MicSwitch VS hidden

For the Mic mute there are a few free programs which can do that. One is called MicMute and another is called MicSwitch. At least one of them can use a hotkey.

I don’t think you can natively, but there are apps that will do it. This one looks promising.

Finally, the last program I used is called MicSwitch. This program is actually something I had used before buying the 5-inch display, I just used a hotkey instead. This lets me mute or unmute my microphone using one of the dock's buttons. I used MicSwitch's overlay function to have an updating indicator on the dock. I just placed it over the button.

**Applications:** [Stats](https://github.com/exelban/stats) \- macOS system monitor in your menu bar [Maccy](https://maccy.app/) \- macOS clipboard manager [micSwitch](https://github.com/iXab3r/MicSwitch) \- mute/unmute your system microphone [MonitorControl](https://github.com/MonitorControl/MonitorControl) \- Control your external display's brightness & volume on your Mac [Rectangle](https://rectangleapp.com/) \- Move and resize windows in macOS using keyboard shortcuts or snap areas [Background Music](https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic) \- set individual apps' volumes [Transmission](https://transmissionbt.com/) \- Free BitTorrent Client [Discord Canary](https://discord.com/api/download/canary?platform=osx) \- native M1 Discord app (direct download link)

micSwitch - mute/unmute your system microphone

Even if you dont have a switch, you can still mute your mic using MicSwitch, which in my opinion is arguably better as it allows you to set your own hotkeys, and choose between toggling your mic and push to talk/mute. Certainly, any way of mic muting is the way to go here.

I basically use the system-wide mute/unmute toggle via this app. https://github.com/iXab3r/MicSwitch - its very reliable... you can also assign your own hotkey in the app itself

Just a friendly heads-up that a program called MicSwitch exists. It lets you bind mic muting to a key, gives you a sound when you go on/off mute, and lets you customize an overlay that shows you if you're muted or not.

Here are two, which work pretty good. Pick one. You can download the binaries for Windows from the Release Pages. AHK MicMute and MicSwitch. First one maybe needs AutoHotkey installed.

> * I discovered a free, native macOS solution that doesn't require installing Bartender or any other additional apps.*

> You can adjust the values from 0 to 6 to accommodate even more icons. Personally, I found 6 to be a good fit.

It's ultimately a really petty point - but this is not a fix. This increases the number of apps on the top bar before the problem occurs. Bartender (and hidden[1] - which I discovered in this thread) fix the problem. Calling a technique that delays the problem "a solution" after sneering at a project that actually is a solution just rubs me the wrong way.

[1] https://github.com/dwarvesf/hidden

There's Hidden Bar but I think it's a lot like Bartender. It has an arrow too if that's what you want.

Hidden is a great free and open-source alternative

Hidden Bar - hides menu bar icons

hidden bar is the best one from my experience and it’s open source!

Dozer (free - open source), HiddenBar (free), free alternatives to bartender, however, only does 1 thing and that's hiding the icons, not adding an extra menu, nothing just icons here, icons gone.

For apps that you never interact with that way, and won't let you turn their icons off, get HiddenBar.