This does not exist yet.
There is no download, no buy button, and nothing to install. I've proven the core mechanism works on macOS 26.4 with a proof-of-concept on my own Mac, and I'm deciding whether to build the rest.
This page is how I decide. If enough people want it at $12, I build it. If not, I don't, and I'll say so publicly.
What actually works today
I wrote a proof-of-concept in Swift and ran it on my own Mac on macOS 26.4. It creates its own menu bar icons, collapses them out of sight, and brings them back — the same mechanism a finished app would use, built only on public Apple APIs, with none of the private-API tricks that break on every OS update.
That mattered to establish, because the popular free tool in this category no longer works on current macOS. The mechanism it used isn't dead — its unmaintained code is. I measured that rather than assuming it.
Measured on macOS 26.4, M5 MacBook Pro: a test icon moved from x=865 → x=−4133 (hidden) → x=865 (restored exactly). Public APIs only.
A screen recording of this will be added here. To be clear about what it is: the proof-of-concept hides its own test icons, not real apps. It demonstrates the mechanism — it is not a product.
What I'd build
Tells you when it breaks
Every menu bar app eventually breaks on a new macOS. Ledge would run a self-test and say so plainly, then fall back to a safe mode — instead of your icons quietly vanishing. Hidden Bar, a smaller free competitor, has an open pull request (#370) that implements exactly this, validated on macOS 27 hardware. It has sat unmerged. My edge here would be shipping it, not thinking of it.
Built to survive updates
In the past year alone, four macOS releases broke apps in this category. Surviving that is treated as the product, not as maintenance.
Real curation
Choose what's always visible, what's hidden, what order things sit in — with keyboard shortcuts, not drag-and-pray.
Keep-awake built in
Stops your Mac sleeping during renders, builds and uploads. One icon instead of two, since a tool that tidies your menu bar shouldn't cost you a slot.
What I'm not going to pretend
- macOS 27 appears to add its own overflow indicator for hidden icons. If that's true, Apple has solved part of this for free, and the reason to use my app becomes control, not rescue. I'd rather tell you that now than sell you a problem Apple is fixing.
- There are good free options. Thaw is actively maintained and free. If it works for you, use it — genuinely.
- I have no product yet. Everything above is a plan backed by a working proof-of-concept.
If I ever stop
In 2024, the leading paid app in this category was sold quietly to a company; users only found out when someone noticed the code-signing certificate had changed, and the new owner shipped analytics without telling anyone. They pulled the analytics about ten days later with a public apology, and there has been no telemetry incident since — I'm not suggesting otherwise, and I'd use that app happily today. The point isn't that anyone behaved badly. It's that ownership can change without you being told.
So, in writing, before there's anything to sell:
- If I sell or transfer this app, I announce it before the handover — not after.
- If I stop maintaining it, I say so publicly and open-source it rather than letting it rot on a download page.
- No analytics or tracking in the app. If that ever changes, it will be opt-in, announced, and off by default.
You should hold me to this. It's on this page so there's a record.
$12, once
$12
One payment, no subscription. Sold directly rather than through the Mac App Store — the control features I want to build almost certainly aren't allowed in Apple's sandbox.
If you join the list, you'll get one email when there's something real, and one if I decide not to build it. Nothing else.