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With macOS 26 Tahoe this yr, Apple launched a brand new Management Heart. In fact, it implements the brand new Liquid Glass design seen throughout your complete ecosystem, nevertheless it additionally brings a model new characteristic to the Mac for the primary time: third-party integrations.
That, by itself, is an enormous deal, and was a enormously appreciated characteristic of iOS 18 final yr. Nonetheless, it has a fair larger implication for the Mac.
When Apple redesigned the MacBook Professional in 2021 (and subsequently, the MacBook Air in 2022) – it created a brand new downside with the introduction of the notch. Many individuals save a lot of menu bar objects/apps of their menu bar. With the notch taking over a first-rate quantity of area proper within the center, that creates some spacing points.
You’ll both lose sure menu bar apps, otherwise you’ll have to make use of a third-party app to create a second sub-menu bar. Apple by no means had a first-party answer to this downside that they created, even almost 4 years later.
It was by no means a fantastic downside to take care of, particularly on smaller 13-inch and 14-inch MacBook shows.
Third-party controls
Now, with macOS 26 Tahoe, third-party apps can create Management Heart applets, permitting for fast controls and smaller interactions to be accessible exterior of the Menu Bar. Plus, you possibly can obtain these interactions with out the necessity to open a complete app. From Apple’s web site:
Your show feels even bigger with the clear menu bar. And you’ve got extra methods to customise the controls and structure within the menu bar and Management Heart, even these from third events.
It is a fairly massive addition, although it does include the caveat of requiring builders to assist the brand new APIs in macOS Tahoe, and current Menu Bar objects can’t shortly be adopted to Management Heart – at the least as of now.

Both means, it’s fairly nice that menu bar litter will definitely be lowered as time goes on. It’s actually a welcome characteristic. Between third-party controls and interactive widgets – which had been launched a pair years again, menu bar litter might doubtlessly grow to be a factor of the previous.

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