SBAppStatusBarManager is a singleton class that manages the status bar. You can access the singleton instance with the nonstandard method as follows:
+ (id)sharedInstance
This class was not available prior to iOS 7.
Modification
The following method can be used to hide the status bar.
- (void)hideStatusBar;
The following method can be used to show the status bar.
- (void)showStatusBar;
The following method can be used to modify the opacity of the status bar.
- (void)setStatusBarAlpha:(float)alpha;
However, it should be noted that all changes made to the status bar are temporary, and are reverted to defaults when an app is opened.
References
- Header: http://github.com/kennytm/iphone-private-frameworks/blob/master/SpringBoard/SBAppStatusBarManager.h