# How to get an iPhone screenshot with no status bar (and why none of the options is free)

Source: https://flexdger.com/blog/iphone-screenshot-without-status-bar
Updated: 2026-11-01
Published: 2026-09-23
Topic: App Store screenshots (https://flexdger.com/blog/app-store)

> No iOS setting removes the status bar from a screenshot. Compare four fixes (tidy it, crop it, override it in Simulator, paint over it) by size and effort.

Apple gives you no switch that removes the status bar from a screenshot. What you get instead is a menu of trade-offs: a few minutes of prep, an image Apple will reject, a Mac, or a retouched file. Here is each one with the numbers.

**Short answer:** On a physical iPhone the status bar is always part of a normal screenshot, since iOS offers no way to leave it out. Your options are to clean the bar before shooting, to crop it off (which breaks App Store size rules), to override its values in the Xcode Simulator with xcrun simctl status_bar, or to paint over it later.

## Why every capture includes the bar

Pressing the side button and volume up (or the side button and Home on phones that still have one) saves the entire display. The status bar is part of it, and there is no preference to change that. Individual apps can hide their own bar, a full-screen video being the usual case, but that decision belongs to the developer. For everyone else there are four workarounds, summarized here.

| Approach | You need | Output size | Accepted by App Store Connect | What it costs you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simulator override | A Mac with Xcode | Native size of the simulated device | Yes, on current models | The picture shows the Simulator, not your phone |
| Tidy the real bar | Your iPhone | 1179 × 2556 | Yes | A few minutes of preparation |
| Crop it off | Photos or any editor | 1179 × 2394 | No | The upload is refused |
| Paint over it | An image editor | 1179 × 2556 | Yes | The file is an edited image |

## Option A: override the bar in the Simulator

This does not remove the bar. It decides what it shows. With a device booted in the Xcode Simulator, run:

`xcrun simctl status_bar booted override --time 9:41 --batteryState charged --batteryLevel 100 --cellularBars 4`

We tried it on November 1, 2026, with an iPhone 17 Simulator under Xcode 27.2. The command was accepted, `xcrun simctl status_bar booted list` reported 09:41, a full battery and four cellular bars, and `clear` wiped the overrides. A few details worth knowing: `--cellularBars` accepts 0 to 4, the optional `--wifiBars` only 0 to 3, `--operatorName ''` blanks the carrier name, and `--batteryState` takes charging, charged or discharging. Swap `override` for `clear` to reset everything. To save the picture, `xcrun simctl io booted screenshot shot.png` writes the device’s native size, which was 1206 × 2622 on that iPhone 17.

## Option B: tidy the bar on your own phone

It is the only route that yields an untouched capture from your actual device at a size Apple accepts. A short checklist before you press the buttons:

- **Battery.** Charge to 100%, then unplug, so no charging bolt appears.
- **Notifications.** Do Not Disturb or another Focus mutes most banners, though allowed contacts, allowed apps and time-sensitive alerts still break through, and a Focus may put its own icon beside the clock.
- **Wi-Fi.** Stand where the signal shows full.
- **Clock.** Under Settings, General, Date & Time, switch off Set Automatically and choose the minute. Switch it back afterward, because sign-in codes rely on the correct time.

The values to aim for are in [what the status bar should say in an App Store screenshot](https://flexdger.com/blog/status-bar-in-app-store-screenshots).

## Option C: crop it, and give up the accepted size

Cropping takes seconds and costs you the dimensions. On an iPhone 14 Pro the bar is 54 pt tall, which is 162 px at 3× (see [the measured status bar dimensions](https://flexdger.com/guides/iphone-status-bar-dimensions)). Subtract it from 1179 × 2556 and you are left with 1179 × 2394, a size that appears on no list, and App Store Connect [accepts only an exact match](https://flexdger.com/blog/screenshot-dimensions-are-wrong). Stretching the result back to 2556 px of height warps the picture by about 7%. Keep cropping for places where nobody measures: a README, a slide, a bug report.

## Option D: paint over it

Fill the top 162 px with the app’s background color and the bar vanishes while the file stays at 1179 × 2556. On a flat background nobody can tell. Over a gradient or a photograph, a seam shows. The deeper price is that the result is no longer a capture of the device but an edited image.

## Where Flexdger Wallet fits

Flexdger Wallet is a crypto wallet simulator: you enter the tokens and amounts, open the screen on your own phone and take the screenshot yourself. The screen carries a status bar of its own in the previews and in the kit captures, where there is no phone to borrow one from, and hides it once the wallet is launched from your home screen, so a capture never shows two bars with two different times.

The paid wallet no longer draws one. Launched from the home screen (the steps are on [the page that explains why there is no download](https://flexdger.com/download)), it fills the display and the capture carries your phone’s bar: real time, battery and signal, plus a carrier name if your phone shows one. For video, the cleanest bar on the [wallet screen](https://flexdger.com/demo) is therefore your phone’s own. Option B is the closest fit for a screenshot, and cropping or painting still work on the file afterward. The illustrations on this site continue to draw a bar. All amounts are typed in, so the picture remains a mockup, and a tidy bar proves nothing.

## Questions

### Is there a hidden iOS setting that hides the status bar in a capture?

No. A normal screenshot on a real iPhone includes the bar, whatever you configure. Only an app that hides its own bar, such as a full-screen video player, shows a capture without one. Everything else means cleaning, cropping, retouching or switching to the Simulator.

### My cropped screenshot is rejected on upload. What went wrong?

The crop changed the dimensions. Removing the 162 px bar from a 1179 × 2556 iPhone 14 Pro capture leaves 1179 × 2394, which is not on Apple’s list of accepted sizes, so the dimension check stops it.

### How do I undo the Simulator status bar override?

Run xcrun simctl status_bar booted clear and every override disappears together. If you want to see what is currently set first, run xcrun simctl status_bar booted list.

### What is the quickest way to show 9:41 on the clock?

In the Simulator, add --time 9:41 to the override and the bar keeps that time until you clear it. On a real iPhone, turn off Set Automatically under Settings, General, Date & Time, choose the minute, shoot, then switch Set Automatically back on.