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PSA: Bartender Mac App Under New Ownership, But Lack of Transparency Raises Concerns
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Apple should have bought Bartender (and SoundSource while we're at it), as they are great apps that bring much needed functionality to MacOS.
Alas, for now we're all in limbo waiting to see who these new owners are and whether we'll ever get another good tool like this to manage our menubar.
Did not even know this Tool existed. Sounds cool but now I am gonna wait.
Do they operate in the EU? Shouldn't the actual owner be obligated to be legally listed in the privacy policy or imprint on their website at the very least?
Do they operate in the EU? Shouldn't the actual owner be obligated to be legally listed in the privacy policy or imprint on their website at the very least?
If it’s in the App Store the privacy policy should be linked there.
When I deployed an iOS app, a privacy policy was mandatory, so I assume it will be the d same for the Mac App Store.
BTW, for those who might have Parallels Toolbox, there is also its Hide Menu Icons tool: rather basic, but seems to work well (and now also has a Bartender Bar-like additional option). Let’s hope that the new Bartender devs will make clear who they are and what they want to do, anyway…
(… Hmmm: still seems buggy, as it didn’t remember the exact order of the hidden menu bar items upon reboot.)
How to Control the Icons in the Mac Menu Bar Using Parallels Toolbox
Learn how the Hide Menu icons tool in Parallels® Toolbox can help you manage the icons and hide the ones that you don’t need all that often.
www.parallels.com
(… Hmmm: still seems buggy, as it didn’t remember the exact order of the hidden menu bar items upon reboot.)
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The conspiracy theorist in me wonders if the developer was cashing out because he thought it was only a matter of time before it ended up being Sherlock’ed by Apple?
that's not the situation at all, so hardly "problem solved" lol
The conspiracy theorist in me wonders if the developer was cashing out because he thought it was only a matter of time before it ended up being Sherlock’ed by Apple?
That could well be! With the addition of the notch to Macs, the menubar organization problem is more pressing than ever and Apple must be at least considering doing something about it
FWIW, I've just emailed Applause (the buyers of Bartender) to raise the concern of screen recording on an app where you don't know the new owner and their intentions, and that using Bartender is just too great of a security threat as things stand.
If I get a reply, I'll re-post it here.
If I get a reply, I'll re-post it here.
Whenever apps get sold to some secretive new owner they be like I donut selling your datas
"Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."
Serious question. Is the reaction to this (I do not have the app) based on similar concerns of how iOS apps get sold and the new owners end up switching to a subscription model, changing privacy policies, gathering your info and selling it off whereas previously the app was considered much more “user safe”?
Tell me you don't now anything about Bartender without telling me you don't know anything about Bartender.
I had been using Dozen instead Bartender for long time as I just wanted to manage the menu bar, but Dozen has not been updated for years. I just tried Ice and it seems really well-polished. It is also an active open-source project that I can rely on.
Hi nick, you might want to read this before you write such accusations yourself
TL;DR:
"Ben Surtees has sold Bartender to a dubious company called "App Sub 1 LLC" who first used their own signature to sign Bartender but because that raised too much suspicion they now founded a new company called 'Bartender App LLC' or maybe just got a certificate under that name. they refuse to give any information about the takeover and what exactly has happened"
In case any of you are already using my app BetterTouchTool, I have created a little tutorial & example preset here on how to use it for status item management: https://community.folivora.ai/t/bar...-to-manage-menubar-status-items-via-btt/37429
You can add feature requests there, it should be pretty simple to extend BTT to support the remaining required features.
You can add feature requests there, it should be pretty simple to extend BTT to support the remaining required features.
Why do app owners have to make their intentions clear?
People use an app for its functionality, not who owns the code behind it.
Reporter Juli Clover: Paranoia at its worst. 🙄
you are probably kid accustomed to iOS and never understood what MacOS is
Normally in such transactions the previous owner is not allowed to communicate anything regarding the transaction without permission because every type of communication may have an impact on the market / customers which is none of his business anymore.
And Apple has only made it worse. They added a notch and increased menu bar item spacing back to back. It’s ridiculous.
And people here say that sideloading on macOS is doing perfectly fine.
You have to uninstall things in panic and always stay alert because your custom menu bar app may start spying on you, but it's perfectly fine I guess 🤣
Now imagine the number of people who don't go regularly on forums and missed this info.
You have to uninstall things in panic and always stay alert because your custom menu bar app may start spying on you, but it's perfectly fine I guess 🤣
Now imagine the number of people who don't go regularly on forums and missed this info.