar looked the same before and after this change, so the black bar is visible only on Android 14.

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Style
  • Updated the status bar to use a transparent background and translucent display, allowing app content to extend behind it.
  • Status bar content now uses light or dark styling to match the existing appearance setting.

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ℹ️ Recent review info

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Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 86ff7e5 and 1cd1990.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• app/containers/StatusBar.tsx

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🔇 Additional comments (1)

app/containers/StatusBar.tsx (1)

1-1: LGTM!

Also applies to: 17-17

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Walkthrough

StatusBar now imports from react-native. It keeps the animated setting and uses a translucent, transparent status bar with the selected barStyle suffixed by -content.

Changes

Status Bar

Layer / File(s)	Summary
React Native status bar props app/containers/StatusBar.tsx	The component now imports StatusBar from react-native. It uses translucent, a transparent background, and a barStyle value suffixed with -content instead of the Expo style prop.

Priority: ⬇️ Low

Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~5 minutes

Change: Bug fix

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to 1cd19

The status-bar change preserves the prior Android translucency behavior. No actionable merge-blocking risk remains.

Security Architecture Review

Security architecture risk: 🔵 Low · up to 1cd19

The change is limited to status-bar appearance, with no demonstrated new attacker access or weakened security control. Its effect extends across the app, and restoration of shared appearance state during navigation remains unverified.

Retained concerns
No architecture-level concerns identified.

Security review details

Security Blast Radius

• inferred — The demonstrated exposure is application-wide native appearance while the root component is mounted, with an additional writer on the password-change screen. The changed function is a UI component, not a demonstrated remotely invocable entrypoint.

Trust Boundaries and Controls

• inferred — The reviewed flow changes how application-selected appearance reaches the native status-bar implementation. It does not demonstrate attacker-controlled input crossing into credential access or authorization; visual composition uncertainty alone does not establish control bypass.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 0 functions across 1…
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly identifies the main change: fixing the black, empty status bar on Android 14. It is concise and specific.

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