ClearBar

Mac users who run many menu bar apps end up with too many icons crowding the menu bar, and on MacBooks some icons disappear behind the notch entirely. macOS lets you hide icons in System Settings, but the underlying app keeps running in the background, using memory, with no way to reach its menu. Existing tools like Bartender and Ice help arrange icons but require permissions such as Screen Recording, and per the FAQ Ice reportedly stopped working for some users on macOS 27. People are left choosing between a cluttered menu bar or losing access to apps they still need.

ClearBar hides third-party menu bar icons while leaving Apple's own system items (battery, Wi-Fi, Control Center, clock) untouched, and collects every hidden app into one panel. From that panel users can type to find an app and open its menu, drag an app up to keep its live icon visible (for things like weather or backup status), see memory usage per app with a warning color above 1GB, and quit or force-quit (holding Option) an app with one click. It only requests Accessibility permission to read and press menu items, never Screen Recording, and is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple. It is a one-time purchase, works on macOS 26 and 27 on Apple silicon only, and includes a comparison table positioning it against Bartender 7 and Ice on price and permissions.

The page notes Ice reportedly 'stopped working' for a user on macOS 27, and ClearBar is built specifically for macOS 26 and 27 on Apple silicon, suggesting new OS versions created gaps competitors haven't filled.