Three menu bar utilities I recommend

2025/05/11 personal

While using my MacBook this morning I randomly felt like sharing some of my favorite macOS menu bar utilities I use all the time. So here are three quick recommendations:

Online Check by Sindre Sorhus

Online Check can't fix your bad internet connection but what it does is almost as useful: It notifies you the second your internet drops out or comes back online again. It doesn't sound like much but since I've installed this little utility it has saved me countless times from wondering why that one document doesn't want to safe, why that form does not load the next page or why the FaceTime with my family member on the other side of the world just dropped out all of the sudden.

Online Check's main functionality is displaying these notifications as well as a small status icon in your menu bar.

Understanding the problem is half the solution and when it comes to flaky internet Online Check has that part covered. You can get it here.

Itsycal by Mowglii

I've used Itsycal for so long I almost forgot it does not ship with macOS. Itsycal is just a simple calendar that lives in your menu bar. You'd be surprised by how useful this can be sometimes. Check it out for yourself here.

Itsycal's UI might not be the prettiest but it is highly functional.

Handmirror by Rafael Conde

Handmirror has been featured in so many "Top 10"-videos on YouTube over the years I'm pretty sure everyone reading this blog already knows about it anyways. But on the off chance you don't here's my recommendation: Imagine a mirror you can quickly look at by simply clicking a menu bar icon. It's great for checking how you look before jumping into a video call or whenever you feel like looking at yourself. No judgment here! Handmirror is available in the App Store.

It's crazy that something like this is not built into macOS natively.