# A system monitor in your menu bar, arranged your way. Canonical page: https://vitalsmac.com/features/menu-bar CPU, memory, GPU, Neural Engine, network, disk, temperature, fan speed, battery and what is left of your AI plans, each its own menu bar item, as a number, a graph or both, in your order and your colours. A reading turns red while something is wrong, so you only look when it matters. ## Items: One item per reading, in the order you think of them. Every readout can be its own menu bar item, as a number, a graph or both, with or without its icon, and you ⌘-drag them into any order the way macOS lets you with any item. Two readings or nine, your call. - CPU, memory, GPU, Neural Engine, network, disk, temperature, fan speed, battery and AI plans - A number, a graph or both, with or without the icon - ⌘-drag into any order - A compact size, a frame for the graphs, a colour per reading ## Red: You only look when something is wrong. A reading turns red while it is under strain and goes back to normal when it passes, so you can forget the bar is there until it changes colour. Click it and the dropdown tells you which limit was crossed and for how long. - CPU or GPU at 90%, memory under pressure, a nearly full disk, a hot Mac - Back to normal on its own when it passes - The dropdown says which reading, which limit, how long - The battery turns red at 20% on its own ## Dropdown: Every reading, and the apps behind it, one click away. Click any item and the dropdown opens on the Overview, as tiles or as a list with one line per reading, with the busiest apps right there and a tab for everything else, so most questions never need the window. - Tiles or a list, one line per reading - The busiest apps behind each number - Click an app and the window opens on it - Tab, ⌘1 to ⌘0 and Esc from the keyboard ## Settings: Pick your readings, and see how each will look. Settings → Layout → Menu Bar draws each readout the way it will appear in the bar before you commit. The temperature can follow the CPU, the GPU or the hottest sensor, and a shortcut opens the dropdown or the window from any app. - Each readout drawn as it will look - Temperature follows the CPU, the GPU or the hottest sensor - Upload beside download, or download alone - A shortcut for the dropdown and one for the window ## Why it matters: menu bar monitor on a Mac Activity Monitor has no place in the menu bar beyond its Dock icon, which can show a CPU graph. Everything else means opening the window. The menu bar monitors that fill the gap tend to go one of two ways: a strip of every reading at once, or one combined item that opens a wall of charts. What you want up there is small and yours: the two or three readings you glance at, in the order you think of them, and a way to tell at a glance when one needs you. In Vitals every readout can be its own menu bar item, a number, a graph or both, with or without its icon, ⌘-dragged into any order like any other menu bar item. A reading turns red while it is under strain and goes back when it passes. Click one and the dropdown shows every reading with the apps behind it; click an app and the window opens on it. ## How to use it 1. **Choose the readouts.** Settings → Layout → Menu Bar: CPU, memory, GPU, Neural Engine, network, disk, temperature, fan speed, battery and your AI plans, each as a number, a graph or both, with or without its icon and caption. There is a compact size for small screens, a frame for the graphs, and a colour for each reading if you want one. 2. **Put them in your order.** ⌘-drag the items along the menu bar, as macOS lets you with any item. Readouts that share the Vitals item keep the order you give them in Settings. 3. **Let red do the watching.** Turn on Show Readings in Red Under Strain and a reading turns red while the CPU or GPU is at 90%, memory is under pressure, the disk is nearly full or the Mac is hot. The dropdown then says which reading, the limit it crossed and for how long. The battery turns red at 20% on its own. 4. **Open the dropdown.** Click any item. The Overview comes as tiles or a list with one line per reading, every tab is a click or ⌘1 to ⌘0 away, and Esc closes it. Hover over an app for its close button, click an app for the window, or right-click the item for Settings and Quit. ## Compared with Activity Monitor | | Activity Monitor | Vitals | | --- | --- | --- | | In the menu bar | A CPU graph on the Dock icon | One item per readout, a number, a graph or both | | Order | No | ⌘-drag into any order | | Under strain | Nothing | Red, with which limit was crossed and for how long | | The dropdown | None | Every reading and the apps behind it, as tiles or a list | | From the keyboard | No | A shortcut opens the dropdown or the window from any app | ## The words behind it - [Menu bar item](https://vitalsmac.com/glossary/menu-bar-item): A menu bar item is an icon or figure at the right end of the Mac's menu bar, put there by an app or by macOS, with a menu or a panel behind it. - [Memory pressure](https://vitalsmac.com/glossary/memory-pressure): Memory pressure is Activity Monitor's graph of how well the Mac's RAM is meeting current demand. - [% CPU](https://vitalsmac.com/glossary/cpu-percent): % CPU is the share of processor capacity a process is using, measured per CPU core. - [Mbps and MB/s](https://vitalsmac.com/glossary/mbps-and-mbs): Mbps is megabits per second and MB/s is megabytes per second. - [Thermal throttling](https://vitalsmac.com/glossary/thermal-throttling): Thermal throttling is when a computer lowers its processor speed to keep temperatures in a safe range. ## Questions ### Can I arrange the menu bar like iStat Menus? Yes. Every readout can be its own menu bar item, a number, a graph or both, and you ⌘-drag them into any order. The dropdown and the window are yours to arrange too. ### Which readouts can go in the menu bar? CPU, memory, GPU, Neural Engine, network, disk, temperature, fan speed, battery and what is left of your AI plans. The temperature item can follow the CPU, the GPU or the hottest sensor. ### Does it live in the Dock or the menu bar? Both, if you like. It is always in the menu bar. Turn on Show in Dock and it stays in the Dock like Activity Monitor; opened by hand it shows its window, and at login it stays in the menu bar. ### Can I close the window and keep the menu bar? Yes. Close the window and Vitals keeps watching from the menu bar, taking a reading every five seconds and using about a tenth of a percent of one core. ### Can it show memory pressure instead of memory used? Yes. The memory readout can show memory pressure, memory used or free memory, whichever you watch. ### Does the network readout show upload and download? Yes, upload beside download, and you can turn upload off in Settings → Layout → Menu Bar. Speeds come in bytes or bits, your choice in Settings → General → Units. ### Is there a size for a small screen? Yes, a compact size for the menu bar items, in Settings → Layout → Menu Bar. ### Can I use the dropdown from the keyboard? Yes. Tab moves through its tabs, ⌘1 to ⌘0 jump to one, and Esc closes it. A shortcut from Settings → General opens it from any app. ## Read on - [The 8 best menu bar system monitors for Mac](https://vitalsmac.com/best-menu-bar-system-monitor-for-mac) - [The 10 best system monitors for Mac](https://vitalsmac.com/best-system-monitor-for-mac) - [How to check CPU and memory usage on a Mac, app by app](https://vitalsmac.com/check-cpu-memory-usage-mac) - [Vitals vs iStat Menus](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/istat-menus) - [Vitals vs Stats](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/stats) - [Vitals vs MacPulse](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/macpulse) ## More of Vitals Every feature is at [vitalsmac.com/features](https://vitalsmac.com/features). Vitals is one payment, with every update for life: [pricing](https://vitalsmac.com/pricing).