Do I restart an app every time I hide or show it?
Applying an icon’s new position may require restarting its app once. After that, click the slime and use the button above the list to hide or reveal icons. Option-click is the shortcut to collapse or expand immediately.
Why does it need Accessibility?
Since macOS 26, Control Center draws the status items. In the window list every icon therefore reads as owned by Control Center, so the real owner is unknowable. Reading what each app publishes through Accessibility is the only way to get names. Collapsing and expanding still work without it.
Can it retrieve icons hidden behind the notch?
No — not with this mechanism. It hides by pushing icons off-screen, which cannot undo something the notch already covers.
Will I see notifications from hidden apps?
Notifications themselves cannot be detected — macOS does not publish another app's unread state. What it can see is that an icon's title or size changed , and then an orange dot appears on the slime. Apps that write state into the title — Outlook does — get caught; apps that only change artwork do not.
Doesn't it take up menu bar space itself?
One slime, fixed at 22pt. It never widens, whatever it holds. The count shows as how squashed it is, not as width — an app that exists to win back menu bar space has no business eating it.
If I uninstall, do the icons go back?
The positions stay in each app's own preferences. To restore them, before uninstalling, use settings to Take out everything and apply.
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