Menu bar icons hidden behind the notch

The notch does not remove menu bar apps. It covers them. Open enough of the usual set (a password manager, chat, a VPN, a sync client, a launcher) and the icons you actually click disappear under the camera housing. macOS does not add a second row, and it does not give you a list of what it just hid.

That is the whole problem ChocolateBar for Mac is built for. It is a native menu bar manager. Press ⇧⌘B, or click the ChocolateBar icon, and a row opens directly under the menu bar. The icons the notch is hiding show up there at full size. Click one and ChocolateBar clicks the real menu bar item through the Accessibility API. The menu you get is that app's menu, not a copy drawn by ChocolateBar.

Notch hiding menu bar icons on a MacBook Pro

This shows up on the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, where the camera housing cuts into the menu bar. It gets worse as you open one more menu bar app, not because the notch grew. The bar was already full.

Two things people try first:

• Quit apps until the icons fit again. That works until the next launch, and it does not help when the icons belong to tools you need (or, on a work Mac, tools you are not allowed to remove).
• A hider such as Bartender, Hidden Bar, or Dozer. Those tuck icons away, which is useful when you want a clean bar. It does not put a hidden icon back where you can see it.

ChocolateBar can hide menu bar apps too. The difference is the second row, so you can see the icon and click it without giving up the app. Optional auto-hide on that row is off by default.

Macs without a notch

A notch is only one way a menu bar runs out of room. On an iMac, a Mac mini, a MacBook Air, or an external display, enough menu bar apps push older icons off the visible edge. The same second row shows them. If the bar is simply crowded, the too many icons guide is the closer match.

boring.notch is a different kind of notch app. It turns the notch into a shelf for media, calendar, and files. It does not bring menu bar icons back. The two can run together. The comparison is on the boring.notch page.

What you need to run it

ChocolateBar for Mac is a universal binary for Apple Silicon and Intel. It runs on macOS 12 Monterey through 15 Sequoia, which includes macOS 13 Ventura, macOS 14 Sonoma, and macOS 15 Sequoia. macOS 26 Tahoe support is coming soon. It does not run on macOS 11 or earlier.

It is $15 once. The next 20 buyers can use code LAUNCH30 at checkout to pay $12. There is a 48-hour free trial with no card, one year of updates, and a 7-day refund. The download is about 5 MB. The only sensitive permission is Accessibility, which is how the app reads and clicks menu bar items. It never asks for Screen Recording.

Apple's own menu bar icons (Wi-Fi, battery, clock, Control Center, and the rest) stay out of the strip unless you turn on Include system menu items. That switch is off by default, so the row is your menu bar apps.