When we install new applications on the Mac, it is quite common for more and more icons to end up appearing on the macOS menu bar, leaving everything more polluted. As the operating system still does not offer a resource that helps organize all these icons natively, the only solution currently available ends up being to resort to a third-party app.
One of these apps is Bartender — perhaps the most popular alternative on the market to fix the macOS menu bar and which we’ve already talked regarding here on MacMagazine. This program, however, is paid, which can make many people give up on it.
If you don’t feel like spending your rich money on yet another app for your Mac, know that there is a very competent and completely free alternative to Bartender in the Mac App Store. I speak of Hidden Baran extremely light application, developed by Dwarves Foundation.
Like Bartender, Hidden Bar allows you to hide the menu bar icons, leaving it with a much cleaner and more organized look. You can also choose between hiding all or one icon at a time.
The app itself adds two icons to the menu bar. The first, identified by an arrow, is used to hide or show the icons, while the second, identified by a slash, is used to choose which of them should be hidden or not. All items positioned to the left of the second icon are those that will be hidden by the Hidden Bar.
The utility automatically hides user-selected icons five seconds following the user clicks on the app icon. That way, you don’t have to worry regarding manually hiding items every time you expand the view.
The app starts automatically whenever the user does log in on the machine and is compatible with macOS Dark Mode. It also lets you create keyboard shortcuts and lets you customize various aspects of how you interact with it.
As said, Hidden Bar is free and available for download from the Mac App Store. macOS 10.12 or later is required to install it.
