iStat Menus 7.0 Brings Comprehensive Redesign and New Features

[Bjango]

Hi @Bjango I messaged from within the app, too, but for some reason I'm able to select all of the disks I want to show in the Menu Bar, but only one disk shows along with a bunch of empty space.

We may have a bug related to display disks, and a few people have reported related issues. We’re fixing bugs as quickly as we can and will roll them out in a future update.

They maybe have gotten like two or three feedbacks from individuals asking for it and then decided to add it in? Seems a bit odd but makes three people happy, lol.

It was one of the top requested features, and people seem to like it a lot! The cool thing is that if you’re not into it, you can just not turn on the weather item.

It's not showing the sensors here, it says it's not supported by that model. Does it only work on Macs with Apple M processors?

To get around the problem, there is the Intel power gadget to reveal the CPU temperature, while the fan rpm would be missing if this new version of iStat really doesn't display everything for Intel Macs.

Which Mac model? iStat Menus definitely works on Intel Macs. I have two Mac here, and one of them is Intel. We’ll do what we can to add support. If you’ve purchased iStat Menus 7 and you’d like to run iStat Menus 6 for now, get in touch and we can give you a free license to the older version.

Installed again... made it half the day. Went back to V6. I think the other guy in the thread put it better than I am able to. But V6 seems great. V7 definitely rubs me the wrong way.

Please provide feedback so we can improve things. iStat Menus 7 is very configurable, so it’s possible the parts you don’t like are just the defaults.

Seems to force-activate the discrete GPU on my intel MacBook Pro (2018). Perhaps a bug? Very nice update on everything else.

Is that just while the settings app is open? We’re using SceneKit and shaders to do some fancy UI things. That’s just the settings app though, and not the menu bar items or menus.

 

[culb0743]

We may have a bug related to display disks, and a few people have reported related issues. We’re fixing bugs as quickly as we can and will roll them out in a future update.


It was one of the top requested features, and people seem to like it a lot! The cool thing is that if you’re not into it, you can just not turn on the weather item.


Which Mac model? iStat Menus definitely works on Intel Macs. I have two Mac here, and one of them is Intel. We’ll do what we can to add support. If you’ve purchased iStat Menus 7 and you’d like to run iStat Menus 6 for now, get in touch and we can give you a free license to the older version.


Please provide feedback so we can improve things. iStat Menus 7 is very configurable, so it’s possible the parts you don’t like are just the defaults.


Is that just while the settings app is open? We’re using SceneKit and shaders to do some fancy UI things. That’s just the settings app though, and not the menu bar items or menus.

 

[culb0743]

It's a beautiful update. You should be very proud. Unfortunately, it appears to keep the discrete GPU active regardless of whether or not the iStat settings menu is opened. Event after a restart. I've checked Activity Monitor and the only app with activity the “%GPU”and “GPU Time” categories is iStat Menus. One of the primary purposes for using iStat on those old intel machines is to monitor the temps. I bought the family pack but, rolled that particular unit back to version 6.

 

[Ynk]

We have a new history graph in the battery menu. We’re all for improving things based on feedback, too.

Sorry my previous reply didn't quote properly.

I note there is a graph in the battery menu but I don't understand why you can expand far less important graphs out like the temperature of the wifi-module over a 28 day period, but can't seem to do this for the battery? Why has that functionality been removed or am I missing something?

 

[hyperknot]

Long time user via Setapp. This new version doesn't work - nothing shows up in the menu bar (with bartender installed).

Deleted and gone with Stats, open source and much better.

Yep, same for me, the Setapp version is totally broken. I cannot even "Reset Settings", Quit the app or anything.

 

[Bjango]

It's a beautiful update. You should be very proud. Unfortunately, it appears to keep the discrete GPU active regardless of whether or not the iStat settings menu is opened. Event after a restart. I've checked Activity Monitor and the only app with activity the “%GPU”and “GPU Time” categories is iStat Menus. One of the primary purposes for using iStat on those old intel machines is to monitor the temps. I bought the family pack but, rolled that particular unit back to version 6.

Thank you! Which menu items did you have enabled? I’m hoping we can chase down the reason why, and correct it.

Sorry my previous reply didn't quote properly.

I note there is a graph in the battery menu but I don't understand why you can expand far less important graphs out like the temperature of the wifi-module over a 28 day period, but can't seem to do this for the battery? Why has that functionality been removed or am I missing something?

I don’t think you’re missing anything. Maybe we should show a sub-menu with full history for battery? I hope this thread has made it very clear that we are all for hearing what people want, and adjusting the app to suit. We have to weight up how many people are asking, and if the feature aligns with what we want iStat Menus to be, but we absolutely will be making changes based on feedback.

 

[platinumaqua]

I found some screenshots of iStats Menus 6 and I preferred that old version's more compact displays in the dropdown menus. The new circle graphs takes up too much space.

I wonder if I can still buy version 6

 

[Bjango]

I found some screenshots of iStats Menus 6 and I preferred that old version's more compact displays in the dropdown menus. The new circle graphs takes up too much space.

I wonder if I can still buy version 6

The sections in each menu can be turned off and on, and reordered. If you’d like, you can hide the big circles. You can also hide the app launcher section at the bottom (this is what I do, to keep things clean).

If you’re still not happy, if you buy iStat Menus 7, I can give you an iStat Menus 6 license. However, iStat Menus 7 will get support for future OS versions and new Macs, but version 6 won’t.

 

[gilby101]

The “bandwidth format” setting on the network tab lets your choose various formats, including one that uses KB/s and MB/s, as well as Kb/s and Mb/s.

May I take back earlier comment (complaint) about not being able to set as Kb/s and Mb/s. Look again and it is obvious. Sorry about that.

 

[JohnD]

Thanks for the list! iStat Menus is our livelihood, and we want to make sure it does everything an app of this kind should do. iStat Menus 7 was a big change in design, and as part of that process we’ve modernised everything about the project. From here, we can look at adding some features and tweaking the design.


Thanks. Feedback noted!

The big change in design IS the very problem. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. v6 had solid graphs, but for some reason you think it's more "modern" to make graphs with vertical bars? No, that's hard on the eyes, and hard to read. Please, at least give us v6 UI design options and don't force us into your idea of "modern" - it's not welcomed.

Good lord, circle graphs, are you kidding me? The worst way to visualize something like cpu core activity, let alone everything else. PLEASE give us the option of using the v6 bar graphs EVERYWHERE - I don't want to see a circle graph ANYWHERE. I get you give us the option of turning them off in the drop-downs, but then we're losing that information. For gods sake, at least give us a choice of circle graphs vs bar graphs.

I installed v7 for about 45 minutes before I was disgusted enough to use Time Machine to revert back to v6. You couldn't pay ME to install v7 - I'd rather use a competitor's product, and I've been using iStat for many years now. If this is the future, this is goodbye.

 

[Bjango]

May I take back earlier comment (complaint) about not being able to set as Kb/s and Mb/s. Look again and it is obvious. Sorry about that.

All good! Glad we were able to sort that out.

Good lord, circle graphs, are you kidding me? The worst way to visualize something like cpu core activity, let alone everything else. PLEASE give us the option of using the v6 bar graphs EVERYWHERE - I don't want to see a circle graph ANYWHERE. I get you give us the option of turning them off in the drop-downs, but then we're losing that information. For gods sake, at least give us a choice of circle graphs vs bar graphs.

The menu bar items can be whatever you’d like (bar graphs, history graphs etc). That means I assume your comments relate more to the menus themselves. I know you said anywhere, but I think there are places where it is more of a concern, like for CPU cores?

 

[JohnD]

@Bjango - Amongst the many design changes that are a step backwards in UI technology, you have so many bugs in v7 I'd consider it an alpha, not even a beta, let alone a release version. SO much functionality is missing, and a few things you've already admitted might be bugs. How can you call this a release? Did not not alpha test this internally, or beta test this publicly? OWC Thunderbolt RAID's do not even show up as drives. This screams zero testing was performed.

Menu bar graphs are much smaller than v6, and have thicker and brighter borders. This is just one of so many things I noticed when testing v7. Your best bet would be to have a choice of v6 vs v7 UI style. I'd gladly pay for the new features in v7, if they looked like v6. Happy you think v7's UI is a step forward - I think it's a huge step backward.

I will not be spending any money on v7, which I feel is a MAJOR downgrade from v6, nor would I accept YOU paying ME to use v7's UI at any cost. If you don't allow v6's UI in a future version of v7, when v6 no longer works on a new Mac I buy, I'll simply uninstall iStat and move on to another product. I hope this isn't goodbye, but you guys thinking v7 is an upgrade tells me this is the beginning of the end of a long-time relationship. It was good while it lasted...

 

[gilby101]

I know you said anywhere, but I think there are places where it is more of a concern, like for CPU cores?

My feeling is that they are a mistake everywhere. They are either too big and take up space which could be used better (e.g. memory pressure), too small (e.g. next to each sensor) or just seem out of place (CPU cores).

 

[JohnD]

All good! Glad we were able to sort that out.


The menu bar items can be whatever you’d like (bar graphs, history graphs etc). That means I assume your comments relate more to the menus themselves. I know you said anywhere, but I think there are places where it is more of a concern, like for CPU cores?

How do I make those bar graphs?

How do I make cores bar graphs and hover over to show core history?

Where are load averages? That used to be useful.

How do I make those stupid vertical lines smooth like v6 above?

How do I make all sensors drop-down menus appear as bar graphs like this in v6?

How do I make v7 look like the menu above, with larger graphs, thinner and darker borders?

I'm running v7 in a VM so I can test whatever you tell me to do, but I reverted back to v6 for my primary machine. V6 is exactly what I want - the "improvements" to v7's UI are not welcomed.

 

[canadianpj]

Ah, thanks. The iOS-style battery item isn’t supposed to have the ability to change colour. For now, that’s a bug (we’ll remove those colour options that don’t currently do anything). But, maybe we’ll add them back if we can work out a nice way to get the colours working. Sorry!


We definitely want to get the app working for you. If have time to trouble-shoot it, please get in contact: https://bjango.com/contact/


Thank you! We’ve put a lot of effort into getting the Mac App Store version of iStat Menus 7 as close as possible to the web version. I’ve just edited the help page you got that info from, too — the Mac App Store version can show CPU frequency (via the helper). You’re also right that the Mac App Store version of iStat Menus 6 didn’t include weather. That has been added.

That means the differences for iStat Menus 7 are that fan speeds can’t be controlled, and the helper is needed for some features (the helper is just part of the app for the web version, and doesn’t require a separate install).

We’re trying to get the Mac App Store version released. It’ll be as soon as possible, but things being how they are, I can’t provide an exact date.


You may be right, for most companies. We keep things very lean. The software you see on our website is our entire business. We’ve been around for 19 years and are self-funded. This means we answer only to ourselves and our customers. We’re not trying to be the next billion dollar company.

Having said that, you can expect some big projects from us over the coming years. We have a lot in the pipeline.


Yep! We’re fully remote, and have been that way since the beginning. We’re completely fine with staying a similar size forever.

Great reply.

I am very happy to support the company and have been using iStat Menus since 4.0

 

[Bjango]

Did not not alpha test this internally, or beta test this publicly? OWC Thunderbolt RAID's do not even show up as drives. This screams zero testing was performed.

Menu bar graphs are much smaller than v6, and have thicker and brighter borders. This is just one of so many things I noticed when testing v7. Your best bet would be to have a choice of v6 vs v7 UI style. I'd gladly pay for the new features in v7, if they looked like v6. Happy you think v7's UI is a step forward - I think it's a huge step backward.

I will not be spending any money on v7, which I feel is a MAJOR downgrade from v6, nor would I accept YOU paying ME to use v7's UI at any cost. If you don't allow v6's UI in a future version of v7, when v6 no longer works on a new Mac I buy, I'll simply uninstall iStat and move on to another product. I hope this isn't goodbye, but you guys thinking v7 is an upgrade tells me this is the beginning of the end of a long-time relationship. It was good while it lasted...

We had over 1000 beta testers. Testing started a couple of months before the release. This was a major rewrite. There are a few minor bugs, but we’ll get those addressed very quickly. We’re also going to add back features, where it’s smart to do so.

View attachment 2402096

How do I make v7 look like the menu above, with larger graphs, thinner and darker borders?

Here’s a similar setup in iStat Menus 7. I only have one SSD here (this is a laptop with nothing plugged in). As mentioned previously, we seem to have a bug that’s stopping multiple drives from showing in the menu bar.

The borders and backgrounds can be controlled by clicking on the items (the way to open the options is the same as version 6).

 

[Bjango]

How do I make those bar graphs?
How do I make cores bar graphs and hover over to show core history?
Where are load averages? That used to be useful.
How do I make those stupid vertical lines smooth like v6 above?
How do I make all sensors drop-down menus appear as bar graphs like this in v6?

There’s currently no option to turn the circles into bar graphs, and no core history. Load averages is in the CPU menu. Please check that section is turned on. iStat Menus 7 has stepped history graphs across the entire app (no smooth graphs).

We’re only a few days into this update, and we haven’t sent it to everyone running version 6 yet. The feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive. Many of your exact points of criticism have been praised by others. We’re all for taking the feedback on board and adding options where it makes sense to do so.

Great reply.

I am very happy to support the company and have been using iStat Menus since 4.0

Thank you!

 

[Chancha]

I have to concur with the above poster concerns with the lack of bar graphs in the drop down list vs the circles we have now. The bars had a huge visual advantage in giving you relative difference among many items, such as the sensor temperatures, so you can easily spot which sensor is reading too high for instance. Turning them into small circles just take too much of that information away (or that the info is really too small, just thin lines along a small circle).

 

[Bjango]

Which places are the high priorities for having bars? CPU cores and sensors?

 

[Chancha]

Which places are the high priorities for having bars? CPU cores and sensors?

Personally, it is the sensors. These are ones that I would like to quickly have a glance of all of them together in one place.

 

[Bungaree.Chubbins]

I reckon I've been using this since v2, and have always loved it, so it was an instant upgrade.

I'm loving it so far! I'm not quite happy with how I have it set up yet, but I'll play around with the customisation more when I'm not working. 😆

 

[UnrulyLutist]

I've been using iStat Menus 6 since I got my first Mac in 2019; it's an essential. I'm very happy to see that development is ongoing, and that you've put so much thought into the new version.

That said, having tried out version 7 for about an hour, I decided to roll back to v6 for the moment. This was for two reasons.

First, in the v7 menu items, I wasn't able to find a history graph for memory or a vertical icon for battery. v6 had both (seen in my attached screen-grab). None of the v7 alternatives worked as well for me as those v6 items do.

Second, I found that even with Compact spacing enabled and all text item fonts set to Bold, the v7 menu-bar items felt less compact and less readable for me than the v6 ones do. If I try v7 again in the future, as I'm sure will happen, I'll grab screenshots for comparison to see whether that's really true or just a subjective reaction.

Thanks for listening here and responding to so many posters!

 

[gilby101]

Which places are the high priorities for having bars? CPU cores and sensors?

CPU Cores from me.

 

[JohnD]

We had over 1000 beta testers. Testing started a couple of months before the release. This was a major rewrite. There are a few minor bugs, but we’ll get those addressed very quickly. We’re also going to add back features, where it’s smart to do so.


Here’s a similar setup in iStat Menus 7. I only have one SSD here (this is a laptop with nothing plugged in). As mentioned previously, we seem to have a bug that’s stopping multiple drives from showing in the menu bar.

View attachment 2402104

The borders and backgrounds can be controlled by clicking on the items (the way to open the options is the same as version 6).

View attachment 2402106

Do you see how much smaller the v7 graphs are compared to v6? Why is there so much wasted vertical space in the v7 graphs? While you point out there's a way to control the borders, the graphs in v7 are so tiny compared to v6. That's very poor use of space - something anyone with high school art class experience could tell you. Did you let the UI designer go? Why would you make the graphs so much smaller, and leave so much white space?

A few minor bugs? No, not detecting a major vendor such as OWC's Thunderbolt RAID's is not a minor bug. "we seem to have a bug that’s stopping multiple drives from showing in the menu bar" is not a minor bug. You have major bugs here, so I question your beta test program.

You went out of your way to replace existing UI design with inferior UI design. Since that took additional work, you could have at least built in the option to select the old bar graphs or the new circle graphs. I seriously doubt anyone is praising you for your choice to switch to circle graphs. I've seen nothing but people criticizing that choice in this forum.

Make the menu bar graphs large like they were in v6, add all the functionality that existed in v6, and give us the option to use bar graphs *EVERYWHERE* like v6, and you'll have a path forward. There's nothing worse than removing choices and functionality in a new version, because someone thinks it's the right thing to make change for the sake of making change, without a logical reason. As the saying goes, if it ain't broke... and v6 wasn't broke. ADD features and options, don't take them all away. There was no need to re-write the UI - it feels like the UI designer was fired, and the company owner's child took their place. That literally happened at a company I used to work for.

 

[Ynk]

I don’t think you’re missing anything. Maybe we should show a sub-menu with full history for battery? I hope this thread has made it very clear that we are all for hearing what people want, and adjusting the app to suit. We have to weight up how many people are asking, and if the feature aligns with what we want iStat Menus to be, but we absolutely will be making changes based on feedback.

Sure, I was just checking that I wasn't overlooking a setting - Sorry if my comments come across as overly critical, it's not meant to be. I wasn't really asking for anything new just mentioning the main features of all previous versions that I use the app for that are now not functional or have been removed.

I've always supported this app for over a decade and love it, was excited to upgrade but this is the first version where I would pay extra to use the old version.

I can understand adding new features and options and that's great but removing things that have always been there confuses me, I guess there might be technical reasons etc