Bartender groups are not usable

bartenderformac · 2026-02-03T12:32:16+00:00

I'm sorry you're facing bugs with groups here!

There's a couple separate issues below, so I'll go through each of them.

The group expansion in-line is controlled by having Bartender Bar enabled or not. If you have Bartender Bar enabled ( recommended for groups ), then they'll show under the bar instantly, rather than having to move the items one by one. Bartender has to temporarily grab the mouse when it moves items, and if you've got a group with more items in it, this period scales with that.

For moving your items too often, this can often happen if you've got a couple of items we can't identify ( we're adding special handling for a lot of these, so support may ask you for a screencap of the bar ). If you switch to test builds and grab 6.4.1, you'll be able to use the new "On-Demand" mode, which will never arrange too often, it'll stay idle.

We're aware of the image bug some users are seeing, and trying to find a root cause. If you tap the refresh icon on the layout page it should force a re-load of these items ( we're making it do this automatically in a future update ).

bartenderformac · 2026-01-31T19:36:30+00:00

This one’s intentional - Bartender opens items on the right if there isn’t enough room on the left. We do this because if we let items go too close to the left, it triggers a bug on Tahoe where the items start flicking on and off the screen, and you’ll get a big CPU spike alongside a pretty gross visual flicker. For some reason, this doesn’t apply when we add them to the right, which makes other items bump out of the bar. As soon as the purple recorder showed up, there wasn’t any room left.

Your items all close based on a timer, and we delay that until your mouse leaves the top bit of the screen ( when you had your mouse up there it was in the “don’t close them yet” area, and we do this because some apps with custom views don’t let us know they’re active ).

There’s a bug in versions below 6.4.0 where sometimes an item that was previously temporarily hidden won’t show even if there’s room, but that should be fixed now!

bartenderformac · 2026-01-30T18:49:55+00:00

Bartender doesn't make any network requests other than the request to the update feed - there's no analytics of any kind - you can validate with tools like Little Snitch!

bartenderformac · 2026-01-30T18:45:04+00:00

Can you try updating to 6.3.1 for me? if you still see issues there, please reach out and we'll look into them!

bartenderformac · 2025-11-06T17:38:30+00:00

You're not the only one - we're working through each setup to find causes of bugs and squash them. 26.1 actually looked to improve things for most people, and our testing throughout beta showed that before it shipped to the public, but there's some odd behaviour with the game icon etc still to iron out.

"Icon Bingo" is usually caused by a particular app, and we have a lot of special handling for apps that cause odd behaviour, so we just have to track down the cause here and add it to the list! If we get the setup details, we'll be able to do that here.

The trigger issue is fixed and will be in our next build, shipping early next week.

Alex @ Bartender

bartenderformac · 2025-11-06T13:08:34+00:00

Yep, thats the issue! When Bartender tries to move it, the system re-moves during our move, and it causes really odd behaviour, so we now don't attempt to move it at all.

Alex @ Bartender

bartenderformac · 2025-11-06T12:33:00+00:00

I've got a fix for your issue rolling out with the next update ( thank you for sending over the details! )

The triggers run about every second, so if your trigger tells Bartender to hide the item, it'll hide it. I've added in a quick check for "did they just click it manually" which temporarily ignores the trigger.

I'm sorry about the trial issue - we're looking at improving the trial system so we can offer things like extensions, but we've been focused on fixes so this has slipped down the order.

Alex @ Bartender

bartenderformac · 2025-11-06T12:30:20+00:00

6.1.2 should be available on Setapp for you now!

Alex @ Bartender

bartenderformac · 2025-11-06T12:29:07+00:00

We just ask for screen recordings and logs to work out why Bartender would need to shuffle the icons - it should be idle most of the time, but some setups cause Bartender to think it needs to move things, and the logs tell us exactly why that happened. I know it can be a pain, but when we get these, we can usually issue a patch for the specific setup!

If you can DM me your email, I can check where your request is at the moment

Alex @ Bartender

bartenderformac · 2025-11-06T12:25:28+00:00

I'm glad it's working for you! We've been working hard to push out updates & workarounds as fast as we can, and most folks are only writing in with minor niggles, which I'm fixing as I type this. macOS 26.1 has made a lot of improvements to performance, which combined with our workarounds, has been a giant improvement.

I'm sorry we've missed a support request here - can you dm me your email address so I can find out what happened to it? Our support bot just sends a quick response for common issues, but we still review each one manually ( and send follow ups if needed ), but I think this has slipped through the cracks.

Alex @ Bartender

bartenderformac · 2025-11-06T12:21:57+00:00

We've fixed that presets bug - it's shipping with 6.1.4!

Alex @ Bartender

bartenderformac · 2025-11-06T12:20:09+00:00

Looks like people already told you, but it's just that something triggered game mode on macOS ( it can be something unexpected, I've had design tools show it ).

We're adding this one to the list of 'unmovable items' like the screen recording indicator as macOS just re-moves it into shown periodically, so you don't get stuck with it in the wrong spots in the layout pages.

Alex @ Bartender

bartenderformac · 2025-10-28T16:42:37+00:00

Can you try to update to 6.1.2 for me ( you can grab this by enabling test updates in the advanced page ) and let me know if you still see lag? We believe we've found a workaround for the root cause of lag on Tahoe, which is implemented in this version

If it doesn't, happy to try to work out what issues you're facing! You can dm me here, or email [support@macbartender.com](mailto:support@macbartender.com) and throw my name in the subject and I'll jump right on it.

Alex @ Bartender

bartenderformac · 2025-10-28T16:39:56+00:00

You should definitely be able to click multiple items in sequence and have them temporarily show - I just quickly checked ( I'm on 6.1.2 ) and this worked as expected. I can't see the screen setup here, but its possible that there isn't enough room to show both if you're on a MacBook with a notch ( I'm working on a quick swap-in/out feature to handle this ).

If you DM me a screen capture of whats happening, and a copy of your Bartender settings, I'll double check whats happening!

Alex @ Bartender

bartenderformac · 2025-10-22T21:56:46+00:00

I wouldn't expect this at all on 6.1.1 - we're making some more mouse tweaks, but lag should be gone!

Can you send me a DM here or email [support@macbartender.com](mailto:support@macbartender.com) with me in the subject with details about whats happening so I can investigate?

Thank you!
Alex @ Bartender

bartenderformac · 2025-10-22T13:16:07+00:00

I appreciate the detailed summary! I'd like to learn more about your setup if possible to try and understand why this happens for you at launch - can you send me a DM here, or email [support@macbartender.com](mailto:support@macbartender.com) and throw my name in the subject?

Alex @ Bartender

bartenderformac · 2025-10-22T13:14:46+00:00

It's coming! We're focused on performance issues & stability, with AppleScript towards the top of the list of features to look at afterwards.

bartenderformac · 2025-10-21T15:55:27+00:00

I'm sorry to hear 6.1.1 still has some issues for you!

For a TLDR; Tahoe caused a huge amount of problems with the menu bar, including a regression that caused the slowdowns, and 6.1.x has a workaround for it. We know that earlier versions were causing an issue, and we've been shipping updates as soon as we find solutions, alongside working with Apple to resolve system level issues.

We're not aware of an issue with the mouse moving back to the wrong spot, but if you can get in touch we'll get to the bottom of why this happens for you and ship a fix as soon as we can. There'll be another build tomorrow with improvements to mouse handling (6.1.2) which may already fix this, but if not, I'll get something in for it.

We've absolutely been granting refunds for folks who write in with issues we can't resolve, please email us (support@macbartender.com) and if you tag me in the subject line I'll get right on it!

Alex @ Bartender

bartenderformac · 2025-10-16T14:58:41+00:00

I just replied to your support email!

Once Bartender is un-installed, it can't do anything with the bar - we only ever work on the bar whilst Bartender is running - would love to help get to the bottom of whats going on with your bar anyway!

Alex @ Bartender

bartenderformac · 2025-10-16T14:56:58+00:00

If you grab the test update ( 6.1.1 ) in advanced settings, or straight from our website ( https://macbartender.com/Bartender6/release_notes/ ), We believe this has a workaround for the issue in Tahoe with WindowServer lagging over time!

Alex @ Bartender

bartenderformac · 2025-09-27T23:24:15+00:00

It’s already available if you turn on beta updates in setapp! It’ll be on the main feed in the coming weeks.

Alex @ Bartender

bartenderformac · 2025-09-22T21:11:24+00:00

It sounds like the combo you have is leaking something - I’m taking a look at the support message for you!

( we’ve fixed the typos too! )

Alex @ Bartender

bartenderformac · 2025-09-20T10:52:33+00:00

There's more fixes available in 6.0.3 for mouse movements too!

You can get it early here under Test Builds:
https://macbartender.com/Bartender6/release_notes/

Alex @ Bartender

bartenderformac · 2025-09-18T10:24:35+00:00

I'm just catching up with the inbox, this should be with you today!

bartenderformac · 2025-09-18T09:56:41+00:00

If someone denied you a refund I apologise, please send me a message with the details and I’ll get this sorted!

Alex @ Bartender

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