Shifting Focus to macOS 26

[stonerl]

Hi everyone,

Thaw originally started as a personal project because I found that Ice wasn’t quite meeting the needs of macOS 26 yet. From the beginning, the goal was simply to build a reliable menu bar manager specifically for the newest version of macOS.

The Technical Challenge

To keep Thaw running on macOS 14/15, we’ve had to rely on older APIs like CGWindowListCreateImage. Unfortunately, this led to a compromised experience; Thaw has never performed quite right on those older versions because it wasn't really designed for them.

While we looked into ScreenCaptureKit, it doesn't currently support everything Thaw needs to function. We didn't want to leave users with a buggy experience, but we also didn't want to stay stuck using the macOS 14 SDK forever.

Moving Forward with SkyLight

After some research, we’ve decided to transition to the private SkyLight API. This gives us the functionality we need while finally allowing us to bump our build target to macOS 26.

Version Roadmap

• Thaw 1.2.0: The last stable release supporting macOS 14/15.
• Thaw 1.3.0-beta.1: The final pre-release for older versions.
• Thaw 2.0.0-beta.1: Moving forward, this and all future builds will only support macOS 26+.

What this means for the project

By narrowing our focus, we can clean up the codebase, remove "workaround" code paths, and focus entirely on making the macOS 26 experience as smooth as possible.

As part of this transition, we will be closing existing issues related to macOS 14/15, and any new issues regarding those versions will be closed automatically.

Thanks for understanding and for using Thaw!

[derpyjoystick]

Dropping the place (pre OS26) where this app actually added value, by providing a feature it sorely lacked (hiding menu bar items) for ages that was eventually put into OS26 by Apple themselves, negating the need for this. Good move!!

[stonerl]

If you only want to hide icons and need nothing more, these are some great tools for macOS 14/15 that I have used myself:

• https://github.com/jordanbaird/Ice
• https://github.com/dwarvesf/hidden
• https://matthewpalmer.net/vanilla/

[DrJume]

Sad to hear, but understandable.
I am not a fan of macOS 26 and will stay on 15 until an improved macOS 27 comes out.
So it looks like, I will have to accept a non-perfect experience both ways 😅

[lozzo]

macOS 14.2 😫 to hear this

[pwolver]

As someone moving over from Ice and using the latest Tahoe release. Should we jump straight into Thaw 2.0?
Or stick with 1.2 or 1.3 until 2.0 is out of beta?

[alexandrelissowski]

@stonerl @diazdesandi I see that you are very active on the project, do you plan to release the 2.0 out of the beta any time soon?

I really love Thaw, but I'm still using the stable version 1.2 on my professional laptop.
Thanks

[diazdesandi]

@alexandrelissowski I am glad you are enjoying Thaw, it should be out soon. At the moment I’m still on macOS 27 so I’m limited in how much I can test the macOS 26 builds.