Like many Mac users, I found myself accumulating more and more menu bar icons over time—each new app claiming its tiny piece of real estate at the top of my screen. While these utilities are useful, the visual clutter started to feel overwhelming. That’s when I discovered Hidden Bar, a delightfully simple solution that’s become an essential part of my Mac setup.
Hidden Bar does exactly what its name suggests: it hides menu bar icons. But it’s the thoughtful implementation that makes it special. You simply drag a divider to separate the icons you want visible from those you’d prefer hidden. A single click on the chevron icon reveals or conceals the hidden items when you need them. It’s Mac software design at its finest—solving a real problem without overcomplicating things.
I’ve been running Hidden Bar on my M2 MacBook Air with macOS 15.4, and it’s been rock solid. The app uses virtually no system resources—I’m talking less than 0.1% CPU and around 15MB of memory. It starts automatically when I log in and just quietly does its job. The latest version (1.9) even supports multiple languages and includes a “Use full menu bar” mode for those with wider displays.
What I particularly appreciate is that Hidden Bar is completely free and open source. The Dwarves Foundation team behind it has created something genuinely useful without any monetization gimmicks. No subscriptions, no pro versions, no ads—just a tool that solves a problem. You can grab it from the Mac App Store or install it via Homebrew if you prefer (brew install --cask hiddenbar).
The app works seamlessly with both light and dark menu bars, and you can even set custom keyboard shortcuts to toggle your hidden icons. There’s also an auto-hide feature that automatically conceals icons after a configurable time period, perfect for maintaining that clean look without manual intervention.
For anyone frustrated by menu bar clutter, Hidden Bar is the answer. It’s one of those utilities that feels like it should be built into macOS itself. The fact that it’s free, open source, and actively maintained makes it an easy recommendation. Sometimes the best apps are the ones that do one thing exceptionally well, and Hidden Bar absolutely nails its singular purpose.
