TuckHow to hide menu bar icons on a Mac
Most Macs collect menu bar icons over time: cloud storage, VPNs, chat apps, utilities that only need you once a month. There are three ways to deal with them, depending on whether you want an icon gone for good or just out of sight until you need it.
1. Remove an icon you never use
If you never click an icon, take it out of the menu bar completely.
- Apple’s own icons (Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth, Sound, Battery and so on): hold ⌘ and drag the icon down, off the menu bar, then let go. You can also turn each one off under Control Centre or Menu Bar in System Settings.
- Other apps’ icons: on recent versions of macOS, open System Settings › Menu Bar and turn off Allow in the Menu Bar for that app. Many apps also have a “Show in menu bar” option in their own settings.
The catch: a removed icon is gone. To use it you have to turn it back on, or open the app another way.
2. Reorder icons to put the important ones first
Hold ⌘ and drag any icon left or right along the menu bar. Icons closest to the clock are the last to disappear when the bar gets crowded, so put the ones you check most there.
3. Hide icons behind an arrow, and bring them back in one click
For icons you need sometimes but don’t want to see all day, use a menu bar manager. Tuck is free on the Mac App Store and needs no permissions to hide icons.
- Install Tuck from the Mac App Store and open it. A small arrow appears in your menu bar.
- On macOS 27: right-click the arrow, choose Arrange Menu Bar, and drag the line across your icons. Everything left of the line hides. Click Done.
- On macOS 26 and earlier: hold ⌘ and drag the icons you want to hide to the left of Tuck’s │ divider.
- Click the arrow to hide them. Click it again to bring them back.
You can also show hidden icons by clicking empty space in the menu bar, hovering over it, swiping down in it, or with a keyboard shortcut. For icons you almost never touch, ⌥-click the arrow to open a second, always-hidden drawer. If you like, Tuck can hide the icons again on a timer, and it waits while you’re using a menu.
Why icons disappear on their own on MacBooks with a notch
On a MacBook with a notch, macOS only draws menu bar icons in the space to the right of the notch. When there are too many, the extra icons are pushed behind the notch, where you can’t see or click them. On macOS 27, macOS puts icons that don’t fit behind a « at the left of the icons instead.
Hiding the icons you don’t need is the best fix, because hidden icons stop competing for that space. If an icon has gone missing, Tuck’s menu has Show All Menu Bar Items, which opens macOS’s full list in System Settings.
Which way should you use?
- Never use it: remove it (section 1).
- Use it every day: keep it visible, near the clock (section 2).
- Use it now and then: hide it behind an arrow (section 3).
Comparing apps? See Tuck vs Bartender, Ice and Hidden Bar. Stuck? See Support.