Six Bartender Alternatives to Manage Your Mac's Menu Bar

[yayarod]

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.

Thanks for your reports.
As I stated on an earlier comment, all this bla, bla, bla regarding Bartender's privacy concerns was absolutely ridiculous.

 

[HouseofG]

This discussion has caused me to go back to Bartender. Thanks!

 

[JoelBC]

This discussion has caused me to go back to Bartender. Thanks!

Happy to have been able to assist.

 

[tosbsas]

This discussion has caused me to go back to Bartender. Thanks!

me too

 

[Ledgem]

Would be interested in the comments and thoughts of others.

Thank you.

Just a very general comment - I have a few ways of monitoring my entire network (even beyond my Mac) and some devices send telemetry data seemingly once a month or less. Monitoring for one day or even one week and not seeing activity doesn't mean that it isn't being collected and possibly sent.

This isn't to say that Bartender is or isn't collecting and sending anything - it's just a very general comment.

Thanks for your reports.
As I stated on an earlier comment, all this bla, bla, bla regarding Bartender's privacy concerns was absolutely ridiculous.

We live in a world where users have become products, and your personal information is sold for both legal and illegal activities. As the saying goes, "it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you" - and they are, indeed, out to get you. The concerns were and are not ridiculous in the slightest.

I'll just pre-empt the other response to that, which is "well I don't care if they have my information, I have nothing of importance/nothing to hide" - that's great, but doesn't invalidate anything. Some of us do have confidential information that we are responsible for maintaining secrecy over, while others care just purely on principle.

 

[jagooch]

What I liked about Bartender is the splitting of the menu bar. Now I haven't disabled it but I am very concerned as well about the privacy of this app.
I am using Little Snitch so I blocked any connections from the app for the time being, I just hope this actually is safe enough.

Which version of Little Snitch did / do you have? I might do the same thing!