Menu bar icons hidden behind the MacBook notch? Here’s how to fix it

Why the notch hides menu bar icons

On a MacBook with a notch, the menu bar is split in two. App menus fill the left side, and status icons (Wi-Fi, battery and the icons apps add) fill the right, growing left from the clock toward the notch.

When there isn’t room for every icon, macOS doesn’t move the extras to the other side of the notch, or put them in an overflow menu. It just doesn’t show them, though the app keeps running. Apple’s support article on the camera housing says it plainly: menu bar items can “appear blocked or hidden behind the camera housing”.

How many icons you see also depends on the app in front: one with a long row of menus leaves less room than Finder, so an icon can be there one minute and gone the next.

Fixes built into macOS

1. Remove icons you don’t need

Hold ⌘ and drag an icon off the menu bar to remove it, or drag it sideways to reorder it. For icons that won’t move this way, Apple lists two other routes:

• System icons (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Battery, Sound and so on): open System Settings → Menu Bar and deselect them.
• Control Center items: click Control Center in the menu bar, click Edit Controls, then drag the item off the menu bar.

2. Turn off app icons in Menu Bar settings (macOS 26 Tahoe)

In macOS 26 Tahoe, the menu bar has its own Menu Bar section in System Settings. Under Allow in the Menu Bar, each app that adds a menu bar item has its own switch. Turn one off and its icon goes away while the app keeps running, even if the app has no “hide icon” option of its own. The same pane lets you show some status icons only while they’re active (Focus, Screen Mirroring, Display, Sound and Now Playing), which frees space most of the time.

3. Tighten the spacing between icons

Two hidden settings control the gap between status icons and the padding around each one. Apple doesn’t document them; the commands below are community-documented, aren’t confirmed for every macOS version, and could stop working in an update. In Terminal:

defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain NSStatusItemSpacing -int 12
defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain NSStatusItemSelectionPadding -int 8

Log out and back in to see the change. Lower numbers fit more icons; go too low and icons start to touch or overlap. To undo it:

defaults -currentHost delete -globalDomain NSStatusItemSpacing
defaults -currentHost delete -globalDomain NSStatusItemSelectionPadding

Then log out and in again. If Terminal says a key doesn’t exist, it was never set.

4. Scale to fit below built-in camera, for one app

If an older app puts its menus or windows under the notch, quit it, select it in Finder → Applications, choose File → Get Info (⌘ I) and select Scale to fit below built-in camera. The menu bar and windows then sit below the camera while that app is open, and other apps in the same space move down too until you quit it. The option only appears for apps that haven’t been updated for the notch.

5. Use a resolution that sits below the notch

Open System Settings → Displays, click Advanced and turn on Show resolutions as list, then Show all resolutions. Pick one with the same width and slightly less height (for example 1728 × 1080 instead of 1728 × 1117 on a 16-inch MacBook Pro). The whole menu bar moves below the notch, so every icon fits, and you give up a strip of screen.

Menu bar managers: Ice, Bartender and Hidden Bar

If you have more icons than fit, a menu bar manager lets you choose which stay visible and keeps the rest one click away.

Ice is free and open source (GPL-3.0), with around 30,000 stars on GitHub. You sort icons into shown, hidden and always-hidden sections and reveal hidden ones on hover, click or scroll. The Ice Bar shows hidden items in a separate bar, which its README says is useful on notched MacBooks. It also has custom spacing (in beta), so you don’t need the Terminal commands above. Install it with brew install --cask jordanbaird-ice.

Bartender is the long-standing paid option. Its “Beat the notch” feature hides items the notch would cover and brings them back with a click or hotkey, and the Bartender Bar shows hidden items without rearranging your menu bar. It also has spacing presets (Small fits two more items, Tiny four more) and triggers that show an item only when it matters, such as battery when you unplug. Bartender 6 is the version for macOS 26 Tahoe; Bartender 7, built for macOS 27, has a 4-week trial.

Hidden Bar is free and open source (MIT), on GitHub and the Mac App Store. ⌘-drag its divider into place, and everything to its left hides when you click the arrow. It has no separate bar, so it suits keeping fewer icons on show rather than reaching ones under the notch.

Hide the notch itself

If the notch bothers you more than the missing icons, make it disappear:

• A black menu bar wallpaper: pick a wallpaper with a black band across the top, and the notch blends in. In macOS 26 Tahoe, Menu Bar settings also let you choose between your wallpaper showing behind the menu bar and a menu bar background.
• TopNotch: a free app that makes the menu bar black so the notch disappears into it. It works with dynamic wallpapers, multiple displays and Spaces, and can be limited to the MacBook screen. It needs macOS 11 or later.
• A resolution below the notch, as in fix 5 above.

Only the resolution change gives you more room for icons.

Or make the notch useful

Another approach is to put the space around the notch to work. Notch apps open a panel when you hover the notch, and many replace a menu bar app or two. We compared the main ones in the best MacBook notch apps.

We make NotchDesk, so read this part with that in mind. NotchDesk shows your next meeting beside the notch with a live countdown and a Join button (more in how to join meetings in one click), and keeps your clipboard history in the notch. Its Tools tab covers jobs that often get a menu bar icon each: timers and a stopwatch, a system monitor with an optional readout beside the notch, Keep Awake and other quick toggles, a color picker and a calculator. Displays without a notch get a small island, and the notch steps aside in full screen (see notch extras).

To be fair: NotchDesk adds a menu bar item of its own, a calendar icon with a countdown to your next event. Keep it to a single item and turn off Show next event title in Settings, and it stays narrow.

NotchDesk needs macOS 14 or later and has a 14-day free trial. The first 100 buyers get a lifetime license for $25 (1 Mac) or $49 (3 Macs); after that it’s $9 a month or $89 a year.

Which fix should you try first?

• A few icons too many: remove the ones you don’t use with ⌘-drag or Menu Bar settings.
• Almost fits: tighten the spacing, in Terminal or in Ice.
• Lots of icons you still use: Ice (free) or Bartender (paid), with hidden items in their own bar.
• One old app misbehaving: Scale to fit below built-in camera.
• Every icon, always: a resolution below the notch.

Questions people ask

Why are my menu bar icons hidden behind the notch?

The notch takes space from the middle of the menu bar, and the active app’s menus take space from the left. When status icons run out of room, macOS doesn’t show the ones that don’t fit, and there’s no overflow menu. Apple acknowledges that menu bar items can be hidden behind the camera housing.

How do I see menu bar icons hidden by the notch?

Switch to an app with fewer menus, such as Finder, and more icons appear. For a lasting fix, remove icons, tighten the spacing, or use Ice or Bartender, which show hidden items in a separate bar.

How do I remove an icon from the Mac menu bar?

Hold ⌘ and drag it off the menu bar. System icons can also be deselected in System Settings → Menu Bar, and on macOS 26 Tahoe you can turn off an app’s icon there under Allow in the Menu Bar.

Can you hide the notch on a MacBook?

Yes. TopNotch (free) makes the menu bar black so the notch blends in, and a display resolution with slightly less height moves the whole menu bar below the notch.

How do I undo the menu bar spacing change?

Run defaults -currentHost delete -globalDomain NSStatusItemSpacing and defaults -currentHost delete -globalDomain NSStatusItemSelectionPadding in Terminal, then log out and back in.

What is the best free menu bar manager for Mac?

Ice: free and open source, for macOS 14 or later, with an Ice Bar that shows hidden items in a separate bar. Hidden Bar is also free, but simpler.

Sources

• Apple: How to adjust an app’s settings to appear below the camera area on your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro
• Apple: What’s in the menu bar on Mac?
• Apple: Change Menu Bar settings on Mac (macOS Tahoe 26)
• Apple: Customize the menu bar on Mac
• Apple: Change your Mac display’s resolution
• Ice on GitHub
• Bartender
• Hidden Bar on GitHub
• Hidden Bar on the Mac App Store
• TopNotch

We make NotchDesk, so we have a stake in this topic. We’ve tried to be fair to every app mentioned, and checked prices and features on each maker’s own site on the date above. Spotted something out of date? Email hello@notchdesk.com and we’ll fix it.