How to Hide Menu Bar Icons on a Mac

To take an icon out of the Mac menu bar, turn it off in System Settings → Menu Bar, or drag it off the bar while editing Control Center. Both remove the icon until you add it back. If you want icons out of sight but still one click away — a VPN, sync, or meeting status you check once a day — keep them in a hidden group that you can reveal on demand. Liwu does this for free on Apple silicon MacBooks running macOS 26.7 or later.

Verified: Apple documentation and Liwu 2.3.0 behavior checked October 5, 2026.

Remove an icon with macOS settings

In macOS Tahoe 26, menu bar items have their own settings pane:

1. Choose Apple menu → System Settings, then select Menu Bar in the sidebar. You may need to scroll down.
2. Under Menu Bar Controls, deselect a system item such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Focus, Sound, or Now Playing.
3. Under Allow in the Menu Bar, deselect an item that another app provides.

Select the item again to bring it back. Apple notes that the clock is always shown in the menu bar.

For a control you added from Control Center, open Control Center from the menu bar, choose Edit Controls, and drag the item off the menu bar.

Apple also documents a shortcut for both actions: press and hold the Command key while you drag an icon to rearrange it, or drag it out of the menu bar the same way to remove it. Keep the drag inside the bar if you only mean to reorder.

Hide the whole menu bar

The same settings pane has Automatically hide and show the menu bar, with four choices: Always, On Desktop Only, In Full Screen Only, and Never. This hides everything at once, including app menus, and brings the bar back when you move the pointer to the top of the screen. It does not let you choose which icons stay.

Removed is not the same as hidden

The built-in settings remove an icon. The app behind it keeps running, but its status and menu are gone from the bar until you turn the item back on in System Settings.

A hidden icon is still in the menu bar. It sits in a group that is kept off screen and can be shown again without opening System Settings. That suits icons you rarely need but do not want to lose: you glance at them when something looks wrong, then put them away.

Keep icons in a hidden group with Liwu

Liwu's menu bar organization is part of the free tier.

1. Open Liwu from the menu bar and select the Menu Bar tab. The same controls are in the main window under Menu Bar.
2. Allow Accessibility and Screen Recording when Liwu asks. Each button opens the matching pane in System Settings.
3. Liwu lists your icons in three groups: Hidden, Visible, and Always Hidden. On first use every icon starts in Visible.
4. Drag an icon into Hidden, or right-click it and choose Move to Hidden. Use Always Hidden for icons you do not expect to need.
5. Click the arrows that Liwu adds to the menu bar to show the Hidden group, and again to put it away.

Show and hide the group from the menu bar

Liwu places a pair of arrows between your hidden icons and the visible ones.

While the Hidden group is put away, the arrows point left. Click them to show the group:

While the group is shown, the arrows point right. Click them to hide it again:

Right-click the arrows to open Liwu's Menu Bar settings. The eye button on the Hidden group in Liwu shows and hides it too.

With Liwu Pro, Menu Bar settings add three more ways under Show and Hide:

• Shortcut: a key combination that shows or hides the Hidden group from any app.
• Show on hover: the group appears when the pointer rests on the empty part of the menu bar, between the app menus and the arrows.
• Hide again: the group hides by itself 5 seconds to 1 minute after you showed it. The time starts once the pointer has left the menu bar, and waits while a menu you opened is still open.

Hidden or Always Hidden

• Hidden is for icons you look at now and then. The arrows show and hide this group.
• Always Hidden is for icons you want out of the way. The arrows never reveal them, and there is no temporary reveal. To use one again, open the Menu Bar page and move it to Hidden or Visible.

Both kinds stay in the menu bar and their apps keep running. Liwu keeps each group to the left of a separator and widens the separator to move the group off screen. After each change it checks that macOS applied the layout and that its own icon is still visible. If macOS does not confirm a move, Liwu shows the groups again and reports the problem instead of displaying a layout it could not verify.

Why it asks for two permissions

• Accessibility lets Liwu move a menu bar item. It performs the same Command-drag you could do by hand.
• Screen Recording lets Liwu read what each icon looks like, so the list shows real icons rather than names. It reads them only while you are using the Menu Bar page, and the images stay in memory on your Mac: they are not saved to disk or sent anywhere.

Any tool that rearranges other apps' menu bar items needs system access of this kind. Review it the same way you would review other privileged software; the MacBook charge limiter safety checklist covers signing, notarization, network boundaries, and removal, and Liwu's safety and system access page lists what Liwu itself does.

What stays visible, and other limits

• Locked items. Liwu's own icon, Control Center, and the clock always stay visible, so there is always a way back to the settings.
• Space and the notch. Available menu bar space and the display notch can still limit which icons fit on screen. A hidden group gives the visible icons more room; it does not make the bar wider. On a crowded bar, macOS may not accept a move whose drop point falls behind the notch. Liwu then reports that the move was not confirmed and leaves the groups as they were.
• New icons. macOS places a newly created menu bar item at the far left, which can be inside Always Hidden. If an app's icon seems to be missing, look for it on Liwu's Menu Bar page.
• Icons removed in macOS. An item you turned off in System Settings is not in the menu bar, so Liwu cannot list it. Turn it back on under System Settings → Menu Bar first.
• Liwu must be running. Quitting Liwu shows every group again. Turn on Launch Liwu at Login to keep your grouping after you sign in.
• Restart. Your groups are kept across a restart; you do not need to sort the icons again.

FAQ

Does hiding an icon quit the app?

No. Hiding only changes where the icon sits. The app keeps running and its menu works as soon as you show the group.

What is the difference between Hidden and Always Hidden?

Hidden icons come back when you click the arrows in the menu bar. Always Hidden icons do not: they stay off screen until you move them to another group on Liwu's Menu Bar page.

Why is an icon missing from Liwu's list?

Either its app is not running, or the item was turned off in System Settings → Menu Bar. Start the app or turn the item back on, then select the refresh button on Liwu's Menu Bar page.

Why can't I hide the clock or Control Center?

macOS keeps the clock in the menu bar, and Liwu treats Control Center and its own icon as fixed too. Keeping those in place guarantees you can always reach the controls that show the hidden groups.

Is there a built-in way to hide icons without removing them?

Apple's documented options add or remove individual items, or hide the entire menu bar. They do not describe a group of icons that stays in the bar but out of view.

Does this work on a Mac that is not a MacBook?

Liwu 2 supports Apple silicon MacBooks on macOS 26.7 or later. See compatibility and runtime boundaries for the supported hardware and system versions.

Sources

• Apple Mac User Guide: Change Menu Bar settings on Mac
• Apple Mac User Guide: Customize the menu bar on Mac
• Apple Mac User Guide: What's in the menu bar on Mac?
• Liwu: Safety and system access
• Liwu: Compatibility and runtime boundaries