There was a time when Apple wasn’t afraid to play around with design. Mac apps used to look like they were made of stainless steel for some reason, and the operating system’s interface had all kinds of neat “3-D” elements. That’s all been left behind—in the current era, applications are generally just kind of flat, a real contrast from two decades ago. Recent versions of the macOS menu bar don’t even have a drop shadow; it just kinda blends in with the wallpaper.
Lickable Menu Bar is a completely free application that aims to turn back the clock on your Mac, visually speaking. It allows you to choose between three different retro menu bar styles. There’s the matte look of Mavericks, from 2013; the flat-but-with-drop-shadow look of 2019’s Catalina; and the glossy look of Tiger, which came out way back in 2005. Swap between them for a jolt of nostalgia, and marvel at how different macOS (or OS X, if you’re an OG) used to look.
Credit: Justin Pot
The application is simple enough to use. You just open it up and pick the menu bar style you prefer. (The design of the program window itself resembles a Mac app from 2005, which is a nice touch.) You can optionally set the app to launch every time you log into your Mac—just be sure to also uncheck the “Show this window on launch” option if you do, unless you also want to choose a different menu bar style to fit your temporal mood every time your Mac resets (no judgement if so).
Nothing about this application is going to change your life. It’s not even one of those weird Mac apps that are actually kind of useful, because I really can’t think of a use for it, aside from improving the vibes on your machine. Which maybe is useful after all.