I’ve been a paying user since 2015. This makes me sad, as it’s one of my most beloved utilities and this isn’t a good look. I’ll keep running it without updating until it stops working or I find a replacement that I like. Also:
https://sixcolors.com/link/2024/06/bartender-has-a-new-owner/
It’s honestly wild that the core feature of Bartender (hiding icons in the menu bar) isn’t builtin to macOS.
You can use Hidden for this - https://github.com/dwarvesf/hidden
It is and it isn’t. Apple isn’t the best at managing development resources, so they seem to get stretched kinda thin when they take on too many projects. I know they have all the money in the world. That doesn’t make them effective at managing many teams on many projects. They’re already falling on their face on some of their software goals, at least from the outside. I’m happy enough for third-party devs to fill in niche features so long as Apple doesn’t block them from doing so.
That was pretty much my experience with most of MacOS - you have to pay for many basic features, and pray that the tools have been updated to work on current OS versions.
If you hold command you can click on an icon and drag it out to remove it or drag it left or right to reorganize the menu bar icons. Baked in, no extra app needed
Removing isn’t the same as hiding.
That’s a real shame. I’ve been trying to find a replacement for Bartender for ages, but I can’t seem to find anything that matches up. Every alternative I’ve tested just isn’t as good, so I always end up back with Bartender.
How about Ice?
@ASeriesOfPoorChoices @land Just FYI, Ice won’t yet let you change the spacing between icons like Bartender does but if that’s a concern see https://github.com/jordanbaird/Ice/issues/67
Thanks for sharing! Do you know if it can show/hide icons based on screen size? I used to only hide my icons when I’m not connected to a larger screen with Bartender.
haven’t played with it yet.
There is Dozer but it is pretty basic.
Dozer hasn’t been updated in the last five years.
Good point, I didn’t notice.
Not sure exactly what the issue is aside from it being sold to a new developer. Is there personal info theft or issues with billing or upgrades?
@some_guy A few people in Reddit recommended Ice (https://github.com/jordanbaird/Ice). If you are concerned that Ice doesn’t (yet) allow adjusting the space between icons like Bartender does, see https://github.com/jordanbaird/Ice/issues/67 - there the developer says it’s on the roadmap but in the meantime there are a couple of links that show how to change it from the terminal.
#MacOS #Bartender5Thank you! For me, ice is the perfect replacement for bartender even though it doesn’t have all those features yet
Macs making people pay for mundane tasks, typical. I recently switched from windows to mac and it’s CRAZY how many things you need to pay for via an app to get done when compared to free or built-in alternatives you get on Windows.
I tried loving iOS too but it’s just too damn funny that same apps are paid on iOS whereas they’re free on Android.
Examples?
BetterTouchTool, TempMonitor, Al Dente, Alfred, Little Snitch, literally 90% of my apps are all paid, it’s genuinely insane. It’s not like they’re bad, or anything, I miss them when I’m not using macOS, but Jesus Christ…
This might be due to how easy Apple makes it to implement this sort of thing. Even if the app isn’t on the App Store.
On iOS, apps must be on the App Store, which requires being enrolled in the Apple developer program. I imagine developers then make their apps paid to cover this.
