Edited by Tejas Telkar · Published · Updated
Short answer
If app menus or status icons are obscured by your MacBook's camera housing, Apple's supported fix is Scale to fit below built-in camera for the affected app, when available. Removing unused menu-bar items also frees space. A menu-bar manager can help with crowded icons; undocumented Terminal spacing preferences are an optional, version-dependent workaround.
Why icons disappear
Menu bar icons, which Apple calls status items, fill the right side of the menu bar from right to left. The app menus fill it from left to right. On a MacBook with a notch, neither side can use the space behind the camera. When the right side runs out of room, macOS silently hides the extra icons instead of moving them. They are still running. You just can't click them.
It's worst when you open an app with many menus, like Xcode or Photoshop, because the app's menus take more of the left side.
1. Scale the affected app below the camera
Apple's camera-area instructions recommend quitting the app, selecting it in Finder > Applications, opening File > Get Info, then enabling Scale to fit below built-in camera when the option is present. Open the app again. Apps in the same space use the reduced display area until that app closes.
The checkbox may be absent if the developer has already updated the app to support the camera area. In that case, try the icon-management options below or contact the app developer.
2. Remove icons you don't need
For supported status icons, hold Command and drag to reorder them, putting frequently used items near the right edge. For third-party apps, look for a "Show in menu bar" option in their settings.
On current macOS, go to System Settings > Menu Bar and turn off items you do not need there. Items added from Control Center can be removed using its Edit Controls view. Older macOS versions put these options under System Settings > Control Center. Apple's menu-bar customization guide explains the current controls.
4. Move widgets into the notch
Many menu bar icons are small status readouts: a timer, the weather, CPU use, what's playing. A notch app can take over those jobs, so you can quit the separate menu bar apps. NotchPop includes a focus timer, weather and system stats, calendar and media controls in the notch itself, which frees up menu bar room.
5. Optional: try undocumented icon spacing preferences
The following preferences are an undocumented workaround, not an Apple-supported setting. They may have no effect or produce different spacing on your macOS version. Try the supported options above first. If you choose to experiment, record any existing values before changing them:
defaults -currentHost read -globalDomain NSStatusItemSpacing
defaults -currentHost read -globalDomain NSStatusItemSelectionPaddingA "does not exist" result means there is no saved custom value. To try a smaller gap, run these commands, then log out and back in:
defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain NSStatusItemSpacing -int 6
defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain NSStatusItemSelectionPadding -int 6To remove these custom values, use the commands below. If you had custom values already, restore those recorded values instead of deleting them.
defaults -currentHost delete -globalDomain NSStatusItemSpacing
defaults -currentHost delete -globalDomain NSStatusItemSelectionPaddingSources and editorial notes
Published by NotchPop, the maker of the app. macOS instructions and third-party claims are linked to the sources below. Settings and offers can change between versions. Read our editorial approach or send a correction.
