BlogGuide2 October 20268 min read

How to hide the MacBook notch, and get back icons hidden behind it

Some people love the MacBook notch, and others can't stop seeing it. If you're in the second group, you can make it disappear without any hardware changes. You may also have a related problem: menu bar icons that vanish behind it. Here's how to fix both.

Method 1: switch to a 16:10 resolution (built in)

Notched MacBooks have a slightly taller screen than older models, and the extra strip at the top is where the notch and menu bar live. Choose a resolution without that strip and macOS moves the menu bar below the notch, leaving the top edge black.

1. Open System Settings › Displays.
2. Right-click the resolution options, or click Advanced, and choose to show resolutions as a list. Turn on Show all resolutions.
3. Pick the 16:10 version of your usual resolution. It has the same width but slightly less height, for example 1512 × 945 instead of 1512 × 982 on a 14-inch MacBook Pro.

Trade-off: you give up that strip of screen. Most people barely notice, but it is a little less space.

Method 2: an app that blacks out the menu bar

If you want to keep the full resolution, a small app can paint the menu bar black so the notch blends into it. TopNotch is the best known. It's free, follows wallpaper changes, and works across Spaces and displays. Forehead and De-Notch-ifier work the same way. They change only the wallpaper behind the menu bar, so they use almost no resources.

Method 3: "Scale to fit below built-in camera" (per app)

Some older apps have menus long enough to run behind the notch. macOS offers a fix for those apps:

1. Quit the app, then find it in Finder › Applications.
2. Select it and press ⌘ I (Get Info).
3. Tick Scale to fit below built-in camera.

The option only appears for apps that haven't been updated for the notch. Most current apps won't show it.

Method 4: full screen

In full-screen apps (press Fn F or the green window button), macOS turns the area around the notch black and shows the menu bar only when you move the pointer to the top. It's fine for videos and focused work.

Menu bar icons hidden behind the notch

This is the more annoying problem. When the menu bar runs out of space, macOS places status icons where the notch is, and they simply disappear. There's no warning and no overflow menu. If an app's icon "isn't showing", this is usually why.

Fixes

• Remove icons you don't need. In macOS 26 Tahoe and later, go to System Settings › Menu Bar and turn off apps under Allow in the Menu Bar. In any version, hold ⌘ and drag an icon off the menu bar to remove it, or drag to reorder.
• Use a menu bar manager. Ice is free and open source. Tahoe changed some of the APIs it uses, so check that you have a build that supports your macOS. Bartender 6 is the paid option, at about $20 one-time.
• Shorten app menus. The frontmost app's menus take space too. Apps with many menus push status icons further toward the notch.
• Use a 16:10 resolution (Method 1). It doesn't add width, but it moves everything below the notch, so nothing is hidden behind it.

Or make the notch useful instead

The other option is to give the notch a job. Notch apps draw around the cutout so it looks like part of the screen, and expand it into a panel when you hover. NotchDude (my app) puts music controls, clipboard history, a focus timer, calendar, notes, a file shelf, a teleprompter, and AI coding usage there. See the full comparison of notch apps for other options.

FAQ