Thaw is an open-source menu bar manager for macOS 26 that organizes menu bar icons through hiding, grouping, and reordering without requiring a subscription or purchase. (Free, open-source)
The core workflow splits menu bar items into visible, hidden, and always-hidden sections. Items move between sections via drag-and-drop, and auto-rehide returns items to their hidden state automatically after interaction. A dedicated “separate bar” can display hidden items in a secondary row below the main menu bar, useful on MacBooks with the notch. Hotkey-driven search scans all menu bar items, including hidden ones, enabling keyboard navigation without visual scanning.
Appearance customization covers tinting, shadows, border styles, and rounded corners for the menu bar itself. Light and dark mode settings apply independently, allowing a tinted appearance in dark mode and a stock look in light mode. Menu bar profiles store visibility configurations for different contexts—work, presentation, or minimal—with hotkey activation. The app is built in Swift (99.7% of the codebase) and is translated into 19 languages via Crowdin.
Thaw is a community fork of Ice (by Jordan Baird), which targets macOS 14 Sonoma and later but is no longer actively maintained. Thaw targets macOS 26 APIs and has accumulated 6,700+ GitHub stars and 43 releases since the fork, with v1.2.0 released in April 2026.
System requirements: macOS 26 or later. Apple Silicon and Intel Macs supported. Available via Homebrew or direct download from GitHub releases. No App Store listing.
Pricing: (Free, open-source) GPL-3.0 license. Sponsorship via Patreon available.
Limitations: macOS 26 minimum requirement excludes users on macOS 15 Sequoia and earlier. No official website beyond the GitHub repository. Feature parity with Ice means some users may prefer Ice for its macOS 14+ support on older systems.
Alternatives: Ice (the original GPL-3.0 project, macOS 14+, no longer actively maintained). Bartender ($16 one-time, macOS Sonoma+, includes context-aware presets and AppleScript support). Hidden Bar (free, single show/hide toggle with no automation).
Suitable for users on macOS 26 who want a free, open-source menu bar manager with active development, appearance customization, and keyboard-driven item search.
