Mainstage - anyway to overcome metronome shortcomings?

For a mature product, I find the metronome function in MainStage (MS) to be extremely limited in many respects. Compared to the mobile app Tempo (by Frozen Ape Pte. Ltd.), Klopfgeist is amateurish.

The biggest bugbear is that the metronome is tied to the MS system clock, which means the metronome on/off is essentially a mute on/off. This creates a problem in this scenario - I "turn off" the metronome mid-song as the singer switches to singing in rubato, and subsequently I need to "turn on" the metronome to bring the band and singer back on a set tempo. When "turning on" the metronome, the first click will not be right at the instance of my turning it on, since the metronome is following the system clock cadence in the background. This momentary off-sync of the first audible click can throw the band/singer off.

To make matters worse, if per the above scenario, I have a loop for specific song segment/s in the Playback plugin that is synced to the metronome and set to "Snap to bar", I would configure the metronome at the concert level to have different note pitches for Bar and Beat. When "turning on" the metronome to bring the band and singer back on a set tempo, there's no telling which beat in a bar the first audible click is on at the instance of "turning on". This is even more off-putting than the first scenario as the band/singer have to listen out for at least a bar or two to catch beat 1 of the bar.

I think I've done enough research to come to the conclusion that MS metronome architecture is just highly inflexible. I've tried replacing Klopfgeist with another stock plugin, such as Ultrabeat, but to no avail as Ultrabeat is still bound by the same tied-to-system-clock limitation. I've also searched extensively for viable 3rd party metronome plugins, and found none.

I would like to hear from anyone who has experienced similar frustrations, if you have found any way to overcome the said MS metronome shortcomings.