Thank you for the spreadsheet! I appreciate the time you spend. I ended up replacing Bartender with Vanilla. I spent the $10 for the Pro version and it's simple and works perfectly. I'm not on a laptop so the notch issue isn't a thing for me.
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Six Bartender Alternatives to Manage Your Mac's Menu Bar
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iBar's not the only one. And, yeah, it's not fair to directly, arbitrarily, GLOBALLY, impugn the motives of programmers, name names or spread accusations about national policies regarding hypothetical propagation of adversarial code, wherever and whenever feasible, but yeahhh... One shouldn't trust domestic supply chains, either, so it's best to perform due diligence one's self.
Be suspicious of anything requires system permissions. Test on VMs. Use informative firewalls.
Feel better? It seems that's been building up inside.
So yeah, I can't trust anyone, but when most people aren't capable of performing their "due diligence" in terms of testing on VMs because they are not that technical, they fall back on not trusting with broad strokes. It's human nature. You're not wrong, but it is what it is, good or bad. With that said, I'm sure the majority of overseas companies are legit, and this includes those out of China.
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@badlydrawnboy, @wanha, @tyrnnsrs, and anyone else that was looking for the "extra bar" functionality: the new Ice beta has the initial implementation of it:
github.com
[Feature Request] notch macbook support. · Issue #1 · jordanbaird/Ice
Beneficial application! Do you consider designing for a notch MacBook's built-in screen? When we have so many menu bar icons, we can't see all the icons using ice's hidden strategy nowadays. It's l...
github.com
Received a notification this morning about Ice having an update, and it updated and reloaded faster than MacBartender ever did. Got me thinking that it's been a few weeks since I made the switch and I haven't missed any of MacBartender's functionality - Ice has been perfect for me.
I don't blame the original developer for selling the program and moving on, but I wonder what he feels about the whole thing. Did he sell it and just completely wash his hands of it, not bothering to look at (and possibly actively avoiding) discussions and news about it? Or does he check the internet to see how users are reacting? If he made the program from scratch then I'd guess there's some emotional attachment to it, and I wonder if he feels any regret or pain over seeing the user base he painstakingly built up over years take flight to alternatives? Terms in the contract probably prevent him from saying much (if anything) even if he wanted to, but it would be interesting to hear.
I don't blame the original developer for selling the program and moving on, but I wonder what he feels about the whole thing. Did he sell it and just completely wash his hands of it, not bothering to look at (and possibly actively avoiding) discussions and news about it? Or does he check the internet to see how users are reacting? If he made the program from scratch then I'd guess there's some emotional attachment to it, and I wonder if he feels any regret or pain over seeing the user base he painstakingly built up over years take flight to alternatives? Terms in the contract probably prevent him from saying much (if anything) even if he wanted to, but it would be interesting to hear.
I suspect Bartender is doing something I don't like on my system but sorry, I'll not enter any details. I also downgraded to the version that is advised from some sources but, no luck, I still feel it's Bartender doing something wrong.
Anyway, there's nothing like it, to be honest. I always use my system with the Menubar hidden, Ice does not work with such system option enabled, so Ice is out of question. Hidden Bar is what I'm using but, if it only was able to scroll all the hidden apps between the mark and the Top Notch… it would be perfect. Yes, Bartender does this… Bartender does it all but recently and unfortunately it does more than what we need. Feature wise, nothing beats Bartender, period.
Anyway, there's nothing like it, to be honest. I always use my system with the Menubar hidden, Ice does not work with such system option enabled, so Ice is out of question. Hidden Bar is what I'm using but, if it only was able to scroll all the hidden apps between the mark and the Top Notch… it would be perfect. Yes, Bartender does this… Bartender does it all but recently and unfortunately it does more than what we need. Feature wise, nothing beats Bartender, period.
@laptopllama as a start, much thanks for the spreadsheet. t was very helpful and informative.
In reviewing the spreadsheet it seem that most apps need audio and screen sharing so I can only conclude / assume that this is necessary.
One of Bartender's features that I use is the triggers and I note that Bartender and Barbee are the only applications that use triggers.
Worth noting I do find the audio and screen recording disturbing likely due to a lack of understanding in that I understand its need for Teams / Zoom but why for menu bar applications?
Questions for which I woful appreciate assistance with are:
1. Does anyone have a link to Bartenders privacy policy as I cannot find it on their website, also disturbing?
2. What are the views of Bartender versus Barbee in terms of privacy (i.e., Bartender is better, Barbee is better, Stay away from both, etc.)?
3. What is the Bartender replacement application of choice (ignoring my desire for triggers)?
Thank you.
In reviewing the spreadsheet it seem that most apps need audio and screen sharing so I can only conclude / assume that this is necessary.
One of Bartender's features that I use is the triggers and I note that Bartender and Barbee are the only applications that use triggers.
Worth noting I do find the audio and screen recording disturbing likely due to a lack of understanding in that I understand its need for Teams / Zoom but why for menu bar applications?
Questions for which I woful appreciate assistance with are:
1. Does anyone have a link to Bartenders privacy policy as I cannot find it on their website, also disturbing?
2. What are the views of Bartender versus Barbee in terms of privacy (i.e., Bartender is better, Barbee is better, Stay away from both, etc.)?
3. What is the Bartender replacement application of choice (ignoring my desire for triggers)?
Thank you.
Appreciate the response by why do you not share the date collection / privacy concerns of most here, why do you think there is no alternative / replacement?
I don't have any privacy concerns. All this bla, bla, bla regarding Bartender's privacy concerns and the mysterious new owner are ridiculous.
And why my opinion is there is no alternative: none of the contenders offer the feature set of Bartender.
I agree with the last statement for sure. I tried to use alternatives, but for how I use Bartender, none of them really fit. I'm also on macOS 14 so I don't need macOS 15 compatibility.
I know that the kinds of app this is, it does need those permissions. What I don't like is what this new company is all about. I never saw an e.mail [I may have missed it] from the company introducing themselves. I'm a registered owner of the app, so they have my e.mail address. Last time I looked [which was a long while ago now], I did not see an obvious blog article about the new owner.
Looking now, I see this article: https://www.macbartender.com/b5blog/Lets-Try-This-Again/
I remember a few days before this a post by the prior developer which did seem like it was a bit made up - the post even said "it really is me, check the duplicate message posted to my own website" which is also owned by the new developer. It did not instill confidence in the new developer's intentions.
I can not find a replacement that, for me, works to the degree that I expect. The other apps are quite good! Just not as featureful as bartender is.
@vjl323 appreciate the response.
Based on @laptopllama's detailed review of alternatives the only alternative that may work for me is Barbee. Does anyone have comments. knowledge, or thoughts on the developer as it makes little sense to jump from one frying pan to another frying pan.
There is also the option of adding / using Little Snitch to stop any information from going back to the Bartender mother ship.
Comments / thoughts?
Thank you.
Based on @laptopllama's detailed review of alternatives the only alternative that may work for me is Barbee. Does anyone have comments. knowledge, or thoughts on the developer as it makes little sense to jump from one frying pan to another frying pan.
There is also the option of adding / using Little Snitch to stop any information from going back to the Bartender mother ship.
Comments / thoughts?
Thank you.
In the FWIW department, I downloaded Little Snitch and have been running it for the last 3+ hours.
I have seen the screen capture icon in the menu bar a number of times (presumably from Bartender as I am not running any other application that uses screen capture) and not once has Little Snitch reported any network traffic in respect of Bartender.
I will continue to run both Bartender and Little Snitch and report back but hopefully this provides some comfort that Bartender is not collecting information.
Comments / thoughts? Interested in what others think.
I have seen the screen capture icon in the menu bar a number of times (presumably from Bartender as I am not running any other application that uses screen capture) and not once has Little Snitch reported any network traffic in respect of Bartender.
I will continue to run both Bartender and Little Snitch and report back but hopefully this provides some comfort that Bartender is not collecting information.
Comments / thoughts? Interested in what others think.
Appreciate the insight. I mean, if Little Snitch isn't seeing any activity (over a meaningful time period, whatever that may be...and I guess that's the question...versus just blocking the app) then I'm not sure what would be left to worry about given the fairly universal trust people seem to have in Little Snitch.
I've since moved on to Ice (which has served my purposes just fine), but do own Bartender, and wouldn't mind having options.
I've since moved on to Ice (which has served my purposes just fine), but do own Bartender, and wouldn't mind having options.
I am going to keep Little Snitch running over the next day or two to see what, if anything, it reports in respect of Bartender.
If Little Snitch reports no communication in respect of Bartender I will likely stick with it as I very much like and use its triggers.
Is it reasonable to conclude that should Little Snitch report no outward communication in respect to Bartender that Bartender is safe (or, at least, as safe as any other app) to use.
Comments / thoughts?
Sure seems like it since Little Snitch is supposed to be rock solid in terms of detecting any unwanted traffic.
A quick update....
I have been running Bartender 5 + Little Snitch for almost 1 day.
I have noted that the only reference to Bartender 5 in Little Snitch is per the below which occurred when I checked for Bartender 5 updates (i.e., the connection can be blocked should the user prefer to check for updates manually).
I will continue checking for another day and report back.
While I am not a security expert other than seems to me that Bartender 5 is not collecting or sending data to itself or third parties.
Would be interested in the comments and thoughts of others.
Thank you.
I have been running Bartender 5 + Little Snitch for almost 1 day.
I have noted that the only reference to Bartender 5 in Little Snitch is per the below which occurred when I checked for Bartender 5 updates (i.e., the connection can be blocked should the user prefer to check for updates manually).
I will continue checking for another day and report back.
While I am not a security expert other than seems to me that Bartender 5 is not collecting or sending data to itself or third parties.
Would be interested in the comments and thoughts of others.
Thank you.
I know the screen recording permissions are necessary to be able to grab images of the menu icons for re-displaying elsewhere (in the menu bar or in a separate popup), or to trigger actions elsewhere.
On the audio permissions, if you're meaning the accessibility ones, I think it's probably for grabbing extra info about the menu bar apps, though I'm not sure. But it's a common enough permission requested by "system utility" type apps that I suspect it's necessary for some part of the process. Especially since all the apps that do more than just showing/hiding items require it.
Another update which I hope is helpful:
1. I sent two e-mails to Bartender and got two responses today. The second e-mail I sent was in respect of their Privacy Policy which is can be found at Bartender 5 - Privacy Policy . It is short, simple and straightforward. The information from the Audio & Screen permissions is never sent anywhere.
2. In support that they do not collect the information from the Audio & Screen permissions I can confirm the only Little Snitch activity I have had in respect of Bartender is as noted in above post when it checked for updates, nothing since.
I am also comforted that they answered both of my questions within 1 day and directly.
I will be sticking with Bartender as its functionality / triggers meet my needs and based on Little Snitch I am satisfied that it is not sending the screen recordings anywhere.
Comments / thoughts are encouraged and welcomed.
1. I sent two e-mails to Bartender and got two responses today. The second e-mail I sent was in respect of their Privacy Policy which is can be found at Bartender 5 - Privacy Policy . It is short, simple and straightforward. The information from the Audio & Screen permissions is never sent anywhere.
2. In support that they do not collect the information from the Audio & Screen permissions I can confirm the only Little Snitch activity I have had in respect of Bartender is as noted in above post when it checked for updates, nothing since.
I am also comforted that they answered both of my questions within 1 day and directly.
I will be sticking with Bartender as its functionality / triggers meet my needs and based on Little Snitch I am satisfied that it is not sending the screen recordings anywhere.
Comments / thoughts are encouraged and welcomed.