Who designed the macOS 27 Golden Gate battery icon to have low contrast making it hard to read and why?
The icon is impossible to read from a distance and has many UX issues. I am sincerely curious what thought process went into the design choices made:
MacBook Pro (M5 Max, 2026)
On macOS 26 Tahoe, the percentage and the status icon were separate. It seems that Apple's intent is to save Menu Bar space by incorporating the percent into the icon display. That's also how the battery display on the iPhone works, so perhaps an additional part of the rationale was to harmonize the appearance.
As was suggested, “We” are users like you and have no power to implement any suggestions. To have Apple consider your feedback, submit it here:
Alternatively, there are 3rd party options that provide a different view of the battery status. For example, I use iStat Menus, which enables me to have custom colors for the charging status (charging, paused, discharging, full).
iStat Menus is on the left, the macOS battery display for Sequoia is on the right:
I normally keep the macOS Menu Bar item turned off, since I prefer the color-coding with iStat Menus, along with the fact that clicking the icon shows the battery health status:
Have you tried adjusting the liquid glass slider in the appearance settings? If you slide it all the way to the right, that pretty much eliminates all of the translucency and may make it easier to read.
Barney-15E wrote:
Have you tried adjusting the liquid glass slider in the appearance settings? If you slide it all the way to the right, that pretty much eliminates all of the translucency and may make it easier to read.
That slider is all the way to the right already 🤷
Iamasadmunir wrote:
I am also seeing this icon after updating to macOS 27. Why?
It looks like the battery power icon in the status menu area. Why are you seeing it? Probably because you have not adjusted the settings to not show it in the menu bar.
Totally agree. The old icon was easy to read. The new one, which seems to have changed for the sake of change, requires one look at it several times or waste time hovering your cursor over to get an exact read. A future Golden Gate update should address this.
AutoZuLaut wrote:
Who designed the macOS 27 Golden Gate battery icon to have low contrast making it hard to read and why?
The icon is impossible to read from a distance and has many UX issues.
To me, this seems like much ado about nothing. I never even noticed this change until I read this post. On closer examination, it looks a lot like the one on my iPhone, which I am used to. At a glance, from the shading I can see immediately the approximate level of charge in the battery, a closer look shows the actual number percentage. Others have provided additional options, which would get to individual preference, such as widgets, third party tools, etc.
It’s not good for people that have poor vision. I use these widgets on my iPhone. I just have to swipe right to get to it. It’s just before the main home page. I don’t even recall how I was able to add that there. I think I was trying to put them on my home screen and somehow they ended up there and I like it. It’s handy because I like to see where my watch is at as well. Also have a widget on my MacBook screen, I showed on the previous page in this thread.
Hi Apple Team,
The Mac OS update 27.2 changed the battery display. Sadly, this change was not helpful. It actually renders the battery display useless for me. I have to get up within a few inches of the screen to read the display. Please change this with the next update or make a work-around for us to correct this problem. Most of your innovations are home runs, but you may want to go back to the drawing board on this one. Thank you for your consideration of this suggestion.
M. Pargee
This feedback was sent to Apple. But why not let me share it on this user forum as well and hear what others think? Thanks for pointing out the Apple Feedback form, which I am aware of.
For your enlightenment, see what you agreed to when you signed up here:
Apple Support Community Terms of Use
especially Section B.
How to de-tune Liquid Glass: Liquid Glass - Love It Or Hate It - It's … - Apple Community
Which of the 11 sections of section B are you referring to and why?
I am also seeing this icon after updating to macOS 27. Why?
macOS 27 Golden Gate battery icon in menu bar is difficult to read - why the design choice?
