Pliss 0.3.2-beta.7 · Pelmet is now Pliss

Pliss 0.3.2-beta.7

Pelmet is now Pliss. Another macOS menu bar app had the name Pelmet first, so I decided to rename ours before the stable release. It's the same app, and your settings, permissions and launch at login carry over. On its first launch after the update, the app renames itself from Pelmet.app to Pliss.app and opens again.

If anything looks off after the rename, please tell me on GitHub.

Seventh beta of 0.3.2, on the beta channel only (Settings › About › "Get beta releases").

Changed:

• The app and its Settings say Pliss in all ten languages. About keeps a small "formerly Pelmet" line.
• Logs are now in ~/Library/Logs/Pliss/pliss.log, and your old Pelmet logs move there too.
• Updates come from a new feed address. Nothing to do on your side.

New:

• Time Machine, VPN, AirDrop and Siri tiles show their own mark while they wait for a picture, instead of a dashed circle (#26, thanks @cpierce).

Fixed:

• Clicking the clock should open Notification Center again on Macs where the app thought it was already open (#81, thanks @2f4vwwb5t6-gif).
• Panel tile pictures should be sharp on a non-Retina display. Thin lines smeared into a grey edge (#81, thanks @2f4vwwb5t6-gif).
• Settings opens a little taller, so About fits without a scroll.

Pelmet 0.3.2-beta.6 · Panel on every display

Pelmet 0.3.2-beta.6

The panel works on every display now. It opens on the display you click or hover, right under that display's bar. A tile there opens its icon's menu on the same bar. The rest is mostly fixes from a full review of 0.3.2 before it goes stable.

If you run Pelmet with more than one display, I'd love to hear how it does there.

Sixth beta of 0.3.2, on the beta channel only (Settings › About › "Get beta releases").

New:

• The panel opens on the display you clicked or hovered, under an external display's taller bar too. A shortcut opens it on the display under the pointer (#26, thanks @cpierce).
• A tile pressed in the panel on another display opens the icon's menu on that display's bar (#26, thanks @cpierce).
• Turn an app's own menu bar icon off and its tile leaves the panel and the row. It's back when you turn the icon on again. CleanShot kept its tile with its icon off (#26, thanks @cpierce).
• Bluetooth, Display, Focus, Now Playing and the user menu show their own mark while their tile waits for a picture, instead of a dashed box (#26, thanks @cpierce).

Fixed:

• Panel tiles keep their picture while Pelmet takes a new one. They turned into colour app icons for a second every 15 minutes (#81, thanks @2f4vwwb5t6-gif).
• The line under every panel tile on some displays should be gone. Pelmet now films only as tall as the bar itself (#81, thanks @2f4vwwb5t6-gif).
• A panel or popover that hangs a couple of points into the bar (Snib's does) no longer draws a line under a tile.
• An icon you drop into Hidden or Always Hidden in Settings crosses the arrow on its own a few seconds later, instead of waiting for Apply.
• The Apply button keeps its count through a reveal or a drop. A reorder in a hidden section counts once, and an icon dragged out and back to its own spot doesn't count at all.
• An icon you ⌘-drag stays where you dropped it, past one of Pelmet's own icons or on another display's bar.
• Clicks open menus again after an Apply. Pelmet could leave ⌘ held after its last drag.
• Hide again offers half a second again, so a 0.5s delay doesn't snap to 1 second anymore.
• If you upgraded with Focus showing, it keeps coming out while a Focus is on. Wi-Fi's grace period starts over after sleep.
• Typing into the command bar or a Settings field stays there with a hover panel open, and a held key never sticks.
• Recording a shortcut stays in its field, and an alias keeps what you type.
• A second ⌥⌘N closes Notification Center for good.
• A locked Mac no longer reads the menu bar every 2 seconds all night.

Pelmet 0.3.2-beta.5 · Settings overhaul

Pelmet 0.3.2-beta.5

Major UX overhaul of the Settings. Every tab got a pass. Menu Bar now holds everything about your icons, with a new "Show when it matters" card and System extras moved over from Behavior. A click on any tile there opens its options, a right-click gives you the panel's menu. General gets a Shortcuts card with every shortcut in one place, and permissions you've already granted fold into one quiet line. Panel and Search are shorter, and Apply only shows up when there's something to apply. It's all translated into the nine languages too.

Let me know how it feels, and what you'd still change.

Fifth beta of 0.3.2, on the beta channel only (Settings › About › "Get beta releases").

New:

• Show when it matters, for icons you keep hidden (#86, thanks @pzelnip, who asked for it). Battery shows while you're on battery or below 20%, Wi-Fi when it isn't connected, Focus while a Focus is on and Time Machine while a backup runs. Turn each one on in Settings › Menu Bar. If Battery or Wi-Fi is off in System Settings, the row says so.
• Media controls comes and goes while something plays again, like Camera & mic, with a While playing or Always choice. Sounds under 5 seconds don't count, so a screenshot shutter no longer brings it out for 5 minutes.
• ⌘-drag an icon from the menu bar onto the panel to hide it.
• Panel tiles reorder within a section, and a line on the bar shows where the icon will land.
• Typing over a panel you opened with a hover searches it.
• Show in Menu Bar brings out only that icon and puts it back after, instead of the whole section. At Instant it gives you 4 seconds to reach it (#26, thanks @cpierce).
• Alias and Shortcut… on any icon, from Settings or the panel, opens Settings › Search with that icon ready.
• The right-click menu on Pelmet's icon leads with Search and Settings, and shows the shortcuts for Hide Items and Show Always Hidden Too.

Fixed:

• Icons that come from a helper app take the app's name. Fantastical showed up as 85C27NK92C… (#81, thanks @2f4vwwb5t6-gif).
• An icon you move to Visible in Settings crosses the arrow on its own on a bar with none of Pelmet's own icons on it. It used to wait for them forever (#81, thanks @2f4vwwb5t6-gif).
• Opening an icon that sits behind macOS's « from the panel opens its menu. Pelmet read its own click as a click on the empty bar and opened the panel over it (#81).
• Reordering inside Hidden or Always Hidden applies, from the panel and from Settings.
• The panel and Settings show your icons in the same order after an Apply.
• When two moves would do, Apply moves the icon you dropped and not its neighbour.
• When the bar shifts while the panel takes its pictures, it takes them again.
• No more false "Didn't fit". An idle camera indicator, the panel's pictures and Pelmet starting up could each put an icon there for a moment.

Pelmet 0.3.2-beta.4 · Panel fixes

Pelmet 0.3.2-beta.4

Fourth beta of 0.3.2, on the beta channel only (Settings › About › "Get beta releases").

Fixed:

• On a crowded bar, the panel and Row show your icons instead of a row of arrows. Icons macOS had tucked behind its « got a picture of the « itself. Now they're skipped, and the ones that can't get room in the bar show their app icon (#81, thanks @2f4vwwb5t6-gif, and #26, thanks @OiCkilL).
• With more than one display, a right-click on Pelmet's chevron opens its menu on the display you clicked. It used to open where the panel was last open (#26, thanks @cpierce).
• Icons that sit on a capsule in the menu bar, like Velja's and Herd's, show without it in the panel. On a coloured wallpaper the capsule came out as a box around the icon.
• "Always Hidden" fits on its fold tile, the name is a size under the others.
• The Search tab in Settings gets a New chip, gone once you open it.

Pelmet 0.3.2-beta.3 · Hidden icons in a panel

Pelmet 0.3.2-beta.3

The most asked-for thing since the launch is in this beta (#26). Hidden icons can now open as tiles in a glass panel under the menu bar, and a click on a tile opens that icon's menu. Turn it on in Settings › Panel › "Show hidden icons in", pick Panel.

Let me know how it goes for you. The panel hasn't been tried on more than one display yet, reports from multi-display setups are very welcome.

Third beta of 0.3.2, on the beta channel only (Settings › About › "Get beta releases").

New:

• Menu bar stays the default. Panel and Row are the new choices in Settings › Panel › "Show hidden icons in". The tiles are pictures of the real icons (app icons stand in when Screen Recording isn't allowed). Open the panel with a click or a hover (the shortcut works too), then type to search, move with the arrows and Return, or Esc to close. Always Hidden sits behind a fold you click, as a Tile, a Chip or a Handle. Drag a tile to another section, or up onto the menu bar to show it there. A right-click on a tile offers Open Menu, Open Right-Click Menu, Show in Menu Bar, Move to… and Quit. Drag the panel's left edge for more or fewer columns, double-click it for Auto. Names can be shown. A "Didn't fit" section lists the icons macOS had no room for in the bar. The panel closes when the pointer leaves, like the bar does. Row shows the same tiles in one strip (#26, thanks @elijah7x, who asked for a tray below the menu bar).
• Search gets its own Settings tab. The command bar (⌥⌘K) now lives in Settings › Search, and there's a working command bar to try it in. You can edit the aliases and shortcuts there too.
• In a crowded bar, the panel takes its pictures a few icons at a time, so each one gets room in the bar.

Fixed:

• Hover reveal works on the first visit after you hide icons with the shortcut or from a menu. The hover zone also ends at the chevron as it's drawn, it used to end where the bar was last read (#84, thanks @swhitlow).
• Hidden icons hide again on their own after Pelmet starts with the screen locked. They used to stay showing until a hover or a click.
• Pelmet's own media control gets placed again when the screen was locked during a track change. Before, nothing put it back once you unlocked the screen.

Pelmet 0.3.2-beta.2 · Icons stay in their section

Pelmet 0.3.2-beta.2

Second beta of 0.3.2, on the beta channel only (Settings › About › "Get beta releases").

New:

• Shortcuts can be turned off. Hover a shortcut in Settings and click the ×, or press ⌫ while recording, and it reads "None" so another app can have the combo. ↺ brings the default back (#79, thanks @gasparschott).
• Icons stay in their section. macOS sometimes drops a hidden icon right of the chevron (after a ⌘-drag, or an app relaunching into a crowded bar). Pelmet now moves it back on its own once you leave the mouse and keyboard alone for a couple of seconds, so your visible icons stay put when you reveal. Visible icons that end up on the left go back right too. This needs the Pelmet icon in the menu bar (#80, thanks @Erimus-Koo).
• Release notes show up in the update window, and About has a "What's new in this version" link.

Fixed:

• Clicking the clock opens Notification Center again on macOS 27.2 beta 3, where it used to flash open and close right away. ⌥⌘N works there too.

Also:

• The Apply button goes grey once the menu bar matches your settings.
• Dropping an icon between sections in Menu Bar settings keeps it where you dropped it while it moves.
• The "Your menu bar is full" note moved to the top of the Menu Bar pane as "N behind «", and only shows when the bar stays full.

Pelmet 0.3.2-beta.1 · Chevron double-click

Pelmet 0.3.2-beta.1

First beta of 0.3.2, on the beta channel only (Settings › About › "Get beta releases").

Fixed:

• A double-click on the chevron now reveals Always Hidden too, like the Menu Bar settings say. It only ever worked in empty menu bar space, and on the chevron the second click shut the bar again (#77, thanks @kaypeter87).
• ⌥-click on the chevron reveals Always Hidden on macOS 27 too. macOS 27 wasn't telling Pelmet the ⌥ key was down, so it acted like a plain click.

Also:

• The double-click setting says where it works: on the chevron, and in empty menu bar space when "Reveal on click in empty menu bar area" is on.

Pelmet 0.3.1

Pelmet 0.3.1

Pelmet Search, Apple's camera controls back when you need them, a Shortcuts
item, and every fix from five betas.

There's a brand new website too, pelmet.fif7y.com.
It's in the same ten languages as the app, with a page for the features and
one for support.

Pelmet Search

Press ⌥⌘K, type a few letters, press Return. That icon's menu opens right
from its real icon in the menu bar, and the arrow keys work like they
normally do. It works for hidden icons too, there's nothing to reveal first
(#73, thanks @fgsconsulting).

• It knows the short names people type, like bt or wifi.
• It learns. The icons you open most come first, and a few letters you've
  picked twice for the same icon go straight to it. All of it stays on your
  Mac, with a reset in Settings › General.
• ⌘K on a result shows what you can do with it, like moving it to another
  section or giving it its own keyboard shortcut.
• The settings are in there too. Type "hover" and Return opens the settings
  on that row.
• ⌘↩ shows the icon in the bar without clicking it.

Change the shortcut in Settings › General, or pick "Search…" from Pelmet's
right-click menu.

New:

• A click on Pelmet's Camera & mic item opens Apple's own camera and screen
  sharing controls (#68, thanks @rd-david-wahlandt, and #72, thanks
  @dartiss). macOS takes that pill off the bar as soon as any icon is
  hidden, and with it video effects, Mic Mode and Stop Sharing. Pelmet
  brings the pill back for a moment to open its panel, then hides the bar
  again. A SharePlay session with no call lives in the same pill, so the
  item wears the SharePlay glyph while one's live. A right-click still opens
  Privacy settings.
• A Shortcuts item, your whole Shortcuts library in one Pelmet menu. macOS
  takes the Shortcuts "Menu Bar" controls off the bar as soon as any icon is
  hidden. The item lists your shortcuts instead, unfiled first, then one
  submenu per folder, and a pick runs it.
• ⌃⌥⌘, reveals Always Hidden too, and a second press hides it all (#67,
  thanks @C3PO-1). With the icon off there was no way to reach Always
  Hidden. It's in Settings with the other shortcuts.
• A dot style for Pelmet's icon, filled while icons are hidden and an
  outline while they're shown (#62, thanks @samismustard).
• The app icon is Liquid Glass now, so macOS draws its dark, clear and
  tinted looks itself (#63, thanks @samismustard).
• The right-click menu has an Animation submenu, so you can switch the
  reveal style without opening the settings.

Fixed:

• A click on the clock no longer moves your pointer (#74, thanks @brodly).
  Pelmet presses the clock directly now. Some macOS builds never open
  Notification Center from that press (27.0.1 is one), so Pelmet notices
  after the first miss and replays your click under the pointer from then
  on.
• A Focus that ends while your Mac sleeps now turns off in Pelmet when it
  wakes (#70, thanks @GianAndris). A click on the Focus item opens the Focus
  panel on a Mac in any language, and Focus settings when Control Center is
  hidden. A Focus left on for days shows again after Pelmet relaunches.
• A ⌘-drag could lose track of the icon you moved (#64, thanks
  @GianAndris). Pelmet now waits for the drop, and Apply stops moving icons
  that are already where they belong.
• On a Mac in another language than English, the Notification Center
  shortcut opened the panel and closed it again (#58, thanks @robinhur).
• Two clicks close together could draw stale copies of your icons next to
  the real ones (#61, thanks @samismustard).
• Apply's report now says only what it couldn't move, and it goes away with
  the tab (#60, thanks @oantonov).
• An icon macOS took off the bar by itself was shown as refusing to hide
  (#66, thanks @robinhur). The editor now says what happened.
• A click on the clock is quicker. The picture of the empty bar is kept
  until one of Pelmet's own icons changes, instead of being retaken after
  every reveal. It also stops just before the clock, so the time you see
  is never a minute old.
• New Pelmet items land right of the chevron, before the clock.
• With a smooth reveal on a second display, the Sound icon slid with the
  others instead of popping in once they had settled.
• A quick hover in and out no longer shows the hidden icons twice.
• A trackpad scroll down a long settings tab, then a click on Displays, no
  longer leaves every tab blank.

Also:

• Pelmet uses less CPU while you move the mouse. Only the moves near the
  menu bar reach it now.
• The translations use macOS's own words, and the menus that stand in for
  Apple's use Apple's wording in every language.
• The menu bar's ink (light or dark) is broadcast to the apps Pelmet hides,
  so an app drawing its own status band can match it.

Pelmet 0.3.1-beta.5 · Pelmet Search

Pelmet 0.3.1-beta.5

Fifth beta of 0.3.1, on the beta channel only (Settings › About › "Get beta releases").

Pelmet Search is now available

Press ⌥⌘K, type a few letters, press Return. That icon's menu opens right from its real icon in the menu bar, and the arrow keys work like they normally do. It works for hidden icons too, there's nothing to reveal first (#73, thanks @fgsconsulting).

• It knows the short names people type, like bt or wifi.
• It learns. The icons you open most come first, and a few letters you've picked twice for the same icon go straight to it. All of it stays on your Mac, with a reset in Settings › General.
• ⌘K on a result shows what you can do with it, like moving it to another section or giving it its own keyboard shortcut.
• The settings are in there too. Type "hover" and Return opens the settings on that row.
• ⌘↩ shows the icon in the bar without clicking it.

Change the shortcut in Settings › General, or pick "Search…" from Pelmet's right-click menu.

Fixed:

• Some macOS builds never open Notification Center when Pelmet presses the clock (27.0.1 is one). Pelmet now notices after the first miss and replays your click under the pointer from then on (#74, thanks @brodly).
• A trackpad scroll down a long settings tab, then a click on Displays, no longer leaves every tab blank.

Also:

• The right-click menu has an Animation submenu, so you can switch the reveal style without opening the settings.

Pelmet 0.3.1-beta.4

Pelmet 0.3.1-beta.4

Fourth beta of 0.3.1, on the beta channel only (Settings › About › "Get beta releases"). Lighter at idle, and the clock click behaves.

Fixed:

• A click on the clock no longer moves your pointer (#74, thanks
  @brodly). Pelmet replays that click because macOS refuses it while
  anything is hidden, and the replay dragged the pointer to where the
  click had landed. Pelmet presses the clock directly now, and the one
  replay left lands under your pointer where it is.
• The flash on a clock click is quick again. The picture Pelmet keeps
  of the empty bar was retaken on every click after a reveal, 250ms
  each; it is kept until an icon of Pelmet's own really changes.
• With a smooth reveal on a second display, the Sound icon slid with
  the others instead of popping in once they had settled.
• A quick hover in and out no longer shows the hidden icons twice, one
  set standing still while the other slid out.
• Pelmet uses less CPU while you move the mouse. It used to look at
  every pointer move on the main thread; now a listener thread passes
  on only the moves near the menu bar.

Also:

• The menu bar's ink (light or dark) is broadcast to the apps Pelmet
  hides, so an app drawing its own status band can match it.