Sometimes you need to let it go... Moving from Bartender to Thaw

I have been using the Bartender app for longer than I can honestly remember. The main issue with macOS for heavy users has always been the menu bar — the one in the top right corner of your screen.

The more apps you add, the more cluttered it becomes. If you have a Mac with a notch, it becomes even more annoying, as some icons are not displayed at all.

Bartender sorted the issue for me for quite some time.

After years of managing different versions and the hurdles that the creators faced due to constantly changing permissions in macOS, they settled on using screen recording to let the app work as it should.

Bartender allows you to hide icons that do not need to be displayed prominently all the time. Similar to how it used to be in the Windows operating system, macOS is still lacking that native feature.

In Bartender, you can opt to show hidden icons to the left, or as a separate shelf (a drawer or bar) under the menu bar. I opted for the second option, as it worked much better for me.

Apart from hiding icons, Bartender incorporates a very handy feature that allows you to change the spacing between icons. By default, the spacing is very wide. With lots of icons, you quickly find yourself looking for a solution, and most of the time you head straight for Bartender.

I paid for Bartender, and then for consecutive updates for years whenever a new macOS was released to maintain compatibility with the newest operating system — but not this time.

We are already waiting for macOS 27 Golden Gate, so yet again I was expecting an email from Bartender stating that I would need to pay and upgrade to keep everything running swiftly on the latest OS.

This happened exactly as expected when an email landed in my inbox titled Bartender Pro is Here.

However, this time I decided to see if it was really worth carrying on with this software.

Just as in the past when I got rid of Parallels Desktop for Windows 11 emulation on macOS in lieu of the free VMware Fusion. I was not using it often enough to justify paying for a licence every year or every time macOS updated.

I analysed the only two features that I actually use in Bartender to see if I could make the switch:

1. Icon spacing
2. Hiding icons in a handy drawer

In the past, I came across some other solutions, but most of them have become paid options as well.

Icon Spacing

By default, the distance between icons in the menu bar is set to 16. Each icon has enough space around it, and the clickable area is large enough that you do not struggle if you fail to click precisely on the icon itself.

This behaviour has been the default for years, which does not make much sense, as macOS still does not support touch screens that would justify it.

Bartender’s narrow spacing makes the icons look how they should by default, but you do not actually need to install any app to achieve that. You just need to run two commands in the Terminal.

This one changes the size of the clickable highlight box behind the icons:

defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain NSStatusItemSelectionPadding -int 7

This one changes the actual gap between the icons:

defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain NSStatusItemSpacing -int 7

To apply the changes, you can either log out, restart, or execute the command below:

killall ControlCenter

This sorts out one problem without the need for an app.

Hiding icons

I tested many different apps. Some work better than others. Some were free but are not anymore, whilst others no longer work due to a lack of active development. Luckily, there is still Thaw.

Thaw is an app that can replace Bartender’s main feature of hiding icons in a handy app drawer. You can see how it looks in the Gallery.

Because my MacBook Air M4 has a notch, Thaw utilises this feature by default. When you hide icons and click on the designated icon to show the hidden elements, they appear to the left. Personally, I do not like that — if I have more hidden icons than can be displayed to the left before hitting the notch, some of them might go missing.

In Settings > Display, I enabled the Thaw Bar.

Menu bar items can easily be arranged by dragging them into the Thaw bar while holding the ⌘ Command key, or via Settings > Menu Bar Layout.

Make sure that Thaw starts up when restarting your computer by enabling Launch at Login in Settings > General.

So far, I have been using Thaw for over a week, and at this point, I don’t even notice any difference to how Bartender used to make things work — and that is a good thing. Because of that, I can finally recommend something that will not drain your wallet and will organise any chaos you might be experiencing in your menu bar.

With macOS 27 on the horizon later this year, instead of buying a Bartender licence, I will consider sponsoring Thaw’s current creator and maintainer.