Pelmet vs Hidden Bar
Hidden Bar and Pelmet are both free, MIT-licensed, and use the same expanding-spacer technique to collapse menu bar icons with no special permissions. Pelmet adds what Hidden Bar does not have: detection of the icons macOS hides behind the MacBook notch, a Shelf panel that names them, hover reveal, and Sparkle updates.
Pelmet
Free · MITOpen source, no permissions required, detects notch overflow. macOS 13+.
Hidden Bar
FreeMIT, open source. Official site.
Side by side
Pelmet vs Hidden Bar, feature by feature
| Capability | Pelmet | Hidden Bar | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (MIT) | Free (MIT) | |
| Open source | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Hiding technique | Expanding spacer | Expanding spacer | Pelmet's README credits Hidden Bar as the origin of this approach. |
| Needs no permissions | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Keyboard shortcut | ⌥⌘B | ✓ | |
| Auto-hide after a delay | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Show on hover | ✓ | — | |
| Reports icons hidden by the MacBook notch | ✓ | — | |
| Panel listing hidden items | Shelf | — | |
| One-click access to a hidden item | ◑ | — | Opt-in, and only for items that advertise an action to macOS Accessibility. |
| In-app updates | Sparkle, opt-in | — | Hidden Bar is distributed through the Mac App Store, which handles its updates. |
| Distribution | Homebrew, DMG | Mac App Store, Homebrew |
Which one
Who each app is actually for
Choose Pelmet if…
- You have a notched MacBook and want to know what macOS hid.
- You want hover reveal and a panel that names the missing items.
- You want a project that is actively shipping releases right now.
Choose Hidden Bar if…
- You want the absolute minimum — one chevron, nothing else to think about.
- You prefer installing from the Mac App Store and letting it handle updates.
- You want the option with the longest history and the most installs behind it.
Verdict
These two are closer than any other pair on this site: same licence, same technique, same lack of permissions. Hidden Bar is the minimal classic. Pelmet is what you want if the notch is eating your icons, or if you want the hover reveal and the Shelf on top of the basics.
Switching
Moving from Hidden Bar to Pelmet
- 01
Quit Hidden Bar
Both apps manage the same status items, so run one at a time. Quit Hidden Bar from its chevron menu.
- 02
Install Pelmet
brew install --cask ismatBabirli/pelmet/pelmet, or grab the notarized DMG.
- 03
Re-sort your icons
Hidden Bar's separator becomes Pelmet's ╱ divider and works the same way: Command-drag anything you always want visible to its right.
FAQ
Questions
- Is Pelmet a fork of Hidden Bar?
- No. Pelmet is an independent Swift 6 codebase. It credits Hidden Bar as the origin of the expanding-spacer technique both apps use, but shares no code.
- Does Hidden Bar detect notch overflow?
- No. Hidden Bar hides the icons you tell it to hide. When macOS separately drops icons that do not fit beside the notch, Hidden Bar has no way to report it — that detection is what Pelmet adds.
Other comparisons
Try Pelmet — it uninstalls as fast as it installs
Free, MIT licensed, and no permissions to grant. If it is not better than Hidden Bar for you, brew uninstall --cask pelmet and nothing is left behind.
$brew install --cask ismatBabirli/pelmet/pelmet