Here are five simple ways to remove or rearrange icons in your Mac menu bar to declutter and customize it to your liking.
The menu bar at the top of your Mac screen holds contextual buttons and icons. These icons can come from third-party apps or built-in macOS features like Wi-Fi, Sound, and Bluetooth.
If your menu bar feels cluttered with too many icons, you can simplify it by removing or rearranging both stock and third-party app icons.
1. Drag the icon out
You can remove a stock menu bar icon by holding down the Command (⌘) key on the keyboard, dragging the icon out of the menu bar, and releasing it when you see an X icon.
Note: This method does not remove the date & time or Control Center icons. To remove Siri, use the System Settings method mentioned below.
Related: How to remove the day, date, and month from the menu bar on your Mac
2. Use System Settings
System Settings allow you to control which icons appear in your Mac’s menu bar. If you’ve enabled an icon for a specific setting, you can use the same steps to hide it when needed. Here’s an example:
- Open System Settings and select Control Center.
- Choose Don’t Show in Menu Bar for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Focus, and other items. For items like Accessibility Shortcuts and Hearing, you can turn off the Show in Menu Bar switch. For Fast User Switching, click the drop-down menu for Show in Menu Bar and choose Don’t Show.
3. Use in-app settings
Some apps let you show or hide their app icon in the menu bar from their in-app settings. You can access the settings of nearly any macOS app by opening it and pressing the Command + Comma (,) keys.
Hide the Shortcuts app icon from the menu bar: Some shortcuts can be configured to be pinned in the menu bar, and you can see these shortcuts in the Menu Bar section of Mac’s Shortcuts app.
You can open a shortcut, click the info button ⓘ and uncheck Pin in Menu Bar. Once you have no shortcuts that have the ability to be pinned in the menu bar, opening the Shortcuts app should not show its app icon in your menu bar.
4. Quit the app
Some apps are designed to work from the menu bar. For example, I use a little note-taking app called Tyke that sits in the menu bar. I use another clipboard app called CopyClip, whose icon stays visible in the menu bar as long as the app is running.
The only way to hide such icons is by quitting the app and ensuring it doesn’t open automatically at Mac startup.
Note: When you reopen that app, the icon will show in the menu bar again.
5. Use Bartender to hide menu bar icons
Finally, you can use a tool like Bartender to hide most menu bar icons under one icon, giving you a clean and minimalistic look.
Rearrange icons in the Menu Bar
If you’d prefer to rearrange the menu bar icons, you can do that by holding down the Command (⌘) key on the keyboard and dragging each icon to your desired location. However, you cannot place icons to the right of the Control Center icon, so keep that in mind as you are customizing.
Are you an avid menu bar user? Share your methodology and setup in the comments below!
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