Fix incomplete display of menu bar icons on Mac notch screen, two tools tested (including open-source free solutions)

Preface

Recently, I followed the trend and bought a MacBook Air M4 13-inch (13寸) version. It's indeed exquisite with a nice texture, but the screen notch (刘海) is simply too large. When there are too many icons in the top menu bar, they won't fit.

Moreover, the logic of MacOS is really strange. Hidden icons just disappear without a trace. Without third-party tools, it's as if these icons vanish completely 😂

However, the functionality gaps in the MacOS system have also nurtured a thriving ecosystem for developers. Nearly every missing feature has a corresponding third-party solution.

This top menu bar icon issue is no exception. I searched online and found several solutions, both paid and free.

Bartender 4

Official website: https://www.macbartender.com/Bartender4/

This software costs 15 USD. It has a pretty polished interface. Users with a sufficient budget can purchase it on the official website to show their support.

jordanbaird/ice

This is an open-source project with comprehensive features and free of charge.

Project URL: https://github.com/jordanbaird/Ice

How to Install

I installed it directly using brew 🏆

For those who don't have brew installed, you can download it from the GitHub project homepage.

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For those who cannot access GitHub, you can send a private message with the keyword 【ice】 to the WeChat account 【曦远Life】 to obtain the software installation package.

Usage

After installation, I collapsed the icons on the menu bar, and the effect looks like this:

How does it look? It seems no different from the paid version, right?

Then, the extension menu appears. You can choose to expand it directly, or you can add an additional menu bar below.

All of these can be configured in the settings.

You can configure which icons should always be displayed. For example, I pinned the system monitor icon.

References

• https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Ev4y1s7eU