Managing menu bar items
Viewing your items
Click the Barred icon in your menu bar to open the management view. All detected menu bar items are listed with their icon and the owning application name.
Items are divided into two zones:
- Primary bar — always visible in your menu bar.
- Secondary bar — hidden by default, revealed when you click the Barred icon.
Hiding items
Click the eye icon next to any item to toggle its visibility:
- Visible — the item appears in your menu bar as normal.
- Hidden — the item is moved to the secondary bar.
- Always hidden — the item is completely hidden (right-click → "Always hide").
Hidden items still function normally. Their apps continue to run and respond to clicks when you reveal them.
Reordering items
Drag items up and down in the management view to change their order in the menu bar. The order in the list matches the order on screen, left to right.
Some system items (clock, Control Centre, Siri) cannot be reordered due to macOS restrictions.
Per-app rules
Right-click any item to set a rule:
| Rule | Effect |
|---|---|
| Default | Follows your manual show/hide choice |
| Always visible | Never hidden, even in compact mode |
| Always hidden | Never shown in the primary bar |
Rules persist across restarts.
New items
When a new app adds a menu bar icon, Barred detects it automatically. By default, new items appear in the primary bar. You can change this in Settings to auto-hide new items instead.
System items
macOS system items (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Battery, etc.) are detected and manageable. However, some system items — particularly Control Centre modules — have limited reorder support due to macOS restrictions.