I used to add blur effect on status bar with following code:
// Add blur effect on status bar
let blurEffect = UIBlurEffect(style: UIBlurEffectStyle.extraLight)
let blurEffectView = UIVisualEffectView(effect: blurEffect)
blurEffectView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
view.addSubview(blurEffectView)
blurEffectView.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.leadingAnchor).isActive = true
blurEffectView.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.trailingAnchor).isActive = true
blurEffectView.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.topLayoutGuide.topAnchor).isActive = true
blurEffectView.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.topLayoutGuide.bottomAnchor).isActive = true
'topLayoutGuide' was deprecated in iOS 11.0: Use view.safeAreaLayoutGuide.topAnchor instead of topLayoutGuide.bottomAnchor
topLayoutGuide
Since OP doesn't like using inset heights, just do this:
blurEffectView.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.leadingAnchor).isActive = true
blurEffectView.widthAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.widthAnchor).isActive = true
blurEffectView.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.topAnchor).isActive = true
blurEffectView.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.safeAreaLayoutGuide.topAnchor).isActive = true