Hidden Bar vs Thaw

Hidden Bar

• Mac users who only want to tuck away rarely used menu bar icons
• People who want a free, open-source menu bar hider
• Those who prefer one arrow to click over a larger menu bar manager

Thaw

• Mac users with a crowded menu bar, including MacBooks with a notch
• People who want a free, open-source alternative to paid menu bar managers
• Showing or hiding items by context, such as the display, Space or Focus

Hidden Bar

• macOS only. Current GitHub releases need macOS 13 or later, while the Mac App Store listing shows version 1.8 from June 2021.
• The manual says always-hidden icons can still appear after expanding unless the separators are hidden too, a known limitation.
• A newly installed app's icon can start out in the hidden zone and has to be Command-dragged out once.
• On macOS 27 the direct-download build needs Accessibility permission, and the manual lists a hiding failure on a macOS 27 beta as a known issue.

Thaw

• macOS only, and the README says it needs macOS 26 or later.
• Only battery and power triggers are on by default. Other conditions are enabled one at a time from Developer settings, and some are marked experimental.
• It needs Accessibility permission to move menu bar items. Live item previews and wallpaper-based tinting also need Screen Recording permission.

Hidden Bar

Collapsible hidden section

Command-drag icons to the left of the separator, then click the arrow to collapse or expand that part of the menu bar.

Auto collapse

Hidden icons are tucked away again after a chosen delay. The countdown pauses while the pointer is in the menu bar.

Global shortcut

A system-wide hotkey set in Preferences expands or collapses the hidden section from any app.

Always-hidden section

An optional second zone holds icons that stay hidden even when the bar is expanded. Option-clicking the arrow reveals it.

Full menu bar on expanding

A preference lets the expanded icons use the whole menu bar for a moment, which the manual says helps when the menu bar is tight on space.

Terminal-only options

Settings with no interface, changed with the defaults command, include expanding on hover and a custom auto-collapse delay.

Thaw

Hide and reveal menu bar items

Items go into a hidden or always-hidden section and come back by hovering, clicking an empty area, scrolling, swiping or pressing a hotkey, then hide again automatically.

Thaw Bar

Hidden items can be shown in a separate bar below the menu bar, intended for MacBooks with a notch. The bar can have its own shape, tint and border.

Search and hotkeys

A search panel finds and opens any menu bar item from the keyboard. Hotkeys toggle sections, open a specific item's menu and switch profiles.

Triggers

An item can be revealed or hidden when a condition is met, such as battery level, Wi-Fi network, the active Focus or a script's exit code. Conditions combine with AND and OR.

Profiles

The whole configuration can be saved as a profile and bound to a display, a Space or a Focus filter. Profiles can be imported, exported and given script hooks.

Menu bar appearance

Tint, gradient, shadow, border and custom shapes for the menu bar, with separate settings for light and dark mode and overrides per Space.

Hidden Bar

• Hidden Bar$0

  Collapsible hidden section, auto collapse, global shortcut, always-hidden section and launch at login. Listed as Free on the US Mac App Store.

Thaw

• Thaw$0

  Hidden sections, the Thaw Bar, item search, triggers, profiles, hotkeys and menu bar styling. GPL-3.0 licensed, with no tracking or account.