Hello everyone,
This beta focuses on modernizing the Thaw Bar visual experience to align with the latest macOS design language and significantly improving memory management during display changes.
Thaw Bar & Visuals
- Hover Highlights: Added a subtle rounded-rectangle background highlight when hovering over items in the Thaw Bar (IceBar).
- Adaptive Styling: Highlight colors now derive from actual menu bar brightness for perfect integration across all system appearances.
- Modern Geometry: Increased the hover backdrop corner radius from 4pt to 16pt to better match macOS 26's design language.
- Refined Sizing: Added vertical padding to the hover backdrop so it no longer extends the full height of the menu bar, matching the Ice icon's native appearance.
- Improved Interaction: Increased backdrop opacity and implemented
NSTrackingAreainIceBarItemClickViewfor more reliable mouse enter/exit detection.
Memory & Performance
- Wallpaper Optimization: The app now skips periodic wallpaper captures when
showsMenuBarBackgroundis enabled to reduce memory overhead. - Aggressive Cleanup: Added logic to clear stored wallpapers,
windowImage, andaverageColorInfowhen panels are hidden or displays are changed. - Display Stability: Fixed memory growth issues by cleaning up caches for disconnected displays, specifically
menuBarHeightCacheandapplicationMenuFrameCache. - Leak Fixes: Resolved a notification observer leak in the Search Panel and improved the
close()routine to release all retained states.
Permissions & Localization
- Privacy Controls: Screen recording permissions are now checked before enabling tooltips or search features; relevant controls are hidden if permissions aren't granted.
- I18n: Updated the German translation.
New Contributors
Full Changelog: 1.1.99-beta.9...1.1.99-beta.10
Donations
If you find Thaw useful and want to support its further development, consider throwing a coin in my hat.
- GitHub Sponsor: https://github.com/sponsors/stonerl
- Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/stonerl