How do I restore a missing BetterDisplay menu-bar icon?

Check both BetterDisplay’s icon preference and macOS’s menu-bar permissions. On macOS versions with System Settings > Menu Bar, a hidden terminal application can also hide BetterDisplay’s icon if the app was launched through that terminal.

If you cannot reach Settings, open BetterDisplay again from Finder while it is already running. This opens its Settings window.

  1. In BetterDisplay’s Settings > Menu, enable Show app icon in the menu bar. Check any per-display Hide menu bar icon when no other displays are present preference as well.
  2. In System Settings > Menu Bar, make sure BetterDisplay is allowed to appear.
  3. If you have launched BetterDisplay from Terminal or another terminal app, check that app’s entry in the same system list. Enable it and see whether the BetterDisplay icon returns. The entry may be named Terminal, cmux, or whichever terminal you used.
  4. Temporarily disable any menu-bar management utility’s hiding rule for BetterDisplay and retest.

macOS can associate a status item with the terminal that launched the app. Enabling that terminal’s menu-bar entry can work around that association. If it does not help, continue with the other checks above. Avoid repeatedly resetting all BetterDisplay settings if the system is simply hiding the item.

The app also follows macOS’s notification that its status item was removed, which can turn its own show-icon preference off. Recheck the app preference after restoring system visibility. If the icon remains absent, record which entries and hiding rules affect it when seeking support.

Using the menu with the icon intentionally hidden

Record Show app menu under Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts… to open the menu without keeping its icon visible. You can also open the already-running app again, then use the App Menu link at the bottom of its Settings window.

For a macOS Shortcut, add Run Shell Script with this command for the standard app installation:

"/Applications/BetterDisplay.app/Contents/MacOS/BetterDisplay" set -appMenu=on

BetterDisplay must be running with CLI access enabled under Settings > Application > Integration. The command opens the menu without changing the icon’s visibility preference. Use toggle -appMenu instead if you want the same command to alternate between showing and hiding the menu.

See Menu settings and display-specific icon visibility.