diff --git a/packages/react-native/Libraries/Components/StatusBar/StatusBar.d.ts b/packages/react-native/Libraries/Components/StatusBar/StatusBar.d.ts
index 53144c375edc..83db72e05022 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/Libraries/Components/StatusBar/StatusBar.d.ts
+++ b/packages/react-native/Libraries/Components/StatusBar/StatusBar.d.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,11 @@
 import type * as React from 'react';
 import {ColorValue} from '../../StyleSheet/StyleSheet';
 
-export type StatusBarStyle = 'default' | 'light-content' | 'dark-content';
+export type StatusBarStyle =
+  | 'default'
+  | 'auto'
+  | 'light-content'
+  | 'dark-content';
 
 export type StatusBarAnimation = 'none' | 'fade' | 'slide';
 
diff --git a/packages/react-native/Libraries/Components/StatusBar/StatusBar.js b/packages/react-native/Libraries/Components/StatusBar/StatusBar.js
index 5df3131bdcf0..5a391305b6b3 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/Libraries/Components/StatusBar/StatusBar.js
+++ b/packages/react-native/Libraries/Components/StatusBar/StatusBar.js
@@ -9,8 +9,10 @@
  */
 
 import type {ColorValue} from '../../StyleSheet/StyleSheet';
+import type {EventSubscription} from '../../vendor/emitter/EventEmitter';
 
 import processColor from '../../StyleSheet/processColor';
+import * as Appearance from '../../Utilities/Appearance';
 import Platform from '../../Utilities/Platform';
 import NativeStatusBarManagerAndroid from './NativeStatusBarManagerAndroid';
 import NativeStatusBarManagerIOS from './NativeStatusBarManagerIOS';
@@ -25,6 +27,11 @@ export type StatusBarStyle = keyof {
    * Default status bar style (dark for iOS, light for Android)
    */
   default: string,
+  /**
+   * Automatically picks `light-content` or `dark-content` based on the current
+   * color scheme. Updates whenever the color scheme changes.
+   */
+  auto: string,
   /**
    * Dark background, white texts and icons
    */
@@ -105,7 +112,7 @@ type StatusBarBaseProps = Readonly<{
   /**
    * Sets the color of the status bar text.
    */
-  barStyle?: ?('default' | 'light-content' | 'dark-content'),
+  barStyle?: ?('default' | 'auto' | 'light-content' | 'dark-content'),
 }>;
 
 export type StatusBarProps = Readonly<{
@@ -133,13 +140,24 @@ type StackProps = {
 };
 
 /**
- * Merges the prop stack with the default values.
+ * Returns the bar style to use when `barStyle` is `'auto'`, picked against
+ * the current color scheme.
+ */
+function getAutoBarStyle(): 'light-content' | 'dark-content' {
+  return Appearance.getColorScheme() === 'dark'
+    ? 'light-content'
+    : 'dark-content';
+}
+
+/**
+ * Merges the prop stack with the default values, resolving the `'auto'`
+ * barStyle to a concrete value.
  */
 function mergePropsStack(
   propsStack: Array<Object>,
   defaultValues: Object,
 ): Object {
-  return propsStack.reduce(
+  const merged: StackProps = propsStack.reduce(
     (prev, cur) => {
       for (const prop in cur) {
         if (cur[prop] != null) {
@@ -150,6 +168,12 @@ function mergePropsStack(
     },
     {...defaultValues},
   );
+
+  if (merged.barStyle?.value === 'auto') {
+    merged.barStyle = {...merged.barStyle, value: getAutoBarStyle()};
+  }
+
+  return merged;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -247,9 +271,16 @@ class StatusBar extends React.Component<StatusBarProps> {
   // Timer for updating the native module values at the end of the frame.
   static _updateImmediate: ?number = null;
 
-  // The current merged values from the props stack.
+  // The current merged values from the props stack. `barStyle.value` is stored
+  // in its resolved form (never `'auto'`), so diff comparisons reflect what
+  // was actually sent to the native module.
   static _currentValues: ?StackProps = null;
 
+  // Number of mounted `StatusBar` instances. Used to lazily subscribe to color
+  // scheme changes only while at least one instance is on screen.
+  static _mountedCount: number = 0;
+  static _appearanceSubscription: ?EventSubscription = null;
+
   // TODO(janic): Provide a real API to deal with status bar height. See the
   // discussion in #6195.
   /**
@@ -289,10 +320,11 @@ class StatusBar extends React.Component<StatusBarProps> {
   static setBarStyle(style: StatusBarStyle, animated?: boolean) {
     animated = animated || false;
     StatusBar._defaultProps.barStyle.value = style;
+    const resolvedStyle = style === 'auto' ? getAutoBarStyle() : style;
     if (Platform.OS === 'ios') {
-      NativeStatusBarManagerIOS.setStyle(style, animated);
+      NativeStatusBarManagerIOS.setStyle(resolvedStyle, animated);
     } else if (Platform.OS === 'android') {
-      NativeStatusBarManagerAndroid.setStyle(style);
+      NativeStatusBarManagerAndroid.setStyle(resolvedStyle);
     }
   }
 
@@ -407,6 +439,16 @@ class StatusBar extends React.Component<StatusBarProps> {
     // stack. This allows having multiple StatusBar components and the one that is
     // added last or is deeper in the view hierarchy will have priority.
     this._stackEntry = StatusBar.pushStackEntry(this.props);
+
+    if (StatusBar._mountedCount === 0) {
+      // Re-run the native update when the system color scheme changes so any
+      // `barStyle: 'auto'` entries resolve to the new appropriate value.
+      StatusBar._appearanceSubscription = Appearance.addChangeListener(() => {
+        StatusBar._updatePropsStack();
+      });
+    }
+
+    StatusBar._mountedCount++;
   }
 
   componentWillUnmount() {
@@ -415,6 +457,16 @@ class StatusBar extends React.Component<StatusBarProps> {
     if (this._stackEntry != null) {
       StatusBar.popStackEntry(this._stackEntry);
     }
+
+    StatusBar._mountedCount--;
+
+    if (
+      StatusBar._appearanceSubscription != null &&
+      StatusBar._mountedCount === 0
+    ) {
+      StatusBar._appearanceSubscription.remove();
+      StatusBar._appearanceSubscription = null;
+    }
   }
 
   componentDidUpdate() {
diff --git a/packages/react-native/Libraries/Components/StatusBar/__tests__/StatusBar-test.js b/packages/react-native/Libraries/Components/StatusBar/__tests__/StatusBar-test.js
index 640a33a21d2a..3cbda80d885d 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/Libraries/Components/StatusBar/__tests__/StatusBar-test.js
+++ b/packages/react-native/Libraries/Components/StatusBar/__tests__/StatusBar-test.js
@@ -47,6 +47,33 @@ describe('StatusBar', () => {
       false,
     );
   });
+  it('resolves auto barStyle against the current color scheme', () => {
+    const Appearance = require('../../../Utilities/Appearance');
+    const Platform = require('../../../Utilities/Platform').default;
+
+    const nativeStatusBarManager =
+      Platform.OS === 'ios'
+        ? require('../NativeStatusBarManagerIOS').default
+        : require('../NativeStatusBarManagerAndroid').default;
+
+    const appearanceSpy = jest.spyOn(Appearance, 'getColorScheme');
+    const setStyleSpy = jest.spyOn(nativeStatusBarManager, 'setStyle');
+
+    appearanceSpy.mockReturnValue('light');
+    setStyleSpy.mockClear();
+
+    StatusBar.setBarStyle('auto');
+    expect(setStyleSpy.mock.calls[0][0]).toBe('dark-content');
+
+    appearanceSpy.mockReturnValue('dark');
+    setStyleSpy.mockClear();
+
+    StatusBar.setBarStyle('auto');
+    expect(setStyleSpy.mock.calls[0][0]).toBe('light-content');
+
+    appearanceSpy.mockRestore();
+    setStyleSpy.mockRestore();
+  });
   it('renders the statusbar but should not be visible', async () => {
     const component = await create(<StatusBar hidden={true} />);
     expect(component.toTree()?.props.hidden).toBe(true);
diff --git a/packages/react-native/ReactNativeApi.d.ts b/packages/react-native/ReactNativeApi.d.ts
index abd52ddb4370..6ffe826ecfd2 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/ReactNativeApi.d.ts
+++ b/packages/react-native/ReactNativeApi.d.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
  * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
  * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
  *
- * @generated SignedSource<<08dd369849273136812ea5edbda6e1df>>
+ * @generated SignedSource<<a438af540f18c77572f05cef9481b7a6>>
  *
  * This file was generated by scripts/js-api/build-types/index.js.
  */
@@ -4948,7 +4948,7 @@ declare type StatusBarAnimation = keyof {
 }
 declare type StatusBarBaseProps = {
   readonly animated?: boolean
-  readonly barStyle?: "dark-content" | "default" | "light-content"
+  readonly barStyle?: "auto" | "dark-content" | "default" | "light-content"
   readonly hidden?: boolean
 }
 declare type StatusBarProps = Readonly<
@@ -4963,6 +4963,7 @@ declare type StatusBarPropsIOS = {
   readonly showHideTransition?: "fade" | "none" | "slide"
 }
 declare type StatusBarStyle = keyof {
+  auto: string
   "dark-content": string
   default: string
   "light-content": string
@@ -6213,10 +6214,10 @@ export {
   ShareContent, // 7c627896
   ShareOptions, // 800c3a4e
   SimpleTask, // 0e619d11
-  StatusBar, // 5e08d563
+  StatusBar, // 875b4eca
   StatusBarAnimation, // 7fd047e6
-  StatusBarProps, // 06c98add
-  StatusBarStyle, // 986b2051
+  StatusBarProps, // b72a9127
+  StatusBarStyle, // 78f53eea
   StyleProp, // fa0e9b4a
   StyleSheet, // e77dd046
   SubmitBehavior, // c4ddf490
diff --git a/packages/rn-tester/js/examples/StatusBar/StatusBarExample.js b/packages/rn-tester/js/examples/StatusBar/StatusBarExample.js
index eed932fdc8c0..f0b76552e0bd 100644
--- a/packages/rn-tester/js/examples/StatusBar/StatusBarExample.js
+++ b/packages/rn-tester/js/examples/StatusBar/StatusBarExample.js
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ import {
 
 const colors = ['#ff0000', '#00ff00', '#0000ff', 'rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4)'];
 
-const barStyles = ['default', 'light-content', 'dark-content'];
+const barStyles = ['default', 'auto', 'light-content', 'dark-content'];
 
 const showHideTransitions = ['fade', 'slide'];