Apple's intrusive and redundant 'Device Notification' icons:

[Sowelu]

There doesn't seem to be a way to remove this big, orange 'mic in use' monstrosity. I also see the purple 'display is recording' icon when Bartender starts, but at least that goes away eventually.

Leave it to Apple to force an unnecessary icon on an already cramped menubar due to the notch. I hope there is a way to get rid of this, or an option to turn this off. The latest version of Bartender (5) is unable to hide this menu bar icon.

This is unnecessary:

When the system is already showing a discreet orange dot here:

 

[fisherking]

i never got that issue resolved with the Boom 3D people, and... simply moved to the free eqmac app. think you need to chase globaldelight about that icon...

 

[gordonk]

Registered to agree about this 'monstrosity'

The fullscreen orange dot has been a pain for long enough, now this icon is doing my head in even more.

Moved to boom from eqmac as it kept asking me to reinstall drivers after mac comes out of sleep mode. Several issues on the github board. Happy to pay for it if it worked.

 

[WickedPorter]

Major +1 here. I haven't fully analyzed why yet, but this purple icon (or in some cases, the yellow mic icon) enrages me. It is inconsistent in their UI design that is typically pretty spot on (or at least, has been for the last few years)... where all icons in the menu bar are mostly black & white, minimalist. It took awhile but most 3rd party apps that use the menu bar have followed suit. Now out of the blue (purple?) Apple comes and throws a massive wrench in to the consistency with an icon that doesn't follow these UI standards and WE CAN'T TURN OFF. I use OBS for all of my webcasting / sharing / camera shenanigans... I do NOT need this thing.

 

[PailMerk]

Major +1 here. I haven't fully analyzed why yet, but this purple icon (or in some cases, the yellow mic icon) enrages me. It is inconsistent in their UI design that is typically pretty spot on (or at least, has been for the last few years)... where all icons in the menu bar are mostly black & white, minimalist. It took awhile but most 3rd party apps that use the menu bar have followed suit. Now out of the blue (purple?) Apple comes and throws a massive wrench in to the consistency with an icon that doesn't follow these UI standards and WE CAN'T TURN OFF. I use OBS for all of my webcasting / sharing / camera shenanigans... I do NOT need this thing.

I feel your pain.

 

[Bazza1]

Not that it will make you feel any better, but big icon also shows up when doing FaceTime, rather than the discreet dot of old.
Boom doesn't work with FaceTime, but I know the orange dot implying an active mic when using Boom has been a 'thing' for some time. Boom acknowledges it - Apple just seems determined to make it worse...

 

[Sowelu]

It truly is frustrating as it is such an unnecessary icon - at least make it optional. And if you crowd the menu bar, it persists in view (forcing other icons to hide), it doesn't get tucked behind the notch, so it's not like I can play around with Bartender and make this the first icon on the menu bar so that it gets hidden.

It's also concerning that Bartender 5, the latest, cites this as an Apple thing and they are unable to get around it. I hope this changes in the future as the company behind Boom doesn't have the best support and will most likely also cite this as an 'Apple thing' (which is is), that they can't work around.

 

[John Fridinger]

I want to register another STRONG objection to this godawful orange icon now appearing, without any apparent choice in the matter, since updating to Sonoma...!!! If a solution does reveal to someone I am hoping it will appear here...

 

[Bazza1]

I didn't notice this at first - and I think that it's a result of me having set 'Sleep when Idle' on in Boom Settings - but the honkin' great orange icon goes away when I'm not using audio.

Its not a solution, but it is an improvement.

 

[Sowelu]

I've reached out to both the Bartender and Boom developers to see if this is something either could get around with a future update. My expectations are low as I am sure Apple has this 'feature' fully locked up.

 

[PailMerk]

I've reached out to both the Bartender and Boom developers to see if this is something either could get around with a future update. My expectations are low as I am sure Apple has this 'feature' fully locked up.

Thank you for doing this 👍🏻

 

[Sowelu]

So, both Bartender and Boom developers have gotten back to me and it looks like their hands are tied with this one. They both knew about this issue early on and have been trying to remedy it with no luck.

While Boom is aware that this Menu Bar eyesore may deter people from using their apps, and Bartender devs are aware that a way to hide these icons would be a nice added feature to have and a boon for their app sales, they both tried to get around this, but at this point, as hard as they tried, they cannot.

As predicted, Apple has this 'feature' totally locked up. Both devs ended their emails by stating that they will continue to seek ways around this in future updates, but as of now, it doesn't seem hopeful.

 

[fisherking]

So, both Bartender and Boom developers have gotten back to me and it looks like their hands are tied with this one. They're both knew about this issue early on and have been trying to remedy it with no luck.

While Boom is aware that this Menu Bar eyesore may deter people from using their apps, and Bartender devs are aware that a way to hide these icons would be a nice added feature to have and a boon for their app sales, they both tried to get around this, but at this point, as hard as they tried, they cannot.

As predicted, Apple has this 'feature' totally locked up. Both devs ended their emails by stating that they will continue to seek ways around this in future updates, but as of now, it doesn't seem hopeful.

i don't understand. i don't see the icon on either of my macs running bartender (i abandoned boom tho). it does pop up when playing videos, but only then (not with spotify or the music app)

 

[Sowelu]

i don't understand. i don't see the icon on either of my macs running bartender (i abandoned boom tho). it does pop up when playing videos, but only then (not with spotify or the music app)

Yes, the icon does not appear by having Bartender active, but since Bartender is an app that hides and organizes menu bar icons, the developers were trying to find a way to hide and move these notification icons as well. They mentioned that many customers have been reaching out asking about this and they even mention these icons in the latest version of Bartender.

These icons (orange/mic, purple/video) only appear when either device is active (in addition to the discreet dots on Notification Center, which should have been enough IMHO). The purple video icon is not a big deal since it goes away after a video call, etc., but apps like Boom use the mic on the backend so macOS sees that as the mic in constant use.

 

[floral]

From an outsider's view, the icon doesn't look like a big deal, if you don't like it, just put some tape over it :P

 

[Sowelu]

It looks like Apple is on a mission to show unuseful and eyesoric icons on both macOS and iOS - which both need some help in the GUI area. I just noticed this on my iPad Pro after the iOS 17.1 update. While this is not macOS, I thought it was funny and should post it here as it's along the same lines. Imagine the meeting the developers had about the need for this very blue and bright 'plugged in' notification icon when there is a subtle 'plugged in' battery icon right next to it.

I don't know if this is something that the user can make go away - I have to poke around a bit:

Instead of polishing both OSs, Apple seems to be adding things no one asked for while breaking some things along the way. So odd that a company like Apple, which thankfully takes so much pride in being honed in on details and OCD about everything they put out, can sometimes make such awful design decisions in both hardware and software.

As a lifelong Apple fan (or sheep some may say), I am tired of making excuses. The bottom line is, the 'Think Different' company is still unique and puts out amazing hardware and software, but they are catering more to their massive iPhone user base (the not-so-different-thinking masses), so their obsession with visually morphing macOS into iOS in an effort to help sway iPhone users to the Mac continues.

From a business standpoint, with iPhone being their number one moneymaker, I get it. But there has to be a happy medium. Maybe end the yearly new OS versions and instead do a fit, finish and polish update every other year. Snow Leopard anyone?

Yes, I know, I go on about the minutiae - but I am all about the details, a perfectionist with a touch of OCD. This is why I became a fan of Apple and why I use Apple products. Hopefully future updates will bring an elevated polish and GUI elegance that Apple, a company with endless resources, is known for.

 

[conmee]

Finally updated my 2019 MBP to 14.1 and not to pile on, but I use Microsoft Remote Desktop and while in Teams meetings I get a big orange microphone icon and the orange dot next to control center on the menu bar on the Mac desktop. I thought it was much ado about nothing, but it is a bit of an eyesore right in the middle of my menu bar. Agree there's no need for the big icon since it doesn't mesh with the rest of the menu UI and it's redundant given the little orange dot indicating the same information. And somewhat interesting is Windows 11 does the same thing, except it's a big blue microphone icon in the task tray when I'm using Teams. I wonder if it's accessibility/privacy related since you can't miss these big icons.

 

[Sowelu]

Has anyone tried SoundSource instead of Boom? If so, is the big, orange, mic icon visible while in use? I still haven't updated my main Mac due to these horrific menu bar icons (I know, that must sound ridiculous). I've gotten so used to the elevated audio experience that Boom provides on my MacBook Airs, but I cannot deal with that damn 'always there' mic icon.

 

[hyperknot]

Has anyone tried SoundSource instead of Boom? If so, is the big, orange, mic icon visible while in use? I still haven't updated my main Mac due to these horrific menu bar icons (I know, that must sound ridiculous). I've gotten so used to the elevated audio experience that Boom provides on my MacBook Airs, but I cannot deal with that damn 'always there' mic icon.

Same with SoundSource. sudo killall coreaudiod helps until I re-open the window again.