The Macâs menu bar can be a fantastic tool if you have the right apps for it. Here are some terrific menu bar apps to get you started. The menu bar in macOS can often be overlooked by some users. The original MenuMeters was a handy menu bar system monitor by Alex Harper that stopped working when OS X El Capitan was introduced. Since then, the original open source app has been forked by various developers, to accommodate the newer versions of the Mac OS. This version works with OS X El Capitan through macOS Mojave.
Weâve all seen photos of Mac desktops covered with unorganized document icons, folders sprawling across the screen, and file names that are virtually unclickable because theyâve been buried.
Equally bad is a cluttered menu bar â with the addition of each new icon, you get unnecessary notifications, clutter at the top of your screen, pop-ups, and other annoying features that you probably donât want.
This can be particularly frustrating when you thought you had already deleted an item, uninstalled an app, or have icons you actually want in the menu that are being buried by third-party apps.
Hereâs how to remove those pesky icons once and for all!
Why Do Third-Party App Icons Show up on Mac Menu Bar?
By default, the menu bar doesnât contain very many icons. Youâve got the stand clock, internet connection indicator, and battery tracker to start. If youâve customized a bit, you might also have Bluetooth, Time Machine, or AirPlay turned on as well.
However, certain applications will come with menu bar integrations that automatically launch every time you open your Mac computer, regardless of whether or not youâre currently using its associated program. This can be great if itâs something you actually want to see â but if itâs not, you need to do some digging to turn this capability off.
Sometimes programs will leave behind their plugins even if youâve already uninstalled the application. For example, Adobeâs Creative Cloud software doesnât uninstall the launch agent, even if you delete all of the programs associated with it. In order to get rid of it, you have to actually uninstall the software using the built-in uninstaller â not just dragging it to the Trash.
Finally, third-party icons may show up in your menu bar simply because they donât offer a built-in way to be removed. In these cases, you can use a program like CleanMyMac X to forcefully and completely erase them from your computer.
Weâll go over the solutions to all three types of icon issues below, so donât worry if you feel lost!
Menu Bar Apps Mac Os X 10 11 Download Free1. If the App Launches on Login: Disable via System Settings (Login Items)
Is the offending menu bar icon showing up every time you log in to your Mac even if you havenât opened the associated application?
If youâre still interested in keeping the icon/application but just donât want it to start up without your permission, you need to change a few settings.
First, go to âSettingsâ by clicking on the Apple logo in the top-left of the menu bar and choosing âSystem Preferencesâ.
Next, pick âUsers and Groupsâ from the grid. It should be near the bottom, and feature a silhouette logo.
Now choose âLogin Itemsâ.
Lastly, use the â+â and â-â buttons to disable any applications that you donât want automatically starting, or to add the ones that you do want to.
You should notice a difference the next time you log out and log back in.
2. If It Has an Uninstaller: Remove with the Uninstaller
Although itâs less common on macOS than Windows, some programs have custom uninstallers that must be used if you want to get rid of all the associated files. These programs are usually pretty hefty in size, and the uninstaller is capable of finding all the dispersed parts â whereas simply dragging it into the Trash only removes the main chunks.
As we mentioned, Adobe Creative Cloud is one such app. It uses menu bar integration to help you manage your account, but even after you remove the actual programs this icon will remain.
Youâll need to locate the uninstaller in Finder, which you can do by selecting âThis Macâ for your search, and either searching the programâs name, or for âuninstallerâ.
When you find the uninstaller, double-click to run it. Every app will have different instructions, but youâll likely be asked to confirm the uninstall, enter an administrator password, and then wait while the uninstaller removes all relevant files and then itself.
3. If It Has No Uninstaller: Use CleanMyMac (Optimization > Launch Agents)
Some apps are trickier â or more poorly developed â than others. Often for security reasons (for example, preventing users from exploiting free trials), they donât ever completely remove all of the data from your Mac, including integration with the menu bar.
Since these apps donât have their own uninstallers like Adobe, and the program files are usually buried in obscure folders you could never find manually, youâll need a Mac cleaner app in order to disable or remove them.
Hereâs how to do it:
First, download CleanMyMac X and install it on your Mac. Open the app and go to Optimization > Launch Agents.
Note: a Launch Agent is usually a small helper or service application of the app. Many app developers set helper applications to autorun when you start your Mac, but often this is not necessary. In most cases, you can disable or even remove the helper app.
Select the agents you no longer need, and CleanMyMac will completely erase them for you.
Keep in mind this is will completely remove the icon, so if you just want to disable it, check the settings of the parent app or disable the âlaunch at loginâ option we mentioned earlier.
Conclusion
Icons can be incredibly annoying, but luckily theyâre simple to remove regardless of the program they come with. When tossing the main application in the trash doesnât do the trick (or if you only want to get rid of the icon but not the app), there are several ways to prevent clutter on your menu bar.
With all the extras out of the way, you can make room for the tools you use on a regular basis, reduce the load on your Mac, and streamline your day-to-day activities. All these methods should take no more than a few minutes to successfully execute, and once you do, youâre well on your way to a more enjoyable Mac experience.
Menu Bar apps sit in your Macâs menu bar and provide access to an array of features and services, all with just a simple click or tap of the appâs menu bar icon. They can bring additional productivity, utility, or security, or add useful information to your Macâs menu bar.
The basic menu bar with Apple-supplied menu items shown.
Our list of 15 menu bar apps is by no means all-inclusive; there are so many apps available that it would take quite a while to combine them into a single list. Instead, Iâve gathered a list of menu bar apps that Iâve either used or are popular in the Mac community, and are worth trying out.
Letâs start our list of favorite menu bar apps with ones that enhance your productivity.
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Calendars
Yes, your Mac comes with its own Calendar app, which does a pretty good job of keeping track of dates and notifying you of upcoming events. But to add, edit, and view the calendars, the app needs to be running. Thatâs where menu bar-based calendar apps shine, letting you work with your calendars directly from the menu bar.
Fantastical
Currently at version 2, Fantastical started life as strictly a menu bar app but has grown into a full-fledged Mac app. Thankfully, the folks who make Fantastical didnât abandon the menu bar; version 2 has all the original benefits of a lightweight menu bar app, as well as the power of a full app when you need it.
Fantastical provides easy access to your current calendar and upcoming events.
Fantastical supports multiple calendars, and calendar sets, which can automatically switch their active/inactive states depending on your location. This lets you set up calendars for work as well as home, and automatically switch between them.
⢠Fantastical 2 is $49.99, with a 21-day free trial.
ItsycalDownload Mac Os X App
If the Macâs Calendar app is performing well for you, and the feature youâre really missing is access to Calendar from the menu bar, Itsycal is the menu bar app for you. Itsycal can display a monthly view of your Calendar appâs information, including showing events that are scheduled. If you need additional information, you can open the Calendar app directly from Itsycal.
⢠Itsycal is free.
Contact Managers
There are a number of contact managers for the Mac but most are full-fledged apps, with only minimal, if any, menu bar support. One of the exceptions is the app below.
Cardhop
Cardhop is the preferred way to access, edit, add to, and just work with the Macâs Contacts app. For many Mac and iOS device users, Cardhop is the only method they use to manage their contacts; thatâs how powerful this menu bar app is.
Cardhop can show upcoming events and recent contacts, as well as all of the cards in the Macâs Contacts app.
Cardhop makes use of a powerful search capability that allows you to find contact information based on just about any detail that may be present in a contacts card. Search by name, address, birth date, or any criteria; itâs as easy as clicking or tapping the Cardhop menu bar item and starting to type. Cardhop will display any matching cards it finds.
Adding or editing contacts is just as easy; just enter the name and details and Cardhop takes care of the rest. Cardhop also includes the ability to add note fields, to enter personal details about your contact, and a timestamp field to create a history of your contacts.
One of the best features of Cardhop is its ability to act on a contact you select. If you need to send an email or make a phone call, Cardhop can launch the appropriate app to send an email or connect to your Bluetooth phone, use Wi-Fi calling, or get the macOS Continuity feature to make calls for you.
⢠Cardhop is $19.99 and is available with a 21-day free trial.
System Utilities
Menu bar-based system utilities have a tendency to overpopulate my menu bar. It seems the techie in me wants to know how my Macâs resources are being used any time Iâm using it. There are a number of system menu bar apps, but here are a few of my favorites.
iStat Menus
This system utility will place a number of items in your menu bar to monitor the performance of your Mac. You can keep track of CPU and GPU performance, memory usage, disk access, and network usage; thereâs also a large array of built-in system sensors, including various temperature, voltage, current, and wattage readings, You can even measure ambient light levels, if your Mac is properly equipped.
The compact menu bar menus in iStat Menus can reveal details about how your Mac is performing.
iStat Menus can monitor just about every aspect of your Macâs performance and do it without taking up too much of your menu barâs real estate.
⢠iStat Menus is available for $11.99 for a single Mac, or $14.99 for a 5-user family pack. A 14-day free trial is available.
MenuMeters
The original MenuMeters was a handy menu bar system monitor by Alex Harper that stopped working when OS X El Capitan was introduced. Since then, the original open source app has been forked by various developers, to accommodate the newer versions of the Mac OS. This version works with OS X El Capitan through macOS Mojave.
MenuMeters installs as a preference pane that allows you to specify how each item (CPU, Disk, Memory, and Network) should be displayed in the menu bar. You can control the type of information displayed, update intervals, and in some cases, the colors to be used.
⢠MenuMeters is free.
Memory Clean
Unlike the other system monitor utilities in this group, Memory Clean is dedicated to monitoring a Macâs memory. It can keep track of memory usage, how memory is being used, which apps are memory hogs, and which apps are inactive but still tying up memory.
Keeping track of how your memory is being used is one of the many tasks Memory Clean can perform for you.
Additionally, Memory Clean can also purge inactive memory, freeing up RAM that was set aside for apps that are no longer running.
⢠Memory Clean, currently at version 3, is $9.99. A free trial is available.
Mac Fan Control
This menu bar app can monitor the temperature sensors built into your Mac. But it doesnât stop there; Mac Fan Control can use the temperature information to control the speed of your Macâs fans.
You can set a constant fan speed, or assign one of the temperature sensors to be used to regulate a fanâs speed.
Mac Fan Control is a great way to silence a noisy fan momentarily while you perform a critical task, such as recording from a microphone that is located near your Mac. Itâs also commonly used to set a fanâs speed when a temperature sensor was broken during an upgrade or tear down that went awry.
⢠Mac Fan Control is $14.95; a free trial period is available.
Mac Os X 10.11 Download Freef.lux
One of the new features of the macOS was Night Shift, a system that reduces blue light from the display as the evening approaches. The idea is to enhance your sleep cycle by reducing blue light output from a digital display that can interfere with your natural circadian rhythm.
The f.lux app has been providing the same type of capabilities for a lot longer and may be in a better position to provide a better implementation. The f.lux system provides more control to the user and does a better job of reducing blue spectrum output of a display in the evening.
If you need a better nightâs sleep after working on your Mac all day, give f.lux a look-see.
⢠f.lux is free.
Battery Monitors
Mac laptop users need a reliable way to monitor their Macâs battery to help them stay informed about the current state of the battery, how much run-time is left, and the overall health of the battery.
coconutBattery
This battery monitor has been a Mac staple since 2005. Since then, coconutBattery has branched out to provide battery-monitoring services to the iPhone and iPad, as well as the Mac.
coconutBattery displays your current battery health, how often the battery was charged, the age of the battery, current charge, original and current capacity, battery temperature, and much more.
⢠coconutBattery is available in a free basic version and a Plus version for $9.95.
Battery Health
Understanding how well your battery is performing is one of the goals of the Battery Health app, but it can also help you prolong the batteryâs runtime and longevity.
Battery Health displays the usual battery details: current battery health, capacity, charging cycles, battery temperature, age, manufacture date, the remaining charge on the battery, and how long it will take to fully charge the battery. It can also help you increase the battery runtime by showing you which apps are using the most energy.
Battery Health can also display the battery levels of connected Bluetooth devices, such as your Magic Mouse, Magic Keyboard, or AirPod.
Battery Health also works for iPhone and iPad devices.
⢠Battery Health is $9.99; a 3-day free trial is available.
Security
There are quite a few apps for detecting malware that utilize the menu bar. But in many cases, the menu bar is used to launch the associated app. So, instead of listing those security apps, I went with a favorite password manager.
1Password
This password manager has long been a popular Mac app for creating and managing all of a userâs passwords. It provides access via the included full-featured app as well as from the menu bar, and from most Mac web browsers.
Let 1Password manage your logins and passwords, freeing you to use complex passwords for increased security.
The 1Password web extension can handle most of your web-based login and password needs, but with the addition of the menu bar interface, 1Password can be used with any app as well as any web page, even when a web page hinders the use of a password manager.
1Password can generate complex passwords for you and make sure youâre not using duplicate passwords. Since 1Password is storing the passwords and login information for you in an encrypted database, you donât need to worry about remembering every password, 1Password takes care of that for you.
⢠1Password is available for single users and a 5-user family license, as well as business licenses. A free 30-day trial is available.
File Access
If your Mac is getting a little weighed down with apps and files, either of these file access apps can help you find everything faster.
XMenu
This simple little app adds one or more menu items to the menu bar; each menu bar item can be populated with apps, folders, documents, or text snippets.
⢠XMenu is free and available from the Mac App Store.
Shortcut Bar
Another menu bar app designed to give you quick access to your favorite items, including apps, documents, folders, bookmarks, text snippets, and color swatches.
Shortcut Bar lets you create your own list of important locations and documents that you want to have quick access to.
Items can be organized into groups that can be expanded or hidden as needed â a helpful feature when your Shortcut Bar gets a bit overpopulated.
⢠Shortcut Bar is $8.99; a free trial is available.
Weather
In the Weather and Menu Bar Utility categories, I only found one app for each thatâs worthy of mention.
Meteorologist
There have been quite a few weather widgets for the menu bar, but for me, Meteorologist stands out because of the details it can provide and the community of developers/supporters that keep the app up to date. Meteorologist supports up to eight different locations that can use one of nine different weather services, letting you pick the best service for your location.
Menu Bar UtilityBartender
Now that youâve likely overpopulated your Macâs menu bar, you may find yourself needing a bartender; by that I mean an app named Bartender that can manage all those menu bar icons.
Bartender can organize, rearrange, and hide or show items. It can also automatically highlight menu bar icons when they update, such as battery alerts, memory filling up, or other notifications a menu bar app may support.
⢠Bartender is $15.00; a free 4-week trial is available.
Whatâs Your Favorite Menu Bar App?
Let us know which menu bar apps you use, or which ones you donât like, by using the comments section below.
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