The Mac menu bar is a little bit of a multitude. Approach too many purposes wish to put icons within the top-right nook of the display, and most customers solely wish to see a fraction of these. It is a explicit drawback on current MacBooks, the place the digicam notch blacks out a piece of house proper in the midst of the menu bar. Because of this purposes for cleaning up the Mac menu bar are so fashionable—the muddle can really feel overwhelming.
Here is the factor, although: You most likely need not depart purposes like that working consistently. You possibly can conceal icons in macOS’ Settings, then use a free software as soon as to maneuver all of the icons nearer collectively. Here is how.
Find out how to conceal icons in Mac System Settings
Tahoe, also referred to as macOS 26, gave customers rather a lot to speak about, which meant a few features were broadly overlooked. One among them: the flexibility to cover any menu bar icon, no third social gathering software program required. To make use of this function open System Settings and head to the Menu Bar part. You will note the flexibility to toggle system icons, like Siri and Highlight, on and off. Preserve scrolling, although, and you will find the flexibility to cover icons for any of your put in purposes. Simply toggle off any software you’d relatively not see within the menu bar and it’ll disappear.
I have been utilizing this to disable undesirable icons for months, and it is working effectively for me. Having mentioned that, although, it is not an ideal substitute. Functions like Bartender and Ice do not simply conceal icons—they offer you entry to a secondary tray the place you’ll be able to nonetheless often entry icons you hid. There isn’t any fast manner to try this utilizing the macOS settings. Nonetheless: It is a free option to conceal undesirable icons, and there isn’t any must hold third social gathering software program working.
Credit score: Justin Pot
In case your menu bar nonetheless feels crowded, you’ll be able to liberate a bit more room by squeezing all your icons collectively. A free software known as Menu Bar Spacing allows you to change the spacing in your menu bar. Simply obtain the applying, transfer the slider, and your icons will transfer nearer collectively.
What do you assume to this point?
The wonderful thing about Menu Bar Spacing, as an software, is that it does not must run consistently. You possibly can launch it as soon as, make the adjustments you want, after which delete it—your setting will nonetheless apply. It’s because the applying adjustments just a few hidden macOS settings. You possibly can make the changes yourself using the Terminal for those who choose to not use an app, however I feel the app makes issues somewhat bit simpler.
There is a little bit of a caveat for macOS 26 customers. Due to a bug, solely Apple’s personal icons will transfer nearer collectively at first. Your different purposes will should be restarted earlier than they bunch nearer collectively. Meaning you will must manually shut and re-launch every software, or just restart your Mac. It is annoying, however solely related proper after you modify the settings. And you will have much more house in your menu bar when you’re accomplished.
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