macOS 12.1 Fixes Menu Bar Icons Obscured by Notch on 2021 MacBook Pros

Wednesday December 8, 2021 11:01 am PST by Joe Rossignol

Apple on Tuesday seeded the macOS Monterey 12.1 Release Candidate to developers for testing, and according to the release notes, the update resolves an issue with the notch obscuring "menu bar extras" on the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro.

macbook pro 2021 notch feature
"Menu bar extras" are the tiny icons that appear on the right side of the menu bar, providing users with convenient access to app-specific controls. These icons could become overlapped by the notch on the new MacBook Pro models, causing the icons to be hidden or only partially visible, but Apple said this bug has been fixed in macOS 12.1.

As for top-level menus like File, Edit, and View on the left side of the menu bar, developers can update their Mac apps to play friendly with the notch. As a last resort for apps that have not yet been updated, users can enable a "scale to fit below built-in camera" setting for the app to adjust the active area of the MacBook Pro's display, ensuring that the app's menus appear below the notch and are always visible.

These changes come after several users complained about the notch interfering with menu bar items on the new MacBook Pro models.

macOS 12.1 also resolves several other bugs, including issues with Tap to Click, HDR video playback on YouTube, and MagSafe charging:

This release also includes bug fixes for your Mac:

- Desktop and Screen Saver may appear blank after selecting photos from the Photos library
- Trackpad could become unresponsive to taps or clicks
- External displays may not charge some MacBook Pro and MacBook Air computers when connected using Thunderbolt or USB-C
- HDR video playback on YouTube.com could cause 2021 MacBook Pro computers to panic
- Menu bar extras may be obscured by the camera housing on 2021 MacBook Pro computers
- MagSafe may stop charging on 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro computers when lid is closed and system is shut down

macOS 12.1 is expected to be released to all users as early as next week. When available, users can install the update by clicking on the Apple logo in the top-left corner of the screen, clicking on About This Mac, and clicking on the Software Update button.

Related Forum: macOS Monterey

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Top Rated Comments

rpmurray

64 months ago

So that ends the whining about the notch, right? Right?!

Notch so fast!

Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)

anshuvorty

64 months ago

Can someone show us how this fix works in practice?

Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Apple Knowledge Navigator

64 months ago

Jony Ive wouldn't allowed this.

You sure about that?

Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)

terminator-jq

64 months ago

That’s awesome but let’s get the memory leak fixed…

These new macs have the awesome ability to use their RAM as VRAM and system memory opening up a lot of doors but it doesn’t help if Control center is using up 15gb of RAM…

Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)

TheKrs1

64 months ago

There was no need for the ugly notch when the webcam is so bad if it was amazing then I would be happy with it, the webcam is terrible quality so it could of been in the small bezel like on dell

... What's wrong with the webcam? It's been reviewed as one of the highest quality on the market?

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)