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

When I startup Antrophic's stand-alone Claude app, the Apple menu gets selected.

Update:

I got this from Bartender, and after I tried this entire email’s suggestions I still had the problem. Maybe for anybody else this might work?

Thank you for reaching out about the issue with the Apple Menu flashing and popping up unexpectedly when using Bartender. It seems like you might be experiencing a known issue that we are actively investigating. 

To address this, please try the following steps:

1. Update Bartender: Ensure you are using the latest version of Bartender, which is 5.3.5. You can download it from our website: https://macbartender.com/Bartender5/release_notes/

2. Disable Bartender Options: Go to Bartender's settings and un-tick the option to show hidden menu bar items when clicking on empty menu bar space. This has been a temporary solution for other users experiencing similar issues.

3. Screen Recording: If the problem persists, please provide a screen recording showing the behavior. This will help our team diagnose the issue more effectively.

We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work towards a fix. If you have any further questions or need additional assistance, please let us know.

Just wanted to say that I'm on Bartender 5.3.6 and still having this issue. I switched to Ice previously because of this thread, but figured I'd give the latest update a try and yeah it immediately opens the Apple menu and just doesn't stop.

The whole reason I use Bartender is for the triggers, so I don't want to turn them off... if I can't use them I might as well just stick with Ice.

I installed Bartended 5.3.8 and this has the release note of:

Fix a bug with the Apple Menu bar item. Performance enhancements.

(https://macbartender.com/B2/updates/5-3-8/rnotes.html)

So far the Apple Menu button is still opening by itself - so bug is still present.

I did tick the "update to test builds" to get that update (I didn't check without that ticked to see if it was a full release) .. so far no further update, but the bug is still there.

I'm hoping it is a test build and still will be fixed so I can move back to Bartender from ICE.

Same for me, I'm also a Bartender user. I just updated and I'll see how it goes.

I'm having the same issue on MBP 2023 M3 Max 64GB Sequoia 15.4.1 (24E263). The Apple menu sometimes randomly pops up while I am moving the mouse pointer with trackpad. Pretty sure that I didn't touch the keyboard.

I am using Bartender 5.3.5 and have turned the Triggers function off to test this, but unfortunately this does not fix the issue.

By the way, the issue is made worse when I am running Windows 11 under Parallels Desktop as well. When starting my VM it is sure to pop up several times until everything is loaded.

In general, the menu popping up seems to stop or at least occur a lot less after a few minutes of starting to use my Mac - usually after waking up from sleep or a restart.

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.

I have tested it over the last year, and for me, no issues at all - it is my backup if the new Bartender owners decide to go some subscription pathway. A lot of people swapped over to ICE when Bartender was sold to a new company and they were sending user data every 10 minutes to amplitude without warning their users.

This Reddit thread started it all:

https://www.reddit.com/r/macapps/comhttps://www.macbartender.com/b5blog/Lets-Try-This-Again/

That prompted this blog post from the original owner/creator:

See Ben's message, three months after the sale, with no warning to users:

https://www.macbartender.com/b5blog/A-New-Chapter-for-Bartender/

And Bartenders follow up after a backlash following the reddit thread above.

https://www.macbartender.com/b5blog/Lets-Try-This-Again/

LifeHacker and many other tech blogs reported on this issue/change too:

https://au.lifehacker.com/apple/8735/news/the-bartender-app-for-mac-can-record-your-screen-and-we-have-no-idea-who-owns-it

Lots of users have swapped over to ICE without any issues, as well as BTT and others. I've gone back and forth with ICE and Bartender and not found any issues myself with the way I use ICE. If ICE has no issues, i'll use it as an interim until Bartender gets their act together and releases a new bug free version - it is almost the same usability.

I don't see any issue mentioning ICE to people having this problem as a possible solution for their issues, with an app that is totally free, so there is no cost for anyone to test it out and see if it solves their issues. If it does, brilliant, when the new Bartender owner(s) gets their act together and patches their software for this bug, we can all jump back to it. Until then, there is no other solution other than using a different app, and this is one option that people should be aware of - or check out the Lifehacker link above and there are two other free options as well.

It seems to pop up when playing videos for me. I'm on 5.4.0 test build (unless that has already progressed to a stable, but no updates are available for me since going to that test build) .... when i'm watching a video in full screen the menu bar keeps popping up ruining the full screen video.

I've been using ICE now for a month or more waiting for Bartender to be fixed, and ICE is working flawlessly and does everything I want to do. I would have hoped Bartender would have been fixed by now, but i'm wondering if the new owners have too much on their plate with other projects and Bartender has dropped down that list.

I might just stick with ICE. It is FREE and works like 90% of what Bartender has function wise, which covers everything I need to do. No more mucking around. But i'll keep trying and see when bartender gets completely fixed.

My hunch is they are waiting for the new MacOS to come out, and they will release Bartender 6.0, as a new version, and I wouldn't be surprised if everything is now fixed and it is a subscription model for payments rather than the buy once per major version. As most software companies are using this business model now.

Don't forget this thread isn't from Bartender, it is users supporting users. But yeah, the test build is in options under the Bartender Settings. I just fired it up again and there hasn't been any test build update since I last ran Bartender. So for me the bug is still there. I've been quite happy running ICE however, and just installed that for a friend on another computer. It works really well and it is free. Well worth giving a go if this bug is making you go nuts, and you can always go back to Bartender whenever this bug is totally fixed.

I still have the suspicion that it will be fixed in the next major update, with that major update removing lifetime licenses and going to a subscription based service. I assume that was probably the plan when the new owners took over, but with all the controversy of the takeover they have held back on that one.

Looks like Bartender 6 is out for Tahoe, I'm still running Ice 0.11.13-dev2 (the latest for Tahoe) which is working perfectly for me.

Has anyone updated to Bartender 6 and discovered if this issue is still around, or has it been fixed?

I'm using latest Bartender 6 with macos Tahoe and the issue is even worse. In the past the Apple menu was randomly opened once. Now it randomly rapidly flashes as if someone keeps clicking on the Apple icon.

I'm still using Ice 0.11.13-dev2 and it is working flawlessly for me. It is also totally free. I would give that a go. At the moment I have no reason to go back to Bartender, and with their track record for fixing things at the moment it doesn't look good.

Me too. It just keeps opening by itself with no rhyme or reason...

Doesn’t matter if I’m doing anything or nothing...

Maybe my AppleMouse?

iMac Retina 5k 27inch A2115

Sequoia 15.4.1