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macOS Tahoe Beta 2 Lets You Add a Menu Bar Background

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In macOS Tahoe Beta 2, Apple included a new option to add a background to the menu bar, making it possible to have a menu bar design that’s similar to the menu bar in macOS Sequoia.

macos tahoe show menu bar background
As part of ‌macOS Tahoe‌’s Liquid Glass design, Apple removed the background of the menu bar, so it blends into the wallpaper or background behind it. The icons of the menu bar are more free floating with the transparent look, though Apple does add a slight gradient to wallpapers to improve visibility.

The menu bar toggle is available in the System Settings app under the Menu Bar section. Turning it on clearly delineates the background from the menu bar for those that prefer the non-transparent aesthetic.

With the second beta of ‌macOS Tahoe‌, Apple is making updates to address some of the issues that developers have raised. Apple also changed the color of the Finder icon to better match the traditional Finder colors.

Related Roundup: macOS Tahoe
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Top Rated Comments

Zorn Avatar
Zorn
13 months ago
Great - this is the best way to handle it. Let us who want the fresh look have it, and anyone who has a funky wallpaper that makes this not work can check an option. Everyone can be happy.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
n-evo Avatar
n-evo
13 months ago
An actual screen shot of what it looks like would’ve been nice (and kinda expected) if you dedicate a separate article to this instead of just a description.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Adora Avatar
Adora
13 months ago

An actual screen shot of what it looks like would’ve been nice (and kinda expected) if you dedicate a separate article to this instead of just a description.
Just noticed most parts of my system monitor are missing and the preferences don't open. They were just hidden behind the browser.



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Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
M
MDTyKe
13 months ago
Good god the dropdown menus for Weather etc and Battery are just disgusting. Why take something that's easy to read, and make it more difficult to read due to all the chaos blurs and lines in the background? Who in their right mind thought this was a good idea?
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dorv Avatar
Dorv
13 months ago
I know taste is subjective, but to me this is one of the best looking parts of Liquid Glass on my Mac.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
M
MDTyKe
13 months ago

My M4 Pro Mini is always very warm when doing nothing. I already thought about downgrading but in low power mode it's only slightly warm. In Sequoia it was permanently cool.

It's the WindowServer process, that is stressing the GPU and the Efficiency Cores.
That's unfortunate. In Accessibility I have enabled "Reduce Transparency" but check out what it does to the Messages app (it's more obvious when in Light Mode).

Apple really had an opportunity to make macOS lightning fast, but instead they seem set on slowing it down as much as possible with bloat features. It's very, very frustrating to see the direction it's going. Literally, Linux in a VM operates much, much faster than macOS native. Yes, I know it's a beta, but the point still remains - this is all bloat features that nobody is asking for. I just hope they allow us to turn this **** off.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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