diff --git a/plugin.xml b/plugin.xml
index ad69b14..d4c937a 100644
--- a/plugin.xml
+++ b/plugin.xml
@@ -24,12 +24,17 @@
             <feature name="StatusBar">
                 <param name="ios-package" value="CDVStatusBar" onload="true" />
             </feature>
+            <preference name="StatusBarOverlaysWebView" value="true" />
+            <preference name="StatusBarBackgroundColor" value="#000000" />
+            <preference name="StatusBarStyle" value="lightContent" /> <!-- default, lightContent, blackTranslucent, blackOpaque -->
         </config-file>
         
+        <!-- add this manually for now, crash bug - see https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CB-5012
         <config-file target="*-Info.plist" parent="UIViewControllerBasedStatusBarAppearance" >
         	<key>UIViewControllerBasedStatusBarAppearance</key>
             <false/>
         </config-file>        
+        -->
 
         <header-file src="src/ios/CDVStatusBar.h" />
         <source-file src="src/ios/CDVStatusBar.m" />
diff --git a/src/ios/CDVStatusBar.m b/src/ios/CDVStatusBar.m
index 7a301b8..0809d24 100644
--- a/src/ios/CDVStatusBar.m
+++ b/src/ios/CDVStatusBar.m
@@ -32,6 +32,14 @@
     return [self.commandDelegate.settings objectForKey:[key lowercaseString]];
 }
 
+- (void) checkInfoPlistKey
+{
+    NSNumber* uiviewControllerBasedStatusBarAppearance = [[NSBundle mainBundle] objectForInfoDictionaryKey:@"UIViewControllerBasedStatusBarAppearance"];
+    if (uiviewControllerBasedStatusBarAppearance == nil || [uiviewControllerBasedStatusBarAppearance boolValue]) {
+        NSLog(@"ERROR: To use the statusbar plugin, in your app's Info.plist, you need to add a 'UIViewControllerBasedStatusBarAppearance' key with a value of <false/>");
+    }
+}
+
 - (void)pluginInitialize
 {
     _statusBarOverlaysWebView = YES; // default
@@ -41,10 +49,22 @@
     _statusBarBackgroundView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:frame];
     _statusBarBackgroundView.backgroundColor = [UIColor blackColor];
     
-    NSString* setting  = @"StatusBarOverlaysWebView";
+    NSString* setting;
+    
+    setting  = @"StatusBarOverlaysWebView";
     if ([self settingForKey:setting]) {
         self.statusBarOverlaysWebView = [(NSNumber*)[self settingForKey:setting] boolValue];
     }
+
+    setting  = @"StatusBarBackgroundColor";
+    if ([self settingForKey:setting]) {
+        [self _statusBarBackgroundColorByHexString:[self settingForKey:setting]];
+    }
+    
+    setting  = @"StatusBarStyle";
+    if ([self settingForKey:setting]) {
+        [self setStatusBarStyle:[self settingForKey:setting]];
+    }
 }
 
 - (void) setStatusBarOverlaysWebView:(BOOL)statusBarOverlaysWebView
@@ -94,23 +114,43 @@
     self.statusBarOverlaysWebView = [value boolValue];
 }
 
+- (void) setStatusBarStyle:(NSString*)statusBarStyle
+{
+    // default, lightContent, blackTranslucent, blackOpaque
+    NSString* lcStatusBarStyle = [statusBarStyle lowercaseString];
+    
+    if ([lcStatusBarStyle isEqualToString:@"default"]) {
+        [self styleDefault:nil];
+    } else if ([lcStatusBarStyle isEqualToString:@"lightcontent"]) {
+        [self styleLightContent:nil];
+    } else if ([lcStatusBarStyle isEqualToString:@"blacktranslucent"]) {
+        [self styleBlackTranslucent:nil];
+    } else if ([lcStatusBarStyle isEqualToString:@"blackopaque"]) {
+        [self styleBlackOpaque:nil];
+    }
+}
+
 - (void) styleDefault:(CDVInvokedUrlCommand*)command
 {
+    [self checkInfoPlistKey];
     [[UIApplication sharedApplication] setStatusBarStyle:UIStatusBarStyleDefault];
 }
 
 - (void) styleLightContent:(CDVInvokedUrlCommand*)command
 {
+    [self checkInfoPlistKey];
     [[UIApplication sharedApplication] setStatusBarStyle:UIStatusBarStyleLightContent];
 }
 
 - (void) styleBlackTranslucent:(CDVInvokedUrlCommand*)command
 {
+    [self checkInfoPlistKey];
     [[UIApplication sharedApplication] setStatusBarStyle:UIStatusBarStyleBlackTranslucent];
 }
 
 - (void) styleBlackOpaque:(CDVInvokedUrlCommand*)command
 {
+    [self checkInfoPlistKey];
     [[UIApplication sharedApplication] setStatusBarStyle:UIStatusBarStyleBlackOpaque];
 }
 
@@ -127,6 +167,16 @@
     }
 }
 
+- (void) _statusBarBackgroundColorByHexString:(NSString*)hexString
+{
+    unsigned int rgbValue = 0;
+    NSScanner* scanner = [NSScanner scannerWithString:hexString];
+    [scanner setScanLocation:1];
+    [scanner scanHexInt:&rgbValue];
+    
+    _statusBarBackgroundView.backgroundColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:((rgbValue & 0xFF0000) >> 16)/255.0 green:((rgbValue & 0xFF00) >> 8)/255.0 blue:(rgbValue & 0xFF)/255.0 alpha:1.0];
+}
+
 - (void) statusBarBackgroundColorByHexString:(CDVInvokedUrlCommand*)command
 {
     NSString* value = [command.arguments objectAtIndex:0];
@@ -138,12 +188,7 @@
         return;
     }
     
-    unsigned int rgbValue = 0;
-    NSScanner* scanner = [NSScanner scannerWithString:value];
-    [scanner setScanLocation:1];
-    [scanner scanHexInt:&rgbValue];
-    
-    _statusBarBackgroundView.backgroundColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:((rgbValue & 0xFF0000) >> 16)/255.0 green:((rgbValue & 0xFF00) >> 8)/255.0 blue:(rgbValue & 0xFF)/255.0 alpha:1.0];
+    [self _statusBarBackgroundColorByHexString:value];
 }