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Hey all, I've been playing around with different accessibility settings, and may have found a solution for the random red menu bar for, at least Sequoia. It seems like if you go into accessibility / Display, and toggle on reduce transparency, the issue seems to go away. I have a few things that can typically reproduce the issue consistently, and toggling this setting seems to have fixed it. Still testing to confirm.

Edit: For all intensive purposes, toggling on "Reduce Transparency" in Accessibility/Display seems to have stopped the random red menu bar on this iMac with Sequoia.

Edit #2: Also selecting a desktop picture with a light top, so the menu bar stays light also seems to resolve the issue (if you don't want to disable transparency completely.)

Seems like what triggers the glitch is when the menu bar goes dark. If it stays light, doesn't seem to happen. Just providing info, and feedback for those who still find this issue annoying, and here are a couple simple solutions that seem to stop it.
Indeed using a wallpaper with a light top solves the issue, I added a "light" menubar to my wallpaper and the issue disappeared completely when I had a 4K monitor (scaled at 2560x1440), which I don't have anymore at the moment. I am using an ultra wide monitor at its native resolution (so not scaled), and this red/purple glitch has indeed disappeared entirely, without the need to tweak the wallpaper or reduce transparency. It leads me to believe that it has certainly something to do with video memory load/window manager. It also appears to be very "system specific", so it's hard to determine the origin of this bug, which first appeared in Sonoma (both on supported models and unsupported ones)

It's still a bit strange that Apple hasn't officially acknowledged the bug and addressed it in a clear way after 2+ years, the UI being one major element of the macOS experience.
 
Indeed using a wallpaper with a light top solves the issue, I added a "light" menubar to my wallpaper and the issue disappeared completely when I had a 4K monitor (scaled at 2560x1440), which I don't have anymore at the moment. I am using an ultra wide monitor at its native resolution (so not scaled), and this red/purple glitch has indeed disappeared entirely, without the need to tweak the wallpaper or reduce transparency. It leads me to believe that it has certainly something to do with video memory load/window manager. It also appears to be very "system specific", so it's hard to determine the origin of this bug, which first appeared in Sonoma (both on supported models and unsupported ones)

It's still a bit strange that Apple hasn't officially acknowledged the bug and addressed it in a clear way after 2+ years, the UI being one major element of the macOS experience.
I'm still on the fence about which OS to stick with Monterey (supported) or Sequoia (Unsupported).
Both run well, on this late 2015 iMac, but on a day to day basis, nothing really seems that different other than being able to update apps further, but even that doesn't feel like anything major. I wish there was something I really needed in a newer version of macOS as it would persuade me to just buy a new Mac. As it is, Apple really hasn't done anything I specifically need. I am glad I can work around some of the OS specific bugs, but still older versions of macOS felt more polished. A majority of my daily tasks still work as far back as Mojave, and Firefox ESR is still supported on that, so I even have a supported browser, but. I think other than 32-bit support, Monterey is probably the sweet spot between older, and modern for me. Sequoia feels well too

Edit: How is Sonoma for the majority of current compatibility? I still have a copy of VMWare Fusion 13.5.2 that runs on Monterey, and Sonoma is supported as a guest, and once paravirtulization is enabled, it runs well, and anything I'd need a newer OS for at this point, isn't something that can't be done in a VM. At least it would eliminate the need for a dual boot. I tried Sequoia in a VM too, and icloud will no longer activate, but Sonoma works fine.
 
I'm still on the fence about which OS to stick with Monterey (supported) or Sequoia (Unsupported).
Both run well, on this late 2015 iMac, but on a day to day basis, nothing really seems that different other than being able to update apps further, but even that doesn't feel like anything major. I wish there was something I really needed in a newer version of macOS as it would persuade me to just buy a new Mac. As it is, Apple really hasn't done anything I specifically need. I am glad I can work around some of the OS specific bugs, but still older versions of macOS felt more polished. A majority of my daily tasks still work as far back as Mojave, and Firefox ESR is still supported on that, so I even have a supported browser, but. I think other than 32-bit support, Monterey is probably the sweet spot between older, and modern for me. Sequoia feels well too

Edit: How is Sonoma for the majority of current compatibility? I still have a copy of VMWare Fusion 13.5.2 that runs on Monterey, and Sonoma is supported as a guest, and once paravirtulization is enabled, it runs well, and anything I'd need a newer OS for at this point, isn't something that can't be done in a VM. At least it would eliminate the need for a dual boot. I tried Sequoia in a VM too, and icloud will no longer activate, but Sonoma works fine.
I can only speak from my experience but Sonoma ran flawlessly for me (that menubar thingy was the only bug I had), I'm keeping my apps up-to-date and there was no issue whatsoever with compatibility. I only have to stick with Photoshop 2024 but it's because of AVX2 introduced in the 2025 release.
And it's the same with Sequoia, at least on my Mac Pro. Flawless, even unsupported. No problem with iCloud at all either. Staying current with Logic Pro is one of the reasons I like to keep my OS current as well, requirements for Logic change every few months... While I don't really care for the AI stuff (which doesn't work anyway on Intel), I like being able to run the latest version of Logic on the most recent OS as well. And down the road I guess I'll get a more current Mac too ;)
 
I can only speak from my experience but Sonoma ran flawlessly for me (that menubar thingy was the only bug I had), I'm keeping my apps up-to-date and there was no issue whatsoever with compatibility. I only have to stick with Photoshop 2024 but it's because of AVX2 introduced in the 2025 release.
And it's the same with Sequoia, at least on my Mac Pro. Flawless, even unsupported. No problem with iCloud at all either. Staying current with Logic Pro is one of the reasons I like to keep my OS current as well, requirements for Logic change every few months... While I don't really care for the AI stuff (which doesn't work anyway on Intel), I like being able to run the latest version of Logic on the most recent OS as well. And down the road I guess I'll get a more current Mac too ;)
I think my biggest concern at this point is since this isn't supported by Apple, they could potentially stop things from working, and I'm not sure if they could do anything legally, or not. For example, I purchased a couple apps to try from the app store on my iMac using Sequoia, and that's not supported on a late 2015 iMac. Could Apple legally close my apple account for using an unsupported OS, even if it's on a genuine Mac? Also, when reading these threads people usually only talk about problems or successes they've had with updating. No one has really talked about using open core in a set it and forget it environment like you would a natively supported OS. That's what I'm looking for at this point, regardless if I'm on the latest, or not, I'm looking for a set it / forget it solution.
 
I think my biggest concern at this point is since this isn't supported by Apple, they could potentially stop things from working, and I'm not sure if they could do anything legally, or not.
If you stay with version unsupported macOS (e.g. Sequoia 15.5) you already have installed, how Apple going to stop things from working without an update? Stop worrying and learn to love unsupported macOS.
 
If you stay with version unsupported macOS (e.g. Sequoia 15.5) you already have installed, how Apple going to stop things from working without an update? Stop worrying and learn to love unsupported macOS.
Actually I can do what I need without open core and violating Apple's end license agreement. Use Monterey as the Host OS, and install Sonoma in a VM. That's a supported configuration, and it will run the newer versions of the few newer apps I have. Plus I can keep a supported OS as main, and use the newer version also in a supported install.

There isn't really any purpose for me to use OpenCore anyway, because the features I'm curious about like phone mirroring won't work until I have a new mac anyway.

Anyway, what concerned me was the fact that I purchased an App through the App store on Sequoia, on an unsupported Mac, and realized Apple could probably track that. If they would do anything, who knows, but after reading posts on the Apple support communities regarding Open core patcher and the fact it does violate Apple's license by reverse engineering the OS to install on hardware Apple dropped, gives Apple a legal right to do something. So I decided not to do things to the OS Apple hasn't said is OK, to be safe than sorry. If I wasn't legally blind, and text message forwarding wasn't as big a help as it is, I'd call it a day and switch to Linux as I'm happy with everything about it, other than the lack of specific apple device integration. Also I'm tired of dual booting between a supported and unsupported copy and it messes with iCloud and other account related features. So, hopefully running Sonoma in a VM with Fusion 13.5.2 with paravirtulization enabled, will be enough for what little I need a newer version for until I get a new Mac. I just don't want to do anything dishonest to continue using Apple Products, and if I have to change to a different platform to completely avoid that, then that's what I'll do.

Even if Apple were to say something as simple as "You're free to modify the OS to run on older hardware, as long as it's a genuine Mac, but we won't provide support" I'd feel a lot better about projects like Open core not violating Apple's licensing.

By the way, I really don't do a lot with the iMac anymore like I did a few years ago before Monterey went out of support.

Now I mainly do the following:

1. Run Plex Media Server for local streaming
2. Online browsing, Firefox, or Chrome, Safari only to create accounts for random password generation mostly.
3. Occasional gaming. (DOS, and Windows titles with a few older Mac native). Linux is better foo cross-platform gaming.
4. Email
 
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