Alternatives
Thaw vs Coat Check: two free Mac menu bar apps
Thaw is the actively maintained fork of Ice: free, open source, and full of features. Coat Check is a smaller tool for one job. Here’s how to choose.
Updated October 19, 2026
The short version
Thaw picks up where Ice left off. It hides the icons you choose, shows them in the Thaw Bar under the menu bar, and adds groups, spacers, profiles per display or Focus, and a long list of triggers. It releases often: Thaw 2 for macOS 26, and Thaw 3 in alpha for macOS 27.
Coat Check doesn’t reorganize your menu bar. Click the hanger to see every icon, with the ones the notch hides first, and open any of them, including its own menu.
Coat Check vs Thaw
| Coat Check | Thaw | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Source code | Open source (MIT) | Open source (GPL-3.0) |
| Reach icons the notch hides | A list of every icon under the hanger, hidden ones first, each with its own menu | The Thaw Bar shows hidden icons in a strip below the menu bar |
| Hide icons you choose | Optional divider (macOS 14 to 26) | Yes, plus always-hidden icons |
| Rearrange icons | No; your layout stays as you set it | Yes, with groups and spacers |
| Search | No; the coatcheck command opens icons by name | Yes |
| Automation | Command line | Triggers, hotkeys, profiles by display, Space, or Focus |
| Screen Recording permission | Not needed | Optional since 2.1 |
| macOS 27 (October 2026) | Being tested | Thaw 3 alpha (pre-release) |
What works differently
- Thaw moves icons to hide them. It needs Accessibility to move menu bar items, and it may restart some apps while rearranging. Coat Check never moves an icon.
- Coat Check opens an app’s own menu. You choose the item from Coat Check’s list, without opening the Thaw Bar or anything else first.
- Thaw is the bigger toolbox. If you want triggers and profiles, Thaw has them and Coat Check doesn’t.