There are so many fantastic apps that are available on the Mac, whether you go through the Mac App Store, something like Setapp, or just directly from the developer. But instead of having to fill your Dock with a bunch of apps that you might not use all the time and want to keep handy, there are an incredible number of great menu bar apps for Mac that you can take advantage of.
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Best Menu Bar Apps for Mac
Although it may not be immediately apparent, many of the best menu bar apps for Mac do offer some type of traditional “app” interface. However, by residing in your Menu Bar, you’ll be able to quickly access them without needing to keep the app open or in your Dock.
Bartender
With all these awesome new Mac utilities, you might find your menu bar is getting a bit cluttered. That’s where Bartender comes in.
With Bartender, you can choose which items to show or hide from the menu bar. For each app, choose to show, hide, always show, or always hide. Then expand or minimize your menu bar with a click.
Alchemy
Image conversion and merging made easy. Simply drag and drop your image files to seamlessly convert them into a variety of formats, or merge them into a PDF or gif. Works with (almost) every image format. All from the convenience of the menu bar.
CheatSheet
When it comes to performing tasks on your Mac, you can enjoy gestures thanks to Apple’s incredible trackpad, but you might not know that there are a slew of keyboard shortcuts to take advantage. The best part is that, at least in most cases, you don’t even need to configure these yourself, as there are a slew of default shortcuts built into every app you install. The problem is, trying to figure or remember what those keyboard shortcuts are.
Thankfully, CheatSheet is here to help, as you’ll only need to press and hold the CMD key for a couple of seconds and then will be able to see all of the keyboard shortcuts pertaining to the app that you’re currently using.
Amphetamine
Stop your Mac from going to sleep with Amphetamine. Start a new “session” and select the duration to keep your mac awake for. It’s great for servers, long processing tasks, and plenty of other situations.
Amphetamine is also highly customizable. Edit the menu bar icon, create custom settings for different apps, or set up triggers to automatically start a new session.
Hand Mirror
Hand Mirror is a super simple app that lives in your Menu Bar (little cozy top right corner of your Mac) and gives you a one-click access camera check!
This is great if you need to jump on a video call but need to make sure that you actually look presentable. It’s also a great way to quickly see what your background looks like and whether you need to tidy up before meeting with your boss.
Fantastical
Add your existing calendar accounts directly to Fantastical and keep all of your events and tasks in sync. Your Flexibits account syncs all your custom calendar sets, templates, notifications, weather settings, and more.
BetterTouchTool
Mac gestures are already pretty great, but with BetterTouchTool they’re out of this world. This is the best Mac utility to unlock advanced gestures on your trackpad, Magic Mouse, Touch Bar, Siri Remote, and more.
You can add custom gestures for a range of different Mac functions: adjust volume and brightness, cycle through browser tabs, capture screenshots, and more.
AirBuddy
Open your AirPods case next to your Mac to see the status right away, just like it works on your iPhone or iPad. AirBuddy lives in your Menu Bar and can also show battery information for your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mouse, Keyboard, and more.
iStat Menus 6
Whether gaming, video editing, or even browsing the web, it can be helpful to know how your Mac is performing. iStat Menus gives you all the information you could possibly need, right in the menu bar.
At a glance, you can see your CPU, memory, and SSD usage as well as your current download speed. You can even get local weather updates.
Ejectify
Ejectify is the first app on the list, and for no reason other than it was the first one in my notes. As with the other apps you can use to automatically eject external drives from Mac, Ejectify makes it easier than ever to avoid the annoying pop-up notification that appears. The app offers a bunch of flexibility, as the developer provides you with a slew of different configuration options.
coconutBattery 3
With coconutBattery you are always aware of your current battery health. It shows you live information about the battery in your Mac, iPhone and iPad including the age of your devices and their batteries, how often the battery was charged, your battery health, and more. Plus, you are able to save the information gathered, giving you the chance to see how your battery changes over time.
Hazel
Hazel watches whatever folders you tell it to, automatically organizing your files according to the rules you create. Have Hazel move files around based on name, date, type, what site it came from and much more. Automatically sort your movies or file your bills. Keep your files off the desktop and put them where they belong.
Magnet / Rectangle
One of the biggest missing features on macOS is the lack of windows management. There are workarounds to this, provided that you are okay working with a couple of full-screen apps. Other than that, you’ll likely find yourself getting frustrated as you try to drag window corners to your liking. Magnet and Rectangle have been around on the Mac for quite some time, and bring true windows management to macOS.
CleanShot X
CleanShot X provides over 50 features making it the ultimate screen capturing tool. You can replace the built-in macOS screenshot tool, using CleanShot X for everything from basic screenshots to screen recording, and pretty much anything else you could think of.
Later
If you’ve ever wanted to move apps out of the way without actually closing them, then Later is the app for you. Simply by pressing the icon in your menu bar, you can close app windows of your choosing, and then open them again. Later also makes it possible to save app windows as workspaces to open later, and you can even schedule apps to be reopened at a certain time.
MacUpdater
While the Mac App Store is the central hub for many macOS users when it comes to downloading apps, it’s not the only source. There are even more apps, many of which are on this list, that you won’t find in the Mac App Store, as you likely downloaded them directly from the developer. With MacUpdater, you don’t need to worry about whether “automatic updates” is enabled or not. Instead, this app keeps track of all of the apps installed on your Mac, notifying you when a new update is available for download.
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Andrew Myrick is a freelance writer based on the East Coast of the US. He enjoys everything to do with technology, including tablets, smartphones, and everything in between. Perhaps his favorite past-time is having a never-ending supply of different keyboards and gaming handhelds that end up collecting more dust than the consoles that are being emulated.
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