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Lounge Blog

Menu bar tips, comparisons & notes

Productivity guides, tool comparisons, and behind-the-scenes notes from the team building Lounge.

How to Clear Up Your Mac Menu Bar (5 Ways, 2026)

Your Mac menu bar filling up with icons? Here are five ways to clear it — from native ⌘-drag tricks to a one-permission menu bar manager — with a quick answer up top.

Do macOS Menu Bar Apps Really Need Screen Recording? I Tested 5 on macOS 27

Ice, Bartender, Thaw, and Barbee all ask to record your screen. I tested them on macOS 27 Golden Gate — here's why that permission is optional, and how Lounge skips it.

The Best macOS Menu Bar Managers in 2026 (Tested & Compared)

We tested the top macOS menu bar managers — Lounge, Bartender, Ice, Hidden Bar, Thaw, and Barbee — on macOS 27. Here's the ranked roundup, a full feature table, and how to pick.

How to Organize Your Mac Menu Bar: A Complete Guide (2026)

A practical system for organizing your Mac menu bar — group icons by how often you use them, hide the overflow, and set one shortcut to reveal it all. Includes a quick answer and FAQ.

What Is Lounge? A macOS Menu Bar Manager Explained

Lounge is a notch-aware menu bar manager for macOS that hides and reveals status items using a length-toggle mechanism. Here's how it works.

Welcome to the Lounge Blog

Tips, comparisons, and behind-the-scenes notes on building a notch-aware menu bar manager for macOS.

Lounge vs Ice: Paid Polish or Free & Open Source?

Ice is a powerful, free, open-source menu bar manager. Lounge is a paid, notch-first app with a clipboard history. Here's an honest side-by-side.

Lounge vs Hidden Bar: Ultra-Light Toggle or Full Menu Bar Manager?

Hidden Bar is a free, ultra-light on/off toggle for menu bar icons. Lounge is a fuller, notch-aware manager. Here's an honest comparison of the two.

Lounge vs Bartender: Which macOS Menu Bar Manager Is Right for You?

Bartender is the established, deeply configurable menu bar manager. Lounge is the modern, notch-first, $3.99/year alternative. Here's an honest, feature-by-feature comparison.

How to Organize and Clear Your macOS Menu Bar

A practical, step-by-step guide to organizing and clearing your menu bar on Mac — hide icons you rarely use and keep the ones you need one shortcut away.

Getting Started with Lounge: Setup Guide

From download to your first hidden icon in under five minutes — a walkthrough of installing and configuring Lounge on macOS.