Bartender Menu Bar + Live Activities + Unknown Symbol

[JoelBC]

I am running macOS 26.1 and Bartender 6.2.1.

I have the Sports app on my iPhone (which is running iOS 26.1). I noticed that when the score of a game form the Sports app appears in the macOS menu bar as a Live Activity there is a white square dot in the menu bar to the left of ellipse per the below image:

What does the white square dot mean? Why does it occur.

Thanks in advance.

Joel

 

[gilby101]

I can't answer your question, but suggest that you diagnose a bit further.

If you exit Bartender, does it still appear as white dot? If it doesn't, this suggests it is a Bartender issue - contact the developer. If it is still a white dot this suggests it is nothing to do with Bartender.

 

[JoelBC]

@gilby101 , appreciated. I can confirm that it is 100% Bartender related. I have asked the developer but decided to ask here as well because the developer is somewhere between super slow to respond and non-responsive, at least within the last 6 months!

 

[Sital]

I've found that there are issues with Bartender on Tahoe, especially with menu bar styles. I agree that they are pretty slow to respond and with updates. Right now the only thing Bartender does well is hide the menu bar items I want hidden.

 

[JoelBC]

An update...

I asked Bartender some very specific questions. I did hear back from them but the responses were either generic and/or wrong. Somewhat frustrated at the moment.

I have gone back one more time with the hope of more helpful / useful responses. If I get them great and, if not, I will abandon Bartender. Too buggy >> too much aggravation.

If interested, here is an excerpt from the e-mail thread.

Comments encouraged and welcomed.

 

[gilby101]

If interested, here is an excerpt from the e-mail thread.

At least you have an explanation that Live Activities is a problem which needs to be addressed with Apple. I have always felt triggers was wobbly and only marginally of interest to me. I have ignored them, but understand why you want triggers working.

Right now the only thing Bartender does well is hide the menu bar items I want hidden.

Which keeps me happy! Regarding updates, there have been far more updates to Bartender 6 than with any of the potential competitors - and the updates have fixed real problems. V6.2.1 is stable for me - no cursor jumping around, and hidden and non-hidden keep their place.

For core functionality (managing the menu bar) and stability Bartender is way ahead of Ice and Barbee. But I agree there are issues in other areas.

 

[JoelBC]

At least you have an explanation that Live Activities is a problem which needs to be addressed with Apple. I have always felt triggers was wobbly and only marginally of interest to me. I have ignored them, but understand why you want triggers working.

Agreed but only a partial answer. The worse that they cannot move the Live Activity menu bar icon. They said nothing of the other menu bar icons or the resulting jumping menu bar icons. There is something not right here.

Which keeps me happy! Regarding updates, there have been far more updates to Bartender 6 than with any of the potential competitors - and the updates have fixed real problems. V6.2.1 is stable for me - no cursor jumping around, and hidden and non-hidden keep their place.

For core functionality (managing the menu bar) and stability Bartender is way ahead of Ice and Barbee. But I agree there are issues in other areas.

Agreed. The Barbee developer seems committed as I have bene in contact with him and he released a new version today.

 

[nmt1900]

Bartender 6 has started to showing some remote signs of actual usability only after getting to version 6.2.1 - and still some basic functions do not work.
It all started to go apart before Bartender 6 was released - all versions after 5.3.8 were screwed up in basic functionalities.

I have ended up using Ice for time being. Biggest problem with most of these apps is that only Bartender seems to have triggers to automatically hide and reveal specific icons. If other apps could do same there would be no need for Bartender...

 

[JoelBC]

@nmt1900 agree with you on all points especially with respect to all versions between 5.3.8 to 6.2.1 were a real problem. I ended up abandoning Bartender during this period because it was so bad!

I do note and I have used Barbee's Automations which i) are more flexible than Bartender's triggers in a number ways (i.e., multiple conditions are possible in the same Automation) and ii) but are themselves somewhat buggy. I further note the Barbee developer is fairly responsive to e-mails.

If you are looking for a Bartender alternative that has Bartender like triggers, you might want to give Barbee try. Just saying!

 

[nmt1900]

I would not touch Barbee even with 10 feet pole after what happened after installing the helper. Some menu bar icons disappeared completely and I had no any way to access AlDente at all. All what happened after helper was launched reminds of worst of Bartender with mouse pointer jumping around and no way to do anything.

Fortunately Tahoe has Menu bar controls in Control center to restore lost icons - because some app icons were lost from Menu bar completely and their items got disabled in Control center Menu bar settings.

P. S. I already had Barbee in my apps list in App Store. That means that I had tried it out some time ago before Tahoe. This madness did not happen with it on Sequoia...

 

[JoelBC]

I would not touch Barbee even with 10 feet pole after what happened after installing the helper. Some menu bar icons disappeared completely and I had no any way to access AlDente at all. All what happened after helper was launched reminds of worst of Bartender with mouse pointer jumping around and no way to do anything.

Fortunately Tahoe has Menu bar controls in Control center to restore lost icons - because some app icons were lost from Menu bar completely and their items got disabled in Control center Menu bar settings.

I had the identical experience (other than AlDente) as well as other menu bar icons misbehaving (i.e., Are would no longer animate). I know the developer is working on these and other bugs so hopefully it improve.

The most recent TestFlight flight is fairly stable but I am still not using it as Automations based on Focus Mode icon comparisons result in continual screen recording. That is a no fly zone for me.

Will keep looking at newer builds as they come out as Barbee's Automations are better designed and far more flexible that Bartender's triggers!