Apple menu () randomly opening by itself — bug, hardware issue, or something else?

Good news folks!

if you use the Feedback option in Bartender, it will open a window to send them a snapshot of your system and your Bartender settings.

I sent them a message this morning, and they replied with this:

”Thank you for reaching out about the issue with the Apple menu randomly opening when Bartender is running. This is a known issue with Bartender on macOS Sequoia. We have released a test build, version 5.3.5, which includes several fixes that may help resolve this problem. You can download this test build from the test build section on our website. Please give this version a try and let us know if it resolves the issue for you.

Your feedback would be invaluable in helping us ensure the software works smoothly for everyone.

Thank you,

Support Team”

Im updating to Sequoia 15.5 at the moment, after reboot I’m going to install it and see how it goes.

If you do too, be sure to send feedback either way…

I e-mailed and was told the following, I installed the 5.3.6 test build. So far I haven't had the issue happen, but will give it some time. Make sure to select test build. I guess at least we know where the problem lies, I also have "Ice" the free menubar prograb like Bartender, works the same but there is no issue. So if you are still having the issue and want to try another similar program, give "Ice" a go in the meantime.

E-mail from Bartender:

Thank you for reaching out about the issue with the Apple menu randomly opening when Bartender is running. This is a known issue with Bartender on macOS Sequoia. We have released a test build, version 5.3.5, which includes several fixes that may help resolve this problem. You can download this test build from the test build section on our website. Please give this version a try and let us know if it resolves the issue for you. 

Your feedback would be invaluable in helping us ensure the software works smoothly for everyone.

august159 wrote:

I have the same issue.

Is anyone of you using Bartender ? Killing it seems to resolve the issue for me, but Bartender is so useful that I would be disappointed to lose access to it, even temporarily.

Great suggestion! For any problem with the menu bar not working as expected, a third party system modification that changes the behavior of the menu bar would be the first thing to check. The latest version of Bartender is 5.0.52 if that helps to identify if the problem occurs on the latest release and if so, their support is available at support@macbartender.com.

FWIW, I have three Macs running Sequoia 15.4.1, including an M1 MacBook Air and none have ever opened the Apple Menu at random. Try booting into Safe Mode, run for a time to see if it occurs then. If not, it's some third-party software you have installed.

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

Control-F2 is the keyboard shortcut to select the Menu Bar (Apple Menu will be selected). If you have any apps that remap keyboard shortcuts, that will be the cause.

You can also check at  > System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Keyboard, and it will show the shortcut used to select the menu bar. Once the menu bar is selected, you can navigate to the different menus with the arrow keys and hit return to open them. You can also try unselected that shortcut to see if it stops.

I had the same issue. Apparently it is an issue with Bartender the Menu bar app. If you are using this, you can at this stage update to the test build that apparently solves this issue. If you are not running Bartender it is coming from somewhere else. :)

Bartender team has advised me to disable "Triggers" feature while they release a fix... and so far it seems to solve the issue ! 🥳

PWolverine wrote:

I thought my issue was fixed with the latest test version, but it just popped up agin. I'll try option two, but if that doesn't work i'm off to ICE for a bit. I don't know how you are expected to screen record it since it is a random occurrence, not happening all the time.

So i'll try option 2, if that doesnt' work I'm going to swap to ICE for the moment (https://github.com/jordanbaird/Ice) and hope there is a fix for Bartender soon.

Before posting a link to an alternative, it may be more prudent to test it first. You should note that there have been 72 open bug issues reported for that app including occasional crashes that were just reported 4 days ago on that same GitHub page. That would seem pretty serious.

Just a follow up to the 5.4.0 test build for Bartender. We aren't getting the Apple logo being selected anymore, however watching videos in full screen will bring down the top bar every few seconds. Doesn't seem to be anything you can do about it. So outside of full screen mode it seems good, but if you watch videos in full screen it still is buggy. I'm also still investigating if this version slows things down a bit in browsers and so on, I have a feeling it was slowing down clicks and a few other things, I wonder if it is because it is constantly analysing the menubar. So this test build isn't 100% yet.

Frederick Northrop wrote:

It is happening to me but only in Safari. I do have bartender. M1 MacBook Pro

It has been confirmed that Bartender is the problem. You can test yourself by uninstalling Bartender and it will no longer happen.

lucasjdol wrote:

Thanks, but there's no other shortcut assigned to this action and, as far as I can see, no other apps that can cause it.

Any other ideas?

Did you try unchecking that shortcut in Settings to see if it stops?

I have the same issue.

Is anyone of you using Bartender ? Killing it seems to resolve the issue for me, but Bartender is so useful that I would be disappointed to lose access to it, even temporarily.

I have been using the new test build 5.4.0 ("prevents issues with the Apple Menu") for the last few days now.. So far no random selection of the Apple Logo. So i'm hoping that means that this issue is over with now, and you simply have to update to that latest test build to solve the issue. I have stopped using ICE and i'm back with Bartender now that the bug is over. If anything changes i'll post another comment, but at this stage i'd recommend anyone with this issue to update to the new test build 5.4.0.

Same problem here

Macbook Pro 16-inch, 2021

Chip Apple M1 Pro

Memory 16 GB

macOS Sequoia 15.3.2

Also I'm a Bartender user (via Setapp). I just killed it for today and see how that goes.

New test build 5.4.0 - mentioned "prevents issues with the Apple Menu" ... lets see if this one actually fixes the problem. I just installed it with no issues so far, but it is too soon to tell.

This build introduces a brand-new layout system that makes Bartender faster, more reliable, and prevents issues with the Apple Menu. Everything should feel snappier, and your bar should now layout faster than ever, even with larger bars. This is a substantial change, so we’ll be releasing a few test builds before we ship this to the stable release feed. If you encounter any issues, please send feedback directly in the app, and we'll take a look straight away!

For users on Tahoe, please signup to stay updated on our Tahoe specific beta coming soon.

[Edited by Moderator]