BarKeep

Free · open source · macOS 14+

Make room
at the top.

BarKeep tucks menu bar clutter behind one click, then gets out of your way. No account. No tracking. No invasive permissions.

Download BarKeep 1.0 Read the source ↗

2.2 MB ZIP · MIT licensed · ad-hoc signed preview

YOUR MENU BAR, ON A DIET
Click the chevrons. Five icons disappear. None are harmed.

Seventeen tiny icons want your attention.

BarKeep has other plans.

Three moves. No tutorial academy.

Set it once.
Forget it exists.

  1. 01

    Put up the divider

    Hold Command and drag BarKeep’s divider left of the icons you want managed.

  2. 02

    Click, hover, or shortcut

    Use the chevrons, hover over the menu bar, or press Option–Command–B.

  3. 03

    Enjoy the blank space

    Auto-collapse after five seconds to one minute. Or never. You’re in charge.

Privacy, minus the interpretive dance

BarKeep can’t spy on your menu bar.

It moves its own native macOS controls. It never inspects, captures, or identifies the icons around them. Deliciously limited software.

Audit every line on GitHub ↗
Accessibility permission
Nope
Screen Recording permission
Nope
Analytics or telemetry
Nope
Account or network access
Still nope
A

Native by temperament.

Swift, AppKit, and Apple’s own login-item API. Zero third-party dependencies and zero Electron-shaped regrets.

B

Multiple displays.

The hidden section accounts for your widest screen instead of losing its nerve on monitor two.

C

Always-hidden means always hidden.

Keep the rarely-needed stuff behind a second divider. Option-click when bureaucracy calls.

D

Free forever.

No subscription hangover. Fork it, fix it, inspect it, keep it.

The top of your screen is expensive real estate.

Evict some icons.

Download BarKeep 1.0

Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or newer. This preview is ad-hoc signed and not notarized, so macOS may ask you to right-click the app and choose Open.