SmartHiddenBar
Hide the menu bar clutter. Reach it in one click.
Hides menu bar items behind one icon, shows them again in a tidy icon bar on demand, and mirrors a hidden item's menu so you can use it without unhiding anything. A Hidden Bar alternative built for macOS 27, where older menu bar tools break.
brew install --cask roypadina/tap/smarthiddenbar Version 1.3.1, released 23 October 2026. macOS 27 or later, Apple Silicon. Free and MIT licensed.
Why SmartHiddenBar
One click, a clean bar
⌘-drag the SmartHiddenBar icon to where you want the line, and everything left of it hides. Click the icon, press your shortcut, or hover the empty menu bar space to bring it all back. Auto-rehide after a few seconds or as soon as the pointer leaves.
The icon bar
Everything currently off the bar, as a row of icons under SmartHiddenBar's own, one click from its menu. Hover an icon for its name; with Screen Recording allowed it shows each item's real menu-bar icon instead of the app icon. Items macOS itself hides, behind the notch or for lack of room, are in there too.
Use a menu without unhiding it
Menu mirroring copies a hidden item's menu under SmartHiddenBar's icon, closes it, and replays your pick on the real one. Mark apps as always hidden and they stay off the bar even while the rest is shown.
How it works
Built on macOS 27, for macOS 27.
macOS 27 gives the menu bar a system allow-list: while a process holds it, the bar shows only the allowed apps plus the system items. SmartHiddenBar allows itself, the system items and every app whose item sits to the right of its icon. Nothing is moved or modified, which is why quitting restores everything. Item lists and menus are read, and menu items pressed, through the Accessibility API.
That allow-list is a private API. Apple can change or remove it in any update; if it is missing, SmartHiddenBar tells you and leaves everything visible. Hiding is per app, so an app with several items hides or shows them together, and Apple's own items (Control Center, Wi-Fi, the clock) cannot be hidden. Notification Center keeps working: a click on the clock lifts hiding until it closes.
The icon bar
Also in the menu
- Show or hide items, Disable or Enable SmartHiddenBar, each with its own recordable shortcut
- an Apps submenu listing every third-party menu bar app with its icon
- a click mode per display: show, then icon bar, then hide; plain show and hide; or icon bar only
- auto-rehide after 5, 10, 30 or 60 seconds, or when the pointer leaves the bar
- launch at login
Requirements
- macOS 27 or laterIt will not work on earlier versions: the system allow-list it uses is new in macOS 27.
- Apple SiliconmacOS 27 does not run on Intel Macs.
- Accessibility, requiredTo read other apps' menu bar items and press their menus. Because releases are ad-hoc signed, macOS forgets the grant after an update: toggle SmartHiddenBar off and on in the Accessibility list.
- Run it from /ApplicationsmacOS resolves the allow-listed app through LaunchServices and picks the /Applications copy. Screen Recording is optional, for real menu-bar icons. No network, no analytics.
First launch
SmartHiddenBar is not notarized by Apple, which needs a paid developer account (it is ad-hoc signed). So macOS blocks the first launch with a "could not verify" message. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway. Or clear the quarantine flag once:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/SmartHiddenBar.app" After that it opens like any other app. If you would rather not trust a download, build it from source.
Questions
Does it work on macOS 26 or earlier?
No. It needs macOS 27 and its allow-list API. On older systems, Hidden Bar, Ice or Bartender-style tools are the way to go.
I use Hidden Bar, Ice or Thaw.
Quit them first. Two tools fighting over the same menu bar do not end well.
Can it hide one icon of an app and keep another?
No. The allow-list works on apps, not items, so an app's items hide or show together.
Why do I have to re-grant Accessibility after every update?
Releases are ad-hoc signed, so each build has a different signature and macOS no longer matches the old grant. Toggle SmartHiddenBar off and on under Accessibility, or reset with tccutil reset Accessibility com.roypadina.SmartHiddenBar. A paid Developer ID would fix this, which is what a coffee goes toward.
Is it safe? Does it phone home?
Open source under MIT, no network access, no analytics, no accounts. It writes a small log and its preferences locally. The one honest caveat is the private API: a macOS update can break hiding, and the app then leaves everything visible.
Keep the next one coming
If SmartHiddenBar gave you your menu bar back, you can support its development. Optional, always appreciated.
I'm a software engineer from Israel who builds small, focused Mac tools to fix the little annoyances in my own day — then shares them free and open source. If this app saves you time, a coffee on Ko-fi keeps the next one coming. ☕
Roy Padina
Not today? A star on GitHub or a bug report helps too.
What a coffee pays for
- The Apple Developer Program, so the apps can be notarized and the "Open Anyway" step goes away.
- Evenings on bug reports, new macOS versions and Intel builds.
- The next small tool.