Thaw is a robust menu bar management tool designed specifically for macOS. While its primary function is effortlessly hiding and showing menu bar items to declutter your workspace, it aims to cover a wide variety of additional features to make it one of the most versatile menu bar customization tools available.

Note: Thaw is an active fork of Ice by Jordan Baird. As the original project appeared to be inactive, Thaw aims to keep the utility alive by fixing bugs, ensuring compatibility with the latest macOS releases, and implementing the remaining roadmap features.

Key Features & Gallery Highlights

• Item Layout Control: Show hidden menu bar items conveniently below the main menu bar.
• Drag-and-Drop Interface: Seamlessly arrange your menu bar items exactly how you want them.
• Appearance Customization: Tailor the visual style of your menu bar with custom tints, shapes, shadows, or borders to blend perfectly with your desktop setup.
• Menu Bar Item Search: Quickly find and manage items even if you have dozens of active apps.

Installation Methods

Homebrew Installation

To install the latest stable release via Homebrew, run the following command in your Terminal:

brew install --cask thaw

If you prefer to test out upcoming features, you can pull the latest beta release instead:

brew install thaw@beta

Manual Installation

Prefer a direct setup? Download the Thaw_1.x.x.zip file from the latest official GitHub release, extract it, and drop the unzipped application directly into your /Applications folder.

Global Localization Support

Thaw is built for international users and is currently available (or actively deploying updates) in over 20 languages, including English, Deutsch, Français, Español, and many more.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is the difference between Thaw and Ice?

Thaw is a direct fork of the popular open-source tool Ice. Because the original Ice repository became inactive and ran into performance and stability issues on newer macOS versions (like macOS 26), Thaw was created to actively maintain the codebase, patch memory leaks, fix UI glitches, and continue building out the features on the roadmap.

Can I import my old settings from Ice into Thaw?

Yes! Thaw includes a built-in Ice configuration importer. Upon your first launch, it will offer to migrate your existing arrangements, styling options, and hotkeys so you do not have to set up your layout from scratch.

Why is Thaw asking for Accessibility and Screen Recording permissions?

Like all menu bar managers (including paid alternatives like Bartender), Thaw requires **Accessibility** permissions to reorder system icons and **Screen Recording** permissions to read the visual state of the layout. Crucially, as a fully open-source app under the GPL-3.0 license, no data ever leaves your device.

Does Thaw support MacBooks with a camera notch?

Yes. Thaw includes a dedicated feature called the ThawBar, which lets you display your hidden menu bar items in a separate, clean dropdown bar underneath the main system bar, making sure none of your active icons get lost behind the hardware notch.

Is Thaw completely free?

Yes. Thaw is 100% free, free of tracking, and released as an open-source project under the GNU General Public License v3.0.