Barbee on Mac: how to set it up

Barbee is a Mac menu bar manager sold through the Mac App Store. The download is free, every Apple ID gets a three day trial of the paid tier, and after that the full feature set is unlocked through an in-app purchase. On the App Store page checked on October 18, 2026, the Lifetime purchase is listed at $12.99 and a Yearly VIP subscription at $4.99, and the app requires macOS 11.0 or later. Setting it up takes about ten minutes: install, grant the permissions macOS asks for, drag icons to one side of its divider, and decide during the trial whether the paid tier is worth it.

This site is published by the developer of a competing menu bar manager, so the comparisons below stick to facts from each vendor's own page and leave the choice to the reader.

What Barbee is, from its own listing

Barbee's App Store listing describes it as a menu bar manager and a Bartender alternative. The key features it names are:

• Hide and show menu bar items with one click.
• Auto hide and show, to manage icons based on workflow.
• Custom shortcuts.
• Menu bar customization with emoji, SF Symbols, text or images.
• Notch compatibility on newer MacBook Pro models.
• Reduced spacing, to fit more icons in less space.
• Hiding app menus, for a cleaner bar.

The directory MacMenuBar.com, in its Barbee entry, also describes an enhanced mode that shows a separate bar under the original one. That matters on a MacBook with a notch, because hidden icons can appear in a second row rather than having to fit in the original width.

Other facts from the listing, all as shown on October 18, 2026:

Item	As listed
Price of download	Free, with in-app purchases
Compatibility	Requires macOS 11.0 or later
Size	13.5 MB
Languages	English and 19 more, including Japanese, German, French and Spanish
Latest version	5.0, dated September 10, with the note "Added reusable dividers"
Privacy label	Data Not Collected
Family Sharing	Supported for some purchases

Earlier entries in the version history note compatibility work for macOS 26, a fix for icons disappearing on multiple screens in macOS 15.3 and later, and a fix related to the Screen Recording indicator on macOS 14. Those entries are a useful signal of what the app has had to deal with on recent macOS releases.

Free, trial, VIP: what each tier means

The listing is clear that the paid tier is called VIP, and it lists what VIP adds:

• An unlimited number of times icons can be shown and hidden.
• Support for the menu bar on a MacBook with a notch.
• Managing menu bar icons freely.
• Reduced icon spacing.
• Cloud backup and sync of profiles.
• Running scripts or shortcuts from the app.
• Various menu appearance styles.

Read the other way round, the free tier limits how many times icons can be shown and hidden, and leaves out notch support and spacing control. For most people on a recent MacBook, notch support alone makes VIP the realistic choice.

The trial is three days per Apple ID, according to the description. That is short, so it is worth planning what to test before installing rather than discovering the trial has ended in the middle of a working week.

On price, the In-App Purchases section lists Lifetime at $12.99, Yearly VIP at $4.99, and several tip options labelled Americano, Latte and Mocha at $1.99, $2.99 and $3.99. The description text further up mentions a yearly subscription at $2.99 and states that prices vary from region to region. When the two disagree, the In-App Purchases section is closer to what the App Store will charge, but the final price is the one shown at checkout in the reader's own region.

Setting it up, step by step

The steps below follow the order macOS imposes. The exact wording of Barbee's own windows can change between versions, so the steps name macOS screens wherever possible.

1. Install from the App Store. Search for Barbee, or open the listing linked above, and click Get. Because it comes from the App Store, there is no separate download or installer.
2. Open it once. Barbee places its own icon and a divider in the menu bar. Icons on one side of the divider stay visible. Icons on the other side are hidden.
3. Grant permissions when asked. Menu bar managers need to locate items in the bar and, in many cases, capture how hidden icons look so they can be shown. macOS asks for these in System Settings, Privacy & Security. If a prompt was dismissed by mistake, the switch can be turned on later from that pane. Apple's menu bar overview explains the colored privacy indicators next to Control Center, which is useful for telling which kind of access is active at any moment.
4. Sort the icons. Move icons to either side of the divider. Holding Command and dragging is the standard macOS gesture for rearranging menu bar items. If Barbee's own window offers a different method in the installed version, follow that.
5. Start the trial if the notch matters. On a MacBook with a notch, test with VIP active, because notch support is a VIP feature.
6. Set a shortcut and the auto hide behavior. Decide how hidden icons should come back: click, shortcut or automatic.

Before installing, quit any other menu bar manager. Two tools that both move items in the same bar tend to fight over positions, and neither works properly.

Customizing the bar beyond hiding

Hiding is only part of what the listing describes. Three customization features are worth trying during the trial, because they change how much room the bar has as well as how it looks.

Reduced spacing. macOS leaves a fixed gap between status icons. Reducing it fits more icons into the same width, which on a MacBook with a notch can mean the difference between an icon being drawn and being dropped. The listing places this under VIP.

Hiding app menus. The left side of the bar holds the front app's menus. The listing says Barbee can hide them for a cleaner bar. That frees width on a crowded MacBook, at the cost of having to reveal the menus before using them, so it suits people who rely on keyboard shortcuts more than menus.

Custom items. Barbee can place emoji, SF Symbols, text or images in the bar. This is mostly cosmetic, but a short text label can act as a reminder, and a single symbol can replace Barbee's own icon if a quieter look is preferred.

Because these features touch the whole bar, change one at a time and use the Mac normally for a while before changing the next. That way, if something feels wrong, the cause is obvious.

What to test during three days

A three day trial is enough if the test is planned. These are the checks that tend to decide whether a menu bar manager fits:

Test	How to run it	What a good result looks like
Notch	Put the app with the most menus in front on the MacBook's own display	Hidden icons are reachable without being lost behind the camera housing
Live state	Hide an icon that shows a number, such as a battery or CPU meter, then reveal it	The revealed icon shows the current value
Opening a hidden menu	Click a hidden icon after revealing it	Its menu opens where expected and the bar does not jump
External display	Connect and disconnect a display twice	The layout stays as it was set
Restart	Restart the Mac	Icons return to the same side of the divider
Full screen	Enter full screen in any app and reveal hidden icons	The reveal still works when the bar is shown

If any of these fail on the Mac in question, the trial has done its job. Menu bar behavior depends heavily on the macOS version and the set of apps installed, so one person's experience in a review may not match another's.

Barbee next to Bartender, Ice and Hidden Bar

The four tools named most often in searches for a Mac menu bar manager differ mainly in price model and supported macOS versions. Each row below comes from the vendor's own page on October 18, 2026.

Tool	Price model	Supported macOS	Source
Barbee	Free download, Lifetime $12.99 or Yearly VIP $4.99 in-app	macOS 11.0 or later	App Store
Bartender	One-time Bartender 7, yearly Bartender Pro with 14-day free trial, lifetime Mega Supporter	Bartender 7 for macOS 27, latest Bartender 6 for macOS 26	macbartender.com
Ice	Free and open source under GPL-3.0	macOS 14 and later	GitHub
Hidden Bar	Free and open source	macOS 13.0 or later	GitHub

Bartender's site at macbartender.com loads its prices dynamically, so the table lists the plan structure rather than an amount. The site states that one-time licenses include Bartender 7 and can also activate the latest Bartender 6. Ice's GitHub page explains that it relies on system APIs available from macOS 14 and can be installed with Homebrew. Hidden Bar's GitHub page states macOS 13.0 or later and is installed the same way.

The practical differences follow from those facts. Barbee is the only one of the four distributed through the Mac App Store, which suits people who prefer purchases tied to their Apple ID and handled by Apple. Ice and Hidden Bar cost nothing and publish their source. Bartender has the longest history and the broadest plan options. A wider comparison, including price and payment model for a fifth option, is on the comparison page.

Privacy and permissions, plainly

Barbee's App Store privacy label states Data Not Collected, with Apple's usual note that the label is the developer's own declaration and has not been verified by Apple. The developer's privacy policy on GitHub adds that, in the case of an error, log data such as the device's IP address, device name, operating system version and app configuration may be collected through third party products. Reading both is worthwhile for anyone with strict rules about what leaves a work Mac.

The permissions themselves are not unusual for this category. Any tool that hides and reveals icons needs to know where they are, and any tool that shows hidden icons exactly as they look needs to read that part of the screen. The useful questions to ask of any menu bar manager are which permission each feature needs, whether anything read from the screen is stored, and whether anything is sent off the Mac. The FAQ answers those questions for one alternative in detail.

What to change first

Before buying anything, decide whether notch support and a second row matter, because those decide between the free tier and VIP. Then plan the six tests above and run them within the three day trial. If Barbee does not fit, Koffret offers a fourteen day trial with no card required on macOS 14 or later, and can import an existing Bartender layout.