If you’re a Mac user who loves keeping their menu bar tidy, you’ve probably heard of Bartender 5. It’s a handy app that helps organize your menu bar icons, hiding the ones you don’t use often and showing the ones you need. It’s fantastic—until it randomly hides something essential and you’re left wondering where your Wi-Fi or battery icon disappeared to.
TL;DR
Bartender 5 can accidentally hide important menu icons like Wi-Fi or Battery if you don’t set clear rules. This issue often comes from the way it ranks or prioritizes your icons. Luckily, there’s a built-in feature called the Menu Prioritization Rule that can fix this easily. With just a few tweaks, you can make sure the important stuff always shows up.
What Happened with Bartender 5?
Bartender 5 is designed to clean up your Mac’s menu bar. It can hide icons, rearrange them, or move them into a secondary menu. But some users found it a bit too helpful. Suddenly, critical icons like:
- The Wi-Fi signal
- Battery percentage
- VPN status
were gone! Not hidden behind a click. Not dimmed. Just… not there.
Talk about a disappearing act!
This made people think their Mac was failing them. But actually, Bartender 5 was just doing what it was told—sort of.
Why Did This Happen?
The issue came down to how Bartender 5 prioritizes icons. When Bartender decides there’s not enough room in the menu bar, it starts hiding icons based on this priority. Lower-priority items get hidden first. And no, unfortunately, it can’t read your mind about what “essential” means.
So, if you didn’t tell Bartender to always show your Wi-Fi icon at the top of the chain, it might shove it behind the scenes.
Enter: The Menu Prioritization Rule
This is where the star of our show comes in—the Menu Prioritization Rule. Think of this like a VIP guest list for your menu bar. With this feature, you tell Bartender, “Hey, my Wi-Fi icon? Non-negotiable. It always stays front and center.”
You can also create rules for:
- Battery
- Sound
- Bluetooth
- VPNs
- And any third-party app that lives in the menu bar
How to Use It (It’s Super Easy)
Here’s a quick step-by-step to fix your disappearing icon drama:
- Open Bartender 5.
- Click on Preferences.
- Go to the Menu Bar Layout section.
- Find the icon that keeps disappearing. Click on it.
- Choose “Always Show in Menu Bar”.
- Drag it higher up the priority list if needed.
Done! Now Bartender knows that Wi-Fi is more important than your fancy productivity timer app.
More Control with Smart Grouping
If you’re feeling advanced, Bartender also offers Smart Grouping. This lets you organize icons into logical groups that appear based on conditions.
For example:
- Only show VPN icon when it’s on
- Show battery when under 20%
- Display calendar icon only during work hours
It’s automation magic. And it keeps your menu bar looking clean but still functional.
Another Tip: Use Hotkeys
Bartender lets you assign hotkeys to reveal all hidden icons. Super helpful when you’re troubleshooting or just want to check everything at a glance.
Try setting something like:
- Control + Option + M
This will instantly show every menu bar item temporarily, without you having to dig.
But Wait—Isn’t This a Bug?
Not exactly. Bartender 5 hiding your icons isn’t a glitch; it’s more of an overly polite assistant.
It’s doing what you (or the defaults) told it to do. But like all automation tools, you have to teach it your preferences. Otherwise, it guesses.
Oh No, My Icon Is Still Missing!
If you’ve used prioritization rules and still can’t find that one icon, try this:
- Quit Bartender. Open Activity Monitor, force quit if needed.
- Reboot Bartender
- Make sure the app that controls the icon (like Wi-Fi or Dropbox) is running
- Check if icon is visible when Bartender is deactivated
Sometimes it’s not even Bartender’s fault. The app may simply not be running correctly.
Why This Matters
Menu bar icons aren’t just for looks. They offer critical status info at a glance: battery level, internet connection, update alerts, and more.
Missing one could mean:
- You travel and wonder why there’s no Wi-Fi—because you didn’t see the warning.
- You walk out with 5% battery because the icon was hidden.
- You leave your work VPN active all night, draining your system.
Wrap-Up: Keep It Tidy Without Losing Control
Bartender 5 is still one of the best tools out there for Mac users who like a clean and organized menu bar. But it needs your guidance. Out of the box, it’s like a well-meaning robot that wants to help—but it doesn’t know what you think is important.
So take a few minutes, hop into the Menu Prioritization Rules, and give your most important icons VIP treatment.
Your future self—staring at the airport screen trying to find a Wi-Fi signal—will thank you.
Final Tips
- Keep Bartender updated. New versions fix bugs and improve menu logic.
- Once a week, review your menu bar for anything new or missing.
- Use Smart Grouping to automate clutter-free productivity.
Your menu bar is your dashboard. With the right setup, it can be both tidy and smart. Just don’t let it hide your lifelines.
