How to show the menu bar only in certain apps
For macOS 13 Ventura and later. Updated October 2026.
If you keep the menu bar hidden, a few apps may still be easier with it in view, usually the ones you use through their menus. macOS hides it for every app or for none, but there are two ways to make exceptions.
Run those apps in full screen
"Automatically hide and show the menu bar" treats the desktop and full screen separately. Choose On Desktop Only, and the bar hides on the desktop but stays in view in full-screen apps. Then put the apps you want it for in full screen: click the green button at the top left of the window, or press Control-Command-F.
The setting is in System Settings, under Menu Bar on macOS 26 and later, Control Center on macOS 14 and 15, and Desktop & Dock on macOS 13. Step by step.
The catch: it only works for apps you're happy to run in full screen, each in a space of its own.
Give those apps a rule in Menu Bar Toggle
Menu Bar Toggle is a free app with per-app rules. A rule can keep the bar in view for one app while it stays hidden everywhere else, with no full screen needed.
- Install Menu Bar Toggle and turn hiding on: click its icon in the menu bar and choose Auto-hide Menu Bar, or press its shortcut (⌃⌥⌘M out of the box).
- Click the icon again and choose Settings….
- Under Per-app rules, click + and pick the app under Recently Used or Running Apps, or use Choose Application… to find it.
- Set the rule to Always show.
The bar now appears when you switch to that app and hides again when you switch to anything else. Add a rule for each app you want it in. Rules change how the bar behaves on the desktop; in full-screen apps it follows the full-screen half of the macOS setting, as before.
A rule can also do the opposite: on Auto-hide, it hides the bar for that one app while the bar stays in view everywhere else. See How to hide the menu bar for just one app.