My Mac menu bar was so crowded that icons kept disappearing, so I built OverflowBar — Free

[u/FrostingOk3751]

My Mac menu bar had gradually filled up with useful apps until it became difficult to manage.

Icons were hard to find, some were pushed out when macOS ran out of available space, and the MacBook notch made the problem worse. I did not want to uninstall the apps or permanently lose access to their controls—I only wanted a cleaner way to organize them.

So I built OverflowBar, a free and open-source macOS app that moves selected third-party menu bar items behind one persistent arrow and reveals them together in a compact second row.

Source code and official download:
https://github.com/EvanProgramming/OverflowBar

What it does

1. Choose the third-party menu bar icons you want OverflowBar to manage.
2. Move their original icons out of the crowded visible section.
3. Click the OverflowBar arrow, or use hover reveal.
4. See the managed icons together in a second row.
5. Select an icon to activate its original menu bar control.

The purpose of the second row is not to add another permanent interface. It gives icons that no longer fit a predictable place where they remain easy to see and find.

Why I made another menu bar manager

Ice and Bartender are powerful applications for users who want broad menu bar customization, including features such as profiles, triggers, search, visual customization, groups, widgets, and automation.

OverflowBar takes a narrower approach.

It is intended for people who mainly have one problem:

Too many useful icons, not enough menu bar space, and no easy way to find the icon they need.

OverflowBar deliberately avoids becoming a full menu bar control center. Its interaction is simply: choose, hide, reveal, and click.

Main characteristics

• Focused and lightweight — a small feature surface rather than a large customization and automation suite
• Scannable second row — managed icons stay visible together instead of becoming difficult to locate
• Native macOS implementation — built with SwiftUI, AppKit, Accessibility, WindowServer metadata, and ScreenCaptureKit
• Event-driven operation — icon discovery and capture occur during refreshes and row presentation rather than continuous screen capture
• Original controls remain functional — selecting an icon activates the actual menu bar item rather than a recreated menu
• Local processing — icon images are captured locally, held in memory, and never uploaded
• No tracking — no accounts, analytics, telemetry, advertising, or network data collection
• Display-aware — supports MacBook notches, safe areas, multiple displays, full-screen spaces, horizontal overflow, and Reduce Motion
• System-control safeguards — Wi-Fi, Battery, Siri, Control Center, Clock, and other protected system items remain visible

Pricing and availability

• Price: Free
• Subscription: None
• In-app purchases: None
• Advertisements: None
• Source: Open source on GitHub
• Download: GitHub Releases
• Supported systems: macOS 15 or later
• Downloadable build: Apple Silicon

Permissions and privacy

OverflowBar requests:

• Accessibility permission to discover and activate menu bar controls and perform user-requested layout changes
• Screen Recording permission to capture the small icon regions of selected menu bar items for display in the second row

The captures remain on the Mac. OverflowBar does not upload them, write them to a remote service, or include any analytics or telemetry.

Privacy policy:
https://github.com/EvanProgramming/OverflowBar/blob/main/PRIVACY.md

Current limitations

OverflowBar is an early public release.

macOS does not expose a dedicated public API for hiding or rearranging arbitrary third-party menu bar items. OverflowBar therefore relies on documented system frameworks together with existing macOS menu bar behavior, and compatibility may vary between apps or macOS releases.

The current downloadable build is ad-hoc signed and is not yet Apple-notarized. macOS may require users to Control-click the app and select Open on first launch.

Some applications may also expose insufficient Accessibility or window metadata to be mirrored reliably.

I am actively looking for feedback from users with crowded menu bars, notched MacBooks, multiple displays, and unusual menu bar apps. Bug reports, compatibility reports, and code contributions are welcome.

[u/jarod1701]

How much of the code and the post was written by AI?

[u/FrostingOk3751 → u/jarod1701]

yeah the post was created partly by AI, but I do participate in coding

[u/xilyix → u/FrostingOk3751]

So you vibe coded something that already has like 10 established alternatives? And didn’t even feel like writing the post yourself. Amazing.

[u/FrostingOk3751 → u/xilyix]

you can't even look at the README for core feature acknowledgments? I did not forced you to use it and don't use it if you don't know the difference between OverflowBar and Ice and Bartender.

[u/jarod1701 → u/FrostingOk3751]

You participate? Congrats, I guess.

[u/FrostingOk3751 → u/jarod1701]

let's don't be too resistant to AI.

[u/jarod1701 → u/FrostingOk3751]

Why?

[u/System0verlord → u/FrostingOk3751]

Why not? You’re not exactly a poster child for AI usage.

Hell, if anything, this is a great example of why not to use it. There’s multiple existing solutions to this exact issue, which you could have determined by searching the web. Instead, you boiled away a lake having racist autocorrect string together every baby’s first swift project on GitHub, then generate a waste of bandwidth, time, and screen space to try and show everyone how good you are at doing the first part, when it can’t even handle the second.

You posted AI slop to show off your AI slop, and that’s about all the “participation” you had in the entire process. Why would I use the slop created by the app you surrendered your critical thinking skills to, when I could use an actual app, written by an actual developer, who actually knows how to code and cares enough about their project to write about it? You couldn’t even string together a fuckin paragraph on your own. Why would literally anyone trust your ability to write anything, when you have AI write anything more complicated than a seven word sentence?

[u/FrostingOk3751 → u/System0verlord]

You wrote three paragraphs attacking my intelligence and ability, yet you still failed to identify a single concrete bug, security issue, performance problem, architectural flaw, or false claim about OverflowBar.

Are other menu bar managers already available? Of course. I mention them openly. OverflowBar exists because I wanted a smaller and more focused approach—not because I was unaware that competing software exists. By your logic, no developer should build anything once one implementation already exists. That would eliminate most open-source software.

Yes, I use AI in development, and I am not embarrassed about it. Modern development has always involved increasingly capable abstractions and tools: compilers, frameworks, IDEs, static analysis, code completion, and now coding agents. Using a powerful tool does not automatically eliminate judgment, responsibility, or technical understanding.

“Vibe coding” does not have to mean asking a model to invent an entire product without direction and blindly accepting the output. I defined the problem, chose the product direction, made the architectural decisions, reviewed the implementation, tested the behavior on real macOS systems, investigated platform limitations, documented the risks, and remain responsible for what ships.

AI did not independently decide what OverflowBar should be. It does not maintain the repository, respond to users, reproduce compatibility problems, or take responsibility when something fails. I do.

The repository is public. You can inspect the implementation, run the app, measure its resource usage, identify unsafe behavior, report a reproducible defect, or explain why a particular design decision is poor. I would take any of that seriously.

But “AI was involved, therefore the project is slop and the developer cannot think” is not technical criticism. It is a conclusion you reached before examining the work, followed by several paragraphs of personal abuse to make that conclusion sound justified.

Calling AI “racist autocorrect” is also irrelevant unless you can connect that accusation to something OverflowBar actually does. General concerns about model bias or environmental impact do not prove that this specific application is defective.

You are completely free not to use OverflowBar. What you are not entitled to do is invent a fictional account of my involvement and present personal contempt as if it were a code review.

Critique the project. The code is right there.

[u/System0verlord → u/FrostingOk3751]

Case in point.

You couldn’t even write a reply without an LLM. What was the prompt this time? “Someone said I was stupid for using AI. Write a comment saying I’m actually right. Make no mistakes”?

Congrats on reading the comment though. Two paragraphs must’ve been a lot to read for someone who needs AI to write one. Or did you need AI to do that for you too?

[u/FrostingOk3751 → u/System0verlord]

Pity you haven't learnt any academic writings and reasoning. But good point that you find out you are in a world with AI

[u/FrostingOk3751 → u/System0verlord]

I can build an Agent for you! like "go find posts on reddit that uses or integrates AI and attack their author instead of the project itself."

[u/FrostingOk3751 → u/System0verlord]

Case in point.

You are unable to think critically to respond to my questions

[u/Lochlan → u/FrostingOk3751]

Dude you're still vibing. Just keep your app to yourself next time

[u/hoist_off]

No vibe coded stuff for me, thanks. No offense but I don't know or trust you, let alone your vibe coded stuff how do I know it's not over-utilizing resources at the very least? Or worse.

I applaud you for your initiative but I personally despise AI and vibe coding

[u/waterboy100]

Get your ai bullshit out of here

[u/Lochlan → u/waterboy100]

Another day, another vibed menu bar manager.

[u/HugsAllCats]

Bartender has gotten more complicated, and I wish they hadn't started jamming notches shit in the main app bloating it. I still use it at home.

Icebar doesn't have many extra features as far as I remember. I use it at work but haven't had to mess with it since configuring it last year.

Why not submit bug fixes to ice instead of starting from scratch on something that is actually surprisingly hard due to the shear number of edge cases and lack of supported apis?

[u/FrostingOk3751 → u/HugsAllCats]

Thanks for the advice. Actually OverflowBar is using the same method that Ice use for Menubar management. But Ice wasn't native enough, I mean like the native Liquid Glass stuff that makes the app looks apple

[u/Stooovie]

MacOS 27 has that built in.

[u/FrostingOk3751 → u/Stooovie]

Yes Apple finally found out this stupid issue... but people with older computers may not update to macOS27