Ice: The Essential Free Tool to Fix Your MacBook Notch Menu Bar
Due to the notch design on MacBooks, when too many icons are present in the menu bar at the top right, some icons get hidden, affecting daily usage. Since Apple currently offers no official solution, many third-party menu bar management tools have emerged. Today, we introduce Ice, a free and open-source tool designed specifically to solve this problem, making your MacBook menu bar cleaner and more practical.
Ice Features
- Hide menu bar items
- "Always Hide" specific menu bar items
- Show hidden menu bar items on mouse hover
- Show hidden menu bar items by clicking the empty area of the menu bar
- Show hidden menu bar items by scrolling or sliding within the menu bar
- Automatically re-hide menu bar items
- Hide application menus when they overlap with visible menu bar items
- Drag-and-drop interface for arranging individual menu bar items
- Display hidden menu bar items in a separate bar (e.g., for MacBooks with a notch)
- Search menu bar items
- Menu bar item spacing (beta)
- Menu bar tint (solid and gradient)
- Menu bar shadow
- Menu bar border
- Custom menu bar shapes (rounded corners and/or split style)
Install Ice
Download Ice
Ice Download Link: https://github.com/jordanbaird/Ice/releases/download/0.11.12/Ice.zip
As time passes, the official version will iterate. You can download the latest version from GitHub: https://github.com/jordanbaird/Ice/releases
If you cannot access the above address (GitHub), follow our official account 'This Software is Interesting' and reply with the keyword [Ice] to get an accelerated download link.
Install Ice
After downloading Ice.zip, extract it and drag the application into your [Applications] folder.
Usage
Ice currently does not support Chinese and only has an English interface. To help everyone adjust the configuration, we have created a Chinese-English comparison screenshot as shown below.
Personally recommended options to enable:
- Launch at login: Start automatically upon login
- Ice icon: Show and adjust the Ice icon
- Use Ice bar: Enable the Ice icon bar. This option must be turned on; otherwise, too many icons will still not be displayed fully.
- Other options can be adjusted as needed; keep defaults if unsure.
In the Menu Bar Layout option, you can control which icons are shown or hidden by dragging them, as shown below.
The effect after using Ice is shown below.
Ice also supports more advanced features, such as adjusting icon bar spacing and customizing styles. Interested users can install it to explore further.
Conclusion
Overall, Ice provides a practical and personalized menu bar management solution for MacBook users, especially those troubled by too many icons on notch-equipped models. With Ice, you can freely adjust how icons are displayed and arranged, making the menu bar cleaner, more efficient, and tailored to your usage habits. As a free, open-source tool, it is not only practical but also continues to evolve with updates, making it worth a try for Mac users.
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