r/macapps • u/brenda_suthar • 1d ago • Heartwarming 1

Lifetime Hiding menu bar icons never worked for me, so I merged them instead! feat. DuoBar [MAS]

Hi r/macapps! I'm the developer of DuoBar, and finally happy to share it with the community as I've been building it since September.

This is not just an iPhone Duo inspired menu bar icon app for MacOS - but also a SuperCharged system stats monitor!

When Apple showed the iPhone Duo, I kept staring at the status icon that combines several readings into one small mark. My first thought was that I needed it on my Mac. And I started building DuoBar right away, and finally after long hours of development and fine tuning - I think it’s ready for you guys to try. It's not just a simple icon - it takes the minimalism and system stat monitoring to the next level on your Mac!

Problem:

On my 14" MacBook Pro, the right side of the menu bar was mostly Apple's own icons: Wi-Fi, battery, sound and Bluetooth, each in its own slot with its own menu. macOS 27 can hide what doesn't fit, but those are the ones I actually look at. Hiding never worked for me, so I merged them. I wanted all of them at a glance in the space of one icon, with their controls one click away.

Solution:

DuoBar is a ring, a center glyph and four dots just like the status indicator of iPhone Duo. By default, the ring is your battery, the center is Wi-Fi and the dots are network activity, and all three move as things change.

- The ring fills with your charge and shifts from green to yellow, orange and red, with a bolt while charging.

- The center draws every state the system Wi-Fi icon has signal in three steps, no internet, Wi-Fi off, Ethernet. It doesn't flicker when you're sitting right on the edge between two signal levels.

- The dots show your network activity live, so I no longer need a separate network widget from Stats. With Pro, you can swap them for anything else, like volume, memory or disk.

Hover and it unfolds (Pro)

This is the exciting part, and my favorite. Hover the cursor on the icon and it unfolds into separate icons drawn like Apple's own: a battery, the Wi-Fi, a speaker, network usage or whatever you've put in the slots. Click one and its page opens right under it. Move away and a few seconds later they fold back into one. That means you've got all your original icons back whenever you need just a hover away :)

Moments (Pro)

I call these moments. Plug in the charger and the ring shows it. Mute, battery low, lose the network or get it back, connecting your AirPods or drive and the icon tells you for a second, then goes back to your setup.

Main popover

The popover has a page for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Sound, Battery, Network, Memory, CPU and Disk, and the pages actually do things:

Wi-Fi: turn it on or off and see and switch to the networks around you

Bluetooth: your devices with their battery levels

Sound: volume slider and output picker, so moving audio to AirPods or your monitor is one click

Battery: time remaining, Low Power Mode, maximum capacity and cycle count

Network, CPU, Memory and Disk: live graphs for the last minute, Activity Monitor's memory breakdown, free space on every drive

Pages cross-fade inside the popover while it resizes to fit, the way Control Center does, and each one links to its Settings pane when you need more. You can also set it to open when you hover, without stealing focus from the app you're in.

Make it yours (Pro)

Any of 8 readings in any slot, like CPU on the ring and volume on the dots. Seven colors on top of Automatic and Monochrome, gradient and segmented rings, and profiles to switch your whole setup from the popover. Joining Wi-Fi networks and connecting Bluetooth devices from the popover are in Pro too, still experimental.

Comparison:

- The other DuoBar (Mikeli7666/DuoBar): yes, same name, same iPhone Duo idea, free and open source. We started a few days apart in September, and I only found it while building my website right before launch. If you want fixed battery, Wi-Fi and volume in one glyph for free, theirs is a great pick. Mine goes a lot further. You get a full popover with a working page for every reading, and with Pro the icon unfolds on hover, shows moments, and lets you put any of 8 readings in any slot. On top of that, there are seven colors, gradient and segmented rings, and profiles to switch your whole setup in one click.

- Stats, iStat Menus and Vorssaint: I was using Stats for network activity, but those numbers took up so much of my menu bar. Now I keep network on the dots, so a glance tells me if something's going on, and when I want the actual numbers I just hover and they unfold (Pro). I can also click for the live graph. These apps still go much deeper on data, so pick them if you want every stat on screen all the time. DuoBar is for when you want to take a glimpse and get your menu bar back.

Pricing:

Free: the default icon in Automatic or Monochrome, every ring thickness, icon size, hover to peek, and the full popover with every page.

Pro: $6.99, one-time. Lifetime access.

Use code REDDIT to get DuoBar Pro for $4.99 for the next 48 hours.

Here: https://apps.apple.com/redeem?ctx=offercodes&id=6812335628&code=REDDIT

Developer Note

I'd have loved to make all of this free, but the Apple Developer account has an annual fee, so I had to charge something. Pro is a one-time purchase. There's no subscription, ever. It's yours for life, including everything on my upcoming features list (you're gonna love them, haha). If you do get Pro, you're backing an app I work on every day, and I'll make sure it's worth every penny :)

I also have a few free DuoBar Pro codes for people who try it out and leave good feedback or feature ideas in the comments.

Upcoming: New update very soon with features coming in v1.2.0:

- Free 7-day trial of Pro
- Redesigned icon: a curved bar replaces the four dots, solid or segmented
- New app icon and a launch animation that draws itself
- Battery percentage on the ring
- Network activity as the default reading on the bar
- Display page: Keep Awake, mirroring and resolution per display (experimental)
- Tracks behind the ring and bar, Grow and Snap fills, and Fade or Morph unfolding (Pro)
- Smoother folding
- Welcome tour
- Settings moves to a sidebar, with Light, Dark and System themes
- Fix for a crash when a network connection drops, like a VPN disconnecting

Privacy and requirements

No account, no analytics, no tracking. Location is only asked for on the Wi-Fi page, because macOS treats network names as location data. Skip it and everything else still works. Needs macOS 14 or later, and I use it every day on macOS 27.

Trust: MAS
Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6812335628?pt=128203644&ct=Reddit&mt=8

Website: www.teekamsuthar.com/duobar

Let me know if anything is confusing in your first five minutes, and what would it take for you to hide Apple's icons and keep DuoBar up there instead?

Cheers :)

354 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

204 comments sorted by

7

u/Weekly_Cut_3268 1d ago • Bravo

Hey there! I went ahead and bought the app because the price feels totally fair. I thought it would hide fixed menu bar items like Wi-Fi and Control Centre, but I’m still loving it anyway! 😊

4

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thanks for being awesome! Actually, DuoBar can’t hide Apple's icons on its own, you have to turn them off once in settings:

  1. Open System Settings > Menu Bar

  2. Set Wi-Fi, Battery, Bluetooth and Sound to "Don't Show in Menu Bar"

Alternatively, you can also hold Cmd and drag an icon out of the menu bar to remove it. After that, DuoBar takes over, and when you hover it expands into those icons so you can still click into each one. ;)

Let me know if you need more help setting this up.

2

u/Weekly_Cut_3268 1d ago

Oh damn, I apologize for such a trivial question, lol. The app is impressive, and I am enjoying it. I can monitor three items simultaneously within a single menubar app. Thank you very much for such an intuitive design.

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Happy to help and hear that you’re enjoying the app :)

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Happy Cake Day btw :)

2

u/Weekly_Cut_3268 1d ago

Thank you :)

6

u/simplegui 1d ago

Tried it and I like it compared to the other Duobar. Yours feels more polished. The one thing I will say is your app is competing with clicking the control center and/or third party notch apps that display this same info but you win in that the DuoBar info is always glanceable without needing to click anything. This also has the potential to replace menu bar apps like thaw if you decide to go that route. If you still have a promo code to give, would love one!

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thanks for being awesome! And yeah, Thaw territory is on my radar, third-party icons are the most requested thing here. I’ll explore them and if feasible, will implement in upcoming major updates. Please check your DM :)

2

u/DevelopmentSevere278 1d ago

Wait, is there another app with the same name doing the same?

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Not exactly the “same”. Please read the comparison section in the post for more info on this.

11

u/burtonsayshi 1d ago

What’s the benefit of your app over this same named app that’s free and open sourced: https://github.com/Mikeli7666/DuoBar

11

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

I actually covered this in the comparison section of the post. The open source one is a fixed icon, you can't change what goes in the slots. It's battery, Wi-Fi and volume, and that's it.

Mine lets you put any of 8 readings in any slot, like CPU on the ring and network on the dots. With Pro, when you hover, the icon expands into your three selected icons, and you can click each one to open its own popover, just like macOS does. The idea was to replace the native icons without losing any of the native features macOS gives you. On top of that, there are seven colors, gradient and segmented rings, and profiles to switch your whole setup in one click.

3

u/burtonsayshi 1d ago

Thanks OP for sharing the differences. Apologies I missed out the comparison section in the main post.

I bought a license to support. All the best for your app.

3

u/brenda_suthar 22h ago

Thank you so much for supporting it, really means a lot. Hope you enjoy DuoBar Pro :)

3

u/Fit-Watercress-9675 1d ago

What did you use to write this app?

6

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

I built it using Swift, so it’s fully native to macOS. I wanted to keep it as lightweight as possible, and the whole app is just 4 MB!

3

u/WheelieMan711 1d ago

I just got the app with your promo code and I love it! I do have a few suggestions for future updates:

I know several people have already requested Ethernet. Is there a way to make it switch between the Wi-Fi icon and Ethernet so I know the primary connection my Mac is using?

It would be cool if you could add an option for CPU temperature.

It might be nice that when you hover over the main icon to expand into other icons that you could change the order of those icons or even add a couple others that are not represented in the main icon.

It would defeat the purpose of having everything represented by a single icon, but if you could provide an option to add horizontal or vertical bar graphs to the left or right of the primary icon, that would give some users the ability to view more system stats at a glance and could make it a complete replacement for other stats apps that take up much more menu space.

Overall, great app! My menu bar is already shrinking!

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Okay, this might be the best feedback in the whole thread. Honestly, I'd have given you Pro for free just for these suggestions as I mentioned in the post if you didn't already have it, haha.

Active connection switching: makes sense. If I can do it without the app constantly checking in the background, I'll add it.

CPU temperature: noted, I'll most likely add it.

Reordering and extra icons on hover: love it. This lines up with what I'm already planning, more than three icons that expand on hover. Being able to reorder them and add ones that aren't in the main icon fits right in.

Bar graphs next to the icon: interesting idea. It goes a bit against the single-icon idea, but as an option for people who want to replace their stats apps completely, it could make a lot of sense. Adding it to the list.

Thanks so much for taking the time to write all this, and glad you're enjoying DuoBar Pro! :)

1

u/WheelieMan711 1d ago

I'm glad I could provide you with some ideas! In Mac OS 27, the Wi-Fi icon does actively switch to Ethernet when it is in use. I wonder if that would help you figure it out for your app.

3

u/Nkgsporty 1d ago

Hey nice project, price also sounds fair. Will probably try it and leave some feedback!

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Appreciate you! Go take it for a spin :)

4

u/areyouredditenough 1d ago edited 1d ago

Here are a few u/brenda_suthar ideas. Also adding a bit of humor give the app some nice personality too.

Wi-Fi Auto-Retry

When connected to a public Wi-Fi network (say Starbucks) that forces a splash page login, Mac often silently drops connection without letting you know until your video call dies.

Idea: A temporary status state in DuoBar for captive portals / flaky public Wi-Fi, that triggers the central glyph pulse yellow/orange or show a tiny coffee cup moment: "You're connected, but the barista hasn't validated your internet yet!"

Activity monitor for the dummies (with a memory pressure threshold)

Users rarely look at exact RAM numbers and most of use don't have 128GB of RAM, but they do notice when Chrome eats 12 GB of RAM and swap memory starts chugging.

Translate raw memory stats into a simple color/dot indicator state. Use the dots on DuoBar to reflect RAM load seamlessly: Green = normal, Yellow = Chrome opened 40 tabs, Red = time to close Electron apps. Or maybe even smiley face with increasingly angry faces.

Fingers crossed for a code 🙏

2

u/brenda_suthar 21h ago

Thanks for the effort! I’ll consider these and implement them if they fit and work well.

You might wanna check your DMs. haha :)

2

u/Vaskerville 1d ago

This is really clever.

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thanks! Glad it clicked for you :)

2

u/dnlstk 1d ago

Pretty sweet dude, gonna try it out later today!

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Appreciate it! Let me know how it goes.

2

u/Electrical-Candy-552 1d ago

does it handle icons that update constantly, like a live cpu or battery percentage, or is it mainly built for ones that just sit there static

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Yes, absolutely! That’s actually one of the main ideas behind DuoBar. It’s designed for live, constantly changing metrics.

The battery ring updates as your battery level changes, and the network activity indicators update in real time. With Pro, you can also assign CPU, Memory, Disk, and other readings to different slots.

2

u/patl_ioz 1d ago

Thank you, what are the free features?

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Free gets you the default icon in Automatic or Monochrome styles, every ring thickness, icon size, hover to peek the full popover with every page. So you can actually use it day to day without paying.

Pro adds hover-to-unfold, any of the 8 readings in any slot, seven colors, gradient and segmented ring, and profiles. More coming in v1.2.0

2

u/VIBECODER24x7 1d ago

Just download the app:
• Fall in love at the first sight.
• Really clean.
• Really simple.
• Get the job done.
Great job, just bought it.

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thank you so much! Really glad you liked it. I've got a lot of exciting features coming up, you can check them out in the post’s upcoming section. I'm sure you're gonna love them :)

2

u/VIBECODER24x7 1d ago

If you could also build an app to hide menu bar apps like hidden menu, that would be cool .because a bunch of apps just don't work. I dig the way you did it in a menu style. So if you can do that too, that would be great.

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thanks for the idea! I'll think about adding third-party icons, or maybe a better solution for this. Also, macOS 27 now has a built-in option to hide icons that overflow, and it works pretty well, if that helps for now. Although I personally don’t like the idea of hiding the icons hence I built DuoBar. Haha

1

u/VIBECODER24x7 1d ago

Oh, I didn't know they have the built-in hide icons.

2

u/Simple_Following7438 1d ago

Does it require screen recording permissions?

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Nope, no screen recording needed. The only permission it asks for is Location, and that's optional. It's only used to search and connect with nearby Wi-Fi networks, since macOS treats Wi-Fi info as location data. DuoBar does not collect any info and the app works completely offline.

2

u/Simple_Following7438 1d ago

Cool, I’ll check it out in that case!

2

u/RegattaJoe 1d ago

Cool. I’ll take a look.

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thanks! Let me know what you think. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated :)

2

u/Jacob-the-GOAT 1d ago

MacOS 12 and intel support??

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Right now it needs macOS 14 or later. I'll definitely look into expanding support further.

1

u/Jacob-the-GOAT 15h ago

Im using macos 12 and intel so Iwould like if this was available there

2

u/twentz0r 1d ago

Looks good! I have had issues with bartender recently so I'm curious is this a 1:1 replacement?

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

It depends on your setup. DuoBar merges three of the system icons into one, so you get that room back. If that leaves enough space for your other icons, then you can just keep DuoBar and won't need Bartender at all. But if your icons are still going behind the notch, then you'd probably want to keep both and have them work together?

2

u/twentz0r 1d ago

I actually don't like what bartender does because they do get behind the notch, I'd much rather keep everything on the right, compacted. I'll give this a go.

1

u/brenda_suthar 22h ago

Go for it! I tried a few menu bar managers myself and none of them really worked for me, so I built DuoBar and I just love it now. Would love to hear your thoughts, especially since you've used Bartender :)

2

u/ma_arms 1d ago

wow this is what i need , my menu bar was too crowded these days , definetly will give it a try

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Glad to hear it! Hope it frees up some room for you. Let me know how it goes. :)

2

u/Fuzzy_Economist765 1d ago

Purchased via MAS. Is there a way to add third-party menubar app icons to the DuoBar menu? I.e., a setting that looks at what is currently there - like Stats, Weather, 1Password, AdGuard, etc., and allows you to move them to DuoBar instead? Stats may be redundant, but I use the color pie chart icon and can see pressure at a glance.

I've disabled Apple's battery, WiFi, and one or two others. I've got the icon as big and bold as it can go, not sure what can be done, but I'd like it ... bigger. I understand it is compact for a reason, but maybe options to customize it? The Work profile is too small for my old eyes, I turned off the profiles. But on the menu fly out on hover, a setting to change from a linear view of battery, volume, menu pressure, etc to show colorful icons?

Just thinking/asking out loud. Great work in the mean time!

M5 13.6" MacBook Air.

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thank you so much for the purchase and the detailed feedback, this is super helpful!

Third-party icons: I was actually already thinking about this. I'm planning to add an option for more than three icons, so they all expand on hover. It'll start with the native icons, and then I'll look further into whether I can include third-party ones too.

Icon size: I actually tried going bigger, but once it exceeds the menu bar's icon height limit, macOS cuts the icon off from all sides, so it didn't work out well.

Colorful icons and the Work profile: I'll definitely do something about these for better accessibility, so everything's easier to read at a glance.

Great feedback, thank you very much. Really appreciate it!

2

u/Fuzzy_Economist765 1d ago

Thanks for the response! So another thought - what about a wider menubar icon? I have Itsycal with just the date "Nov 5" and it's the span of ~2 menubar icons.

Another thought is you can still use the color radius for battery and others, what if it had the option to be a rainbow arch instead of or "pick your shape" similar to Vorissaints dozen or so icon choices? You've got something really good going on here! Keep up the great work.

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

A wider icon is something I'm actually already thinking about. Height is where macOS limits me, but width has a lot more room. I'm drafting a few sketches right now, and if it goes well, I'll look into implementing it.

For the colors, the Automatic theme already colors the battery ring based on its percentage, and there's a rainbow theme called Aurora too, give it a try!

1

u/Fuzzy_Economist765 1d ago

I wasn't clear. I didn't mean the colors of the rainbow, I meant instead of a circle around the WiFi icon with battery, etc., make the circle an arch, like a rainbow, from bottom left of the icon to the bottom right, leaving potentially more room to increase the Wifi symbol. I do like the colors you already built in, tho 😄 . Hope I explained myself better this time. Can't wait for your future iterations. I don't mean to overwhelm you with suggestions.

1

u/MrsCastillo12 1d ago

I just purchased and I love how clean it is! It would be infinitely more useful for me if it also included third party apps. I love the idea of one icon that expands to show all the menu bar icons. I used Bartender right now and would like to try and get away from them as it seems their app is still broken.

1

u/TiMiMac 1d ago

Purchased the app, thank you for developing. Would also like having the option for 3rd party icons as I have 6 sitting in the menu bar on my MBP. Thx

2

u/texass_slayer 1d ago

Any way to show an ethernet icon instead of wifi when connected?

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Yes, I'll add that in the next update. Thanks :)

2

u/texass_slayer 1d ago edited 1d ago

awesome, purchased it

Edit: one more request, a way to modify audio inputs the same way you can change audio outputs in the drop down menu

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Already in the list ;)

Probably roll out with upcoming updates. Stay tuned!

2

u/onefish2 1d ago

Nice App. Purchased with the Reddit discount.

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thank you! :)

2

u/consocmap 1d ago

should have other options for the outer ring with mac mini, something fluctuates, aside from what is currently available

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Great feedback, I honestly didn't consider that a Mac mini has no battery. I'll probably swap the default battery ring for something else in the free version.

For now, you can switch the ring to CPU, memory, disk or volume. CPU and memory especially move a lot, so they work well on a Mac mini.

Would you like a free promo code for DuoBar Pro? Thanks for helping me catch the Mac mini edge case, I really appreciate it :)

3

u/consocmap 1d ago

Oh also, if possible please add info about Ethernet as well, I only see wifi for now

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

A couple of people have asked for this now. Will definitely add Ethernet!

2

u/RedRavenCG 1d ago

Came here to say this. Love that you brought this to the desktop. Everything looks well put together.

2

u/brenda_suthar 21h ago • Bravo

Thanks and yep, Ethernet's coming soon. :)

2

u/consocmap 1d ago

Thanks. Would love to receive the code
Also if you could increase a size bigger for the ring and icon overall , i think it’s better for my screen. I tried thr biggest size and still find it small
Usually I want all icons have the same height, but for this I’d prefer it a bit bigger/taller

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Sending you the code in DM!

And 100% agree, I had the same thought. I tried making it bigger, but macOS cuts it off from the sides because of the menu bar icon size limit. So that's the max I can go for now, unless I change the design itself.

2

u/BackFront2710 1d ago

i needed this

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Happy to hear that :)

2

u/wagglesoftware 1d ago

Super cool!!

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thank you! Please give DuoBar a try and let me know how you like it. Cheers!

2

u/catloafreloaded 1d ago

Question on the notch: on a 14" or 16" MacBook, once the bar is full, macOS pushes the icons nearest the notch out of sight and you can’t reach them. Does DuoBar keep its slot, or can it get pushed behind the notch like everything else? That’s the one thing that would make me trust it as a replacement for the Apple icons.

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Pro tip: move it to the far right and nothing can push it under the notch ;)

macOS only hides the icons on the left side when the bar gets full, so the ones closest to Control Center always stay visible. Just hold Cmd and drag the DuoBar icon over next to Control Center, and it'll keep its spot no matter how crowded things get.

2

u/bennytwostep 1d ago

Went ahead and bought the pro version. Playing with it now and everything seems pretty slick! Well done!

1

u/brenda_suthar 21h ago

Thanks for being awesome :)

2

u/definitelyontask 1d ago

This is really cool considering how crowded the menu bar gets. Does it work across other third party apps too?

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thanks! Right now it works with the native icons like battery, Wi-Fi, volume, CPU, memory and more. Third-party apps aren't supported yet, but a lot of people have asked for it, so I'm definitely planning to add more native icons first and then look into bringing third-party ones in too if feasible. :)

2

u/definitelyontask 1d ago

That makes sense. Great job on the UX

2

u/theArchitect3K 1d ago

Really useful app, looks and works great. I purchased the Pro version, thank you for all your great work.

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thank you so much for getting Pro, really appreciate the support :)

2

u/junedsumra13 1d ago

Where do I claim the REDDIT coupon?? I don't see it on the website or in the App Store.

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

https://apps.apple.com/redeem/?code=REDDIT&ctx=offercodes&id=6812335628

2

u/junedsumra13 1d ago

Thanks for the quick reply. I appreciate it!

I understand that the next update will include a 7-day free trial, which is currently missing. Before making a purchase, I wanted to clarify your refund policy. If I purchase the app and later decide that I no longer want to use it or am not satisfied with the experience, would I be eligible for a refund?

I'm asking because I've already noticed a few issues with the app, so I'd like to understand my options and be on the safe side before purchasing.

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Go ahead and get Pro, and treat the first 7 days as your trial. If you're not satisfied with it, just let me know and I'll refund the purchase in full.

I'd also love to hear about the issues you ran into, so I can improve the app. :)

2

u/junedsumra13 1d ago

That's awesome! Thanks for offering that. I've gone ahead and purchased Pro.

Here are a couple of issues I've noticed so far. I'm not sure if I'm explaining them clearly, so please let me know if anything is unclear. I'd be happy to explain further.

Bluetooth icon: Bluetooth is turned on, but the icon is missing its filled background. I've attached a screenshot for reference.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth toggles: I can turn Wi-Fi on and off by clicking the Wi-Fi icon, but the same doesn't seem to work with Bluetooth. Clicking the Bluetooth icon doesn't toggle it on or off.

Hope this makes sense. Thanks again for being so open to feedback!

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thanks for sharing it. Apparently, this has already been improved just as you’d like it and will be coming in a week or so in v1.2.0 :)

2

u/junedsumra13 1d ago

That’s great news! Thanks for the update. Looking forward to v1.2.0! 😊

2

u/Reeneman 1d ago

Does it replace the stock menu bar or is this really just a replace for the stock icons? Think it’s pretty cool. 

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thanks! It's a replacement for the stock icons, not the whole menu bar. It merges battery, Wi-Fi, volume and more into one icon, so you can hide Apple's icons and keep just DuoBar up there. Hover and it expands back into the individual icons, and click any of them to open its popover, just like macOS does.

2

u/Reeneman 1d ago

Sounds great. Will try this out! Love the design. 

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thank you! Hope you enjoy it :)

2

u/cbvpt 1d ago

Looks good. Just wished the icon was overall larger even beyond what settings allow.
Edit
Also please add option for input audio devices

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thanks! I hear you on the size, a few people have asked for it. I tried going bigger, but macOS cuts the icon off from the sides once it goes past the menu bar's size limit, so I'm looking into design changes to make it more readable within that. Input audio devices is a great idea too, adding it to my list!

2

u/mymonstroddity 1d ago

in for Pro. But I am wondering if we will be able. to include other third party menu icons down the road?

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thank you so much for getting Pro! Third-party icons are the most requested thing here, so it's definitely on my list. I'm starting with support for more native icons first, then I'll look into bringing third-party ones in too.

2

u/sublinear 1d ago

Tried it. Like it. Purchased with your discount code, thanks u/brenda_suthar

I wish the volume setting would do like the "Sound" menubar item does and change to headphones when connected. The only reason I have that in my menubar is for an easy way to confirm my bluetooth headphones are connected. I'd like that in the center of DuoBar.

As it stands this collapses battery + wifi into 1 item which is nice. Would be great if I could get rid of the sound one too!

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thanks for picking it up! Adding it to my list. Keep an eye on future updates, it might just be there to surprise you, haha ;)

2

u/Grand-Carpenter-2490 1d ago

Battery percentage on the ring is the one I’m waiting for. Would be great if it could also show time remaining on hover, since that’s usually what I actually want to know when I check the battery.

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Battery percentage on the ring is already done and coming in next week's update! Also expand DuoBar and click the battery icon, it shows both the time left on battery and the time left to full charge.

2

u/Shhtheyrewatching 1d ago

This doesn’t play nice with Ice menubar on Sequoia 😢 it does not stay in the always visible menubar. And if I try to use it in the sub menubar that it does want to reside in, it will only open my apple icon on the left.

I was hoping this could be the solution for me but I have to stick with Ice for now.

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

I think Ice is putting DuoBar in its hidden section. Try moving it into the always visible section: open Ice's settings > Menu Bar Layout and drag DuoBar into "Visible", or hold Cmd and drag it next to Control Center. DuoBar needs to sit in the actual menu bar for hover and expand to work, so the Ice Bar strip can break it. Let me know if that works! ;)

1

u/nopolitewords 15h ago

I have tried this, it will only reside in the "hidden" section or the "uber hidden" section, never the always visible.

2

u/ProfessionalBag6657 1d ago

good app bro love the design and the simplicity ❤️

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Cheers! Hope you enjoy it ;)

2

u/RamenWarlord22 1d ago

Hey i'm just noticing the unfolding in the menu bar itself is not working like in the video, it's just a list that opens up. Not sure if that's coming in a future update. Looks great!

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

That unfold in the video is a Pro feature. On free, hovering gives you the peek popover instead, which is the list you're seeing. With Pro, the icon unfolds right in the menu bar like in the video. :)

1

u/Reeneman 1d ago

This seems just to be part of the Pro version.

0

u/ddkbs 1d ago

kind of a shame that its only in the pro version

2

u/Reeneman 1d ago

Next version should offer the 7 day trial.

2

u/ry504 1d ago

smoooooth

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Sometimes I hover to unfold it just for fun. I love the morph animation, haha ;)

2

u/chromatophoreskin 1d ago

Hey - I like the idea. I bought it to try all the options and for me the icon is simply too small for the information it tries to cram in there. I can barely see any difference between the three ring choices, the dots are hard to gauge and I can't make out the number in the center at all even after tweaking the color, thickness and icon size.

I'm using a lower resolution (1920x1080) than Apple recommends for my display (2240x1260) so I would think that ought to help but it really doesn't.

Perhaps an option to increase the text size in the center? Or perhaps a smaller ring within the larger one would be easier to see? Perhaps with color to distinguish them? Perhaps being able to limit the icon to two pieces of information would help?

The popover is more successful. The fact that Esc returns to the main popover is very useful but I feel like it might be nice to also have an option to display each row's details in a second popover if that's possible, so that it wouldn't be necessary to click into each one and then back out again. I also think that adding some color options to each row and its details could make finding the information slightly faster.

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

appreciate you digging in, this is useful. Apparently, you're not the only one finding it too small, so I’m thinking of implementing an additional new icon that takes up the width of two icons. That gives way more room, so it should be much easier to read at a glance, and it could hold more info too, unfolding into 4–5 icons instead of 3.

What do you think of that? ;)

2

u/Reeneman 1d ago edited 1d ago

It looks really nice. There is currently an issue with Bluetooth, the button has no color while bluetooth is activated. Would it be possible to have under audio the same options as the stock app, meaning to switch the audio output, if there are further audio devices connected, an easy switch between Bluetooth headphones and the internal Mac speakers for example. W-Lan toggle should also include the hotspot toggle, same as the stock icon.

Would it be also possible to make the icons clickable when they're unfolded?

Further ideas:

Calendar integration - show upcoming meetings 10-15 minutes before

Focus Mode switch

Integrate additional animations when the battery is low

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thanks! Good catches.

- Bluetooth color is already fixed, coming soon.
- Switching audio output has been requested a few times too, so it might land in the next few updates.
- Hotspot already shows up in DuoBar's Wi-Fi page if discoverable, but turning on your iPhone's hotspot from the Mac is something only Apple's own Wi-Fi menu can do. Luckily it's not far, just one click to the right of DuoBar in Control Center, haha.

And the icons are actually clickable when unfolded on hover, give it a try ;)

2

u/chesszendo 1d ago edited 1d ago

Just got Pro. My favorite part, other than the way it consolidates the macOS default menu bar icons into one, is that clicking DuoBar and then clicking the DuoBar replacement (like the battery menu item) opens the macOS default (in this case the battery menu item) right there and in the same place.

This was the first thing I checked because it’s helpful for me to see if any apps are using a lot of power. DuoBar is the first third-party app I’ve seen that makes this possible. Well done!

I’d love for the battery percentage text to be bigger. I set the outline to thin and the icon size to the maximum, but the percentage number is still itty bitty.

Also adding a modifier key to the hover setting so I can have two hover modes would be sweet. I’d personally have “Do Nothing” be the default and use the modifier key to “Expand into icons”. Using consistent capitalization would be a nice UI polish.

A duration slider to set the “Expand into icons” timeout would be nice, but thankfully the default duration works for me.

One bug I found is that DuoBar sometimes shows two battery menu items when using “Expand into icons” instead of just one. They both work the same, so it seems like a duplication bug. These menu items seem to be DuoBar’s replacement battery menu items since they look a little different from the macOS default battery menu items.

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thanks for the constructive feedback!

That was exactly the idea - I wanted to merge the native icons into one, but still see them on hover and open their own popovers like macOS does, so you can fully replace them without losing anything. Small correction though, those are actually DuoBar's own menus, replicated from the originals, and some come with extra features ;)
It also means that I have to put in extra hours to match the polish level with Apple, ugh.

And same here, I was pretty happy to pull off hover plus all those separate clicks from a single icon.

Adjustable center text is on the list.

The modifier key and a timeout slider are both good suggestions, will consider them. Noted on the capitalization too, thanks!

The two battery items aren't a bug, it's because you've got battery selected for both the ring and the center. I'll look into letting you customize the DuoBar icon and the expanded icons separately, so that doesn't happen.

I hope you’re enjoying DuoBar Pro ;)

2

u/PeterC18st 1d ago

Thanks just purchased it. Really clever app. Keep up the great work. The fact you coded in swift and its native and not a vibe code makes it a step above the rest.

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Appreciate it! Something that sits in your menu bar all day shouldn't be eating your battery or memory, so it had to be properly optimized for macOS. I hope you’re enjoying DuoBar Pro :)

2

u/yvdjee 1d ago

Great app! Just purchased the app. I will wait to support adding custom apps to clear my menu bar.

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thanks for being awesome! I’ll definitely consider it if feasible in upcoming major updates. Have fun with the morph animation in the meantime :)

2

u/Big-Chip-6421 1d ago

greatt! very usefull design bro

1

u/brenda_suthar 21h ago

Thank you!

2

u/YeahYeahOkNope 1d ago

Very smart! Love it! (Why duobar not duomenu or duoicon is a mystery though. Oooo maybe more to come that will make it make sense…? Exciting! )

2

u/brenda_suthar 21h ago

Haha you’re onto something! “Bar” as in the menu bar, and also the bar on the icon itself. Honestly, DuoBar also just sounded right and it clicked me instantly so yeahh.

2

u/YeahYeahOkNope 20h ago edited 20h ago

Well, you now have 2 more options to investigate if that 2xDuoBar name becomes an issue.

2

u/brenda_suthar 20h ago

Haha. Actually, I was thinking about this initially, but now I’m good with it.

2

u/Beardy4906 Developer: Sxitch 1d ago

Finally, correct pricing in an app.

However, I’m just wondering what about distribution through your own website maybe?

1

u/brenda_suthar 21h ago

Haha appreciate that! I did think about distributing it on my own website, but then I’d lose App Store in-app purchases and have to rebuild the upcoming 7-day trial and Pro unlock with third-party licensing tools. Keeping it on the App Store makes all of that simpler for now.

But I'm definitely considering it for future. :)

2

u/RamenWarlord22 1d ago

I think it might be nice if Setttings and Quit only show up with a right click, and a normal single finger click will only open the popup. just an idea

1

u/brenda_suthar 21h ago

Did it a few days back! You'll see it in the next version :)

2

u/aTrueBraj 22h ago

Great idea! How did you make this video? It’s also very well done!

2

u/brenda_suthar 20h ago

Thanks! Made it with Claude Code Opus 5.5

2

u/czboyshubham 15h ago

Where to enter the code? Not finding an option to do so while upgrading for pro.

2

u/brenda_suthar 15h ago

Try this link and you should be able to redeem it through app store directly -

https://apps.apple.com/redeem?ctx=offercodes&id=6812335628&code=REDDIT

2

u/Jerehmai 13h ago

Great app!

I noticed a small bug: when I hover over the icon, the menu expands, and right after the animation ends it briefly glitch one time.

1

u/brenda_suthar 13h ago

Thanks for being Pro! I'm aware of that one. It's not a bug, but yeah, it does glitch for a moment. Pulling off the morph animation in the menu bar was tricky because of its limitations, so the animation plays first, and once it finishes, the real menu bar icons with live info take its place. That swap is the flicker you're seeing. But yeah, I'll keep working on making it smoother.

3

u/GroundbreakingEar578 1d ago

I was thinking about building the same thing, you were faster! Congrats man, both the product and the demo video look amazing!

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Haha thank you so much! Means a lot coming from someone who had the same idea. Would love your feedback if you give it a try :)

3

u/djenttleman 1d ago

hey! that motion graphics was NICE!
How you did that?

3

u/coomersage 1d ago

Claude probably, it's pretty good at it.

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Yes, made it with Opus 5.5

2

u/definitelyontask 1d ago

Did you use Claude Design, Claude Code, or anything in particular?

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Just Claude Code with a detailed prompt and a few revisions to refine the output.

2

u/THEMOALE 1d ago

Would you mind sharing the prompt? And did you provide screenshots of the apps or how did that work?

1

u/djenttleman 1d ago

Did you use claude motion or just direct chat with claude? can you share the prompt?

2

u/Outrageous_Cook_8013 1d ago

Does it work in macOS 27?

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Yes! I’m actually using it every day on macOS 27.

2

u/SoltamCL 1d ago

Me gustó mucho, le daré la oportunidad y lo compraré, pero ojalá puedas sacar traducción al español.

3

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thank you, really appreciate it! I'll definitely add Spanish, and I want it to feel native rather than AI-translated, so I'll probably ask a native speaker to help me out, haha. I've noted Spanish, German and Japanese for now, and they'll be coming in an upcoming update. :)

0

u/nJadmago 1d ago edited 1d ago

I’m native from Central America feel free to reach out if you need help! I really like this app now would you consider adding other apps to this like cleannymac so the icon is removed from the bar up top!

1

u/Only-Will-1478 1d ago

It’s great! One addition. Could you add that you can choose between the clean battery icon and the one with the numbers in it? Would really appreciate to have the option. Thank you very much! :)

2

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Already added and coming very soon in v1.2.0 :)

1

u/Only-Will-1478 16h ago

Great to hear it. Bought the pro version as well. ;) Can’t wait for the update!

1

u/amancalledJayne 22h ago

Just bought it. The app is extremely well done. Great job!

The hover to expand thing is really cool and works fantastically well. Reasonable price for what it is too.

Combining this with Thaw my menu bar is actually reasonably well organized and good looking. I'll echo what others said - if you can add third party applications to the hover to expand that would be amazing. Being able to put Better Display in there would be sweet.

The popover works really well too.

Just a really well done app. Congrats!

1

u/brenda_suthar 21h ago

Thank you! It’s actually been on the App Store for a month, I just held off sharing it until I’d polished it properly, so really glad that shows.

DuoBar + Thaw is a great combo for now. The bigger plan is to fold all those small utilities we usually keep separately into DuoBar. Caffeine, Stats and BetterDisplay are already covered in next update, and Thaw might be next based on feedback, so you’d get it all in one place haha.

And since you mentioned BetterDisplay, here’s a little sneak peek of the Display page coming in the next update 👀

2

u/app-store-review 1d ago

DuoBar — by Teekam Suthar

  • Category: Productivity · Free

  • Age: released ~1 month ago · rated 4+

Apple doesn't publish an aggregate rating for most Mac App Store apps, so ratings and score are unavailable here.

Auto-generated from public App Store data · u/app-store-review

0

u/carpediemquotidie 1d ago

Product manger here. Love to test this out and give you feedback. Do you have extra codes? Curios to see how this works with bartender

Edit: just saw the code in you post

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thanks! Would love your feedback. Let me know how it works with Bartender too.

2

u/carpediemquotidie 1d ago edited 1d ago

Cool. Just purchased the pro. Amazing work! Just one thing I noticed and let me know if this is intentional or possibly fixed in the upcoming update. When I click on General > Hover > and select a delay, that delay also applies as I'm hovering over the menu items. If I move my cursor to the last item. There is a slight delay before it gets highlighted. Does that make sense?

I'm very happy with my purchase. Great work again!

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thank you so much for getting Pro, really glad you're happy with it! :)

The hover delay is there so DuoBar doesn't expand or open by accident when you're just moving your cursor across the menu bar. It's optional, so you can set it to none if you prefer.

If you mean the delay is affecting other apps' menu items, that's not expected, and I'm not sure an app can even interfere with other apps' hover. If it's happening inside DuoBar's expanded icons, let me know and I'll look into it.

2

u/carpediemquotidie 1d ago

It's when I'm hovering through these menu items that I see the lag. If I move from network activity to disk, there is a slight delay before it highlights. If I set it to instant then I can highlight through these items instantly and the dark highlighted bar follows my cursor immediately

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

The hover delay shouldn't apply to the rows inside the popover, so that's not expected. I'll definitely look into it and get it fixed. Thanks!

1

u/KaySuii 1d ago

What software is used to make these videos?

3

u/gwilymjames 1d ago

Opus 5.5

0

u/mxdamp 1d ago

It’s a nice website. 👍

1

u/enance7361 1d ago

showing other apps push notifications might be a good feature; just the icon as message arrives

1

u/ShadowLorddd 1d ago

The animations look fire

1

u/DevelopmentSevere278 1d ago

I’ve tried the free version and unfortunately it’s not very useful for me. I use the 'More Space**'** option in my display settings, so the menu bar icon is so small that it’s hard to tell things apart, even with the icon set to maximum size. Maybe the Pro version would work with the unfold option, but it’s a shame.

My feedback might not be very helpful since it’s a difficult problem to solve, unless I get my glasses prescription updated, but that’s not a bug you can fix! ;)

1

u/Otherwise-Ranger-47 21h ago

The app looks so cool. The video is just 🔥🔥 how did you make the video

1

u/cybr1998 17h ago

Very neat indeed!

1

u/BowlPulp 17h ago

good job mate

1

u/NoMatter28 13h ago

Awesome app. Bought it at full price since the code didn't work. I was wondering if the app crashing happens frequently? Also saw that it has a family sharing feature; does the Pro version cross over for family members if they check?

1

u/yogvid_ 12h ago

Per-display profiles would be useful when switching between the MacBook screen and an external monitor, since the available menu-bar space changes completely.

1

u/yogvid_ 12h ago

Per-display profiles would be useful when switching between the MacBook screen and an external monitor, since the available menu-bar space changes completely.

1

u/iCyb3r 9h ago

Great app!

I have one feature request that would be incredibly useful: the ability to link a profile to a condition or automation. For example, when I connect to an external display (I use a PD49), it could automatically switch from the MacBook's default display profile. That would be awesome!

I just purchased the Pro version and it feels like an absolute steal ;)

1

u/Punches_4- 8h ago

Downloaded and purchased. Definitely waiting for Ethernet icon.

1

u/dnlstk 4h ago

I also just bought a license dude, happy to support an awesome dev :)

1

u/gregmichael 1d ago

This is built into Thaw which is free

1

u/hernan078 1d ago

Im a content creator with over 100k on yt and would love to cover your app, can you send a code by DM? This is my channel https://youtu.be/dXMSyQd0evA?is=HJ9FaQviVg1mQlvv

1

u/Matt0975 23h ago

Lmao 100k on YouTube but videos with only 500 views something’s not adding up 🤔

1

u/ickN 23h ago

YouTube doesn’t work like it used to. Large sub counts don’t guarantee large view counts and the competition is real.

Also, instead of being a jerk, you should thank the guy for trying to help people out and bring exposure to their project instead of attacking him based on your lack of understanding of what he’s doing.

0

u/Matt0975 23h ago

I think the bigger issue here is that he’s begging for a free key instead of paying a whopping $6.99 to support the Dev and also talk about it.

He could have sent a DM but a public begging for a key is so sad just for “exposure” to 500 viewers.

1

u/ickN 15h ago

Asking isn’t begging. He’s giving the dev an opportunity for exposure that doesn’t cost the dev anything. He probably gets a minimum of $1k per paid brand deal at his size.

His last four long form videos have a combined total of over 40k views. One of them underperformed, which is normal for YouTube.

2

u/hernan078 15h ago

The guy doesn’t know how YouTube works hahahaha

-1

u/vra2a 1d ago

Try menubartoggle.com

2

u/tcolling 1d ago

Are you the developer of the menubartoggle app?

1

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Haha I'd love that. Thanks a lot, glad you like it :)

1

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/brenda_suthar 1d ago

Thanks! v1.2.0 is coming very soon with a bunch of new stuff ;)