Experimental build for macOS 27 (Golden Gate) — not on the Sparkle update channel.

Out of update channel — install manually; Sparkle / appcast.xml were not updated.

Thaw Preview 3 Release Notes

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Backup

Highlights

• Much more complete support for hiding, showing, and reordering menu bar items on macOS 27.
• Hidden items, visible item order, and Thaw's own menu bar icon are restored more reliably after quitting and reopening Thaw.
• The menu bar appearance overlay is more stable on macOS 27, especially when using the split pill style.
• Temporarily shown hidden items now respect the configured delay before being hidden again.
• Hidden item icons and thumbnails are more reliable in Thaw Bar, Search, and the layout editor.

macOS 27 Menu Bar Improvements

• Improved hiding and restoring menu bar items on macOS 27, including items that quit, relaunch, or briefly disappear from the menu bar.
• Fixed hidden item choices not being remembered after quitting and reopening Thaw.
• Fixed visible item order not being restored correctly after relaunch.
• Fixed Thaw's own menu bar icon not keeping its saved position after relaunch.
• Fixed cases where the split pill appearance did not wrap Thaw's own menu bar icon.
• Fixed cases where the split pill appearance stretched too far left across empty menu bar space.
• Reduced flicker, misplaced bounds, and transient full-width overlay shapes while the menu bar is settling.
• Improved behavior around dynamic menu bar items, including iStat Menus.
• Improved behavior for Control Center, Clock, Sound, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Battery, Display, Keyboard, and similar Apple menu bar items.
• Added preview support for hiding and reordering supported Apple system menu bar items on macOS 27.
• Added safeguards so Thaw avoids repeatedly trying moves that macOS refuses.

Hidden Items and Re-Hiding

• Added a setting for how long temporarily shown hidden items stay visible before being hidden again.
• Re-hide timing now follows the configured delay more consistently.
• Re-hide timers now pause while menus are open, reducing cases where an item hides while you are interacting with it.
• Single-item temporary reveal is more reliable and no longer flashes entire hidden sections unnecessarily.
• Always Hidden hotkeys are ignored when Always Hidden is unavailable or disabled, avoiding confusing no-op behavior.

Thaw Bar, Search, and Icons

• Fixed hidden item thumbnails being blank after opening Thaw Bar.
• Fixed stale blank thumbnails being kept in the icon cache.
• Improved prewarming for concealed sections so hidden item icons appear sooner.
• Improved icon refresh after reordering items.
• Reduced incorrect icon crops for concealed items.
• Simplified Thaw Bar hover styling for a cleaner layout.

Settings and Profiles

• Profiles now save and restore the temporarily shown item delay.
• Resetting settings now restores the new delay setting to its default.
• Imported Ice settings now include the new temporary-show timing option.
• Added macOS 27 preview options for experimental Apple system item hiding.
• Updated the macOS 27 preview help text in the About pane.

Display and Layout Reliability

• Improved startup settling so Thaw is less likely to capture or save a temporary menu bar layout.
• Improved behavior on notched displays and multi-display setups.
• Improved layout handling while native macOS menu bar auto-hiding changes visibility.
• Improved cursor-free reordering on macOS 27 to reduce visible cursor jumps.
• Added more protections around apps and system items that macOS does not allow Thaw to hide safely.

Known Limitations

• macOS 27 support is still preview. Apple system items and Control Center items do not behave like normal third-party menu bar items.
• Some Apple system items may still resist hiding or reordering depending on macOS state and System Settings.