Feedback Please let me deactivate the Hub menu bar icon on macOS

Unfortunately on macOS right now there are multiple apps that create icons in the main menu bar, including Skype, Razer Synapse and more. The Unity Hub is now one of them, while older versions were not. While others might find this feature useful, I do not. Instead my main menu bar is cluttered with icons.

So would you please add a checkbox in the settings that let me deactivate the menu bar icon? Good apps let me do that. Don't be a bad app Unity Hub. Be a good app.

 

I second @Bradamante's suggestion. There's no reason to keep it there—in fact, there's no reason that Unity Hub needs to be open all the time at all. Is it no longer optional?

 

I'd like to remove it, too.

Are you thinking of Windows? On macOS, Unity Hub also appears in the dock, so also being in the menu bar doesn't make it any easier to access.

 

@AbrahamDUnity I don't think this is a solution, as menu bar clutter is a real problem that many power users (e.g. devs) care about. It also brings to mind a broader issue with Unity Hub: will it remain optional?

I posted a feedback thread asking for the ability to open Unity without Unity Hub opening automatically, something that seems to be a fairly recent change. I don't need another app open, and it's very strange (and decidedly non-standard) that in order to open a Unity project from within Unity (e.g. File->Open…), Unity Hub activates. It's also incredibly slow! What should be a simple process becomes an exercise in frustration.

I see the utility of Unity Hub as a place to manage Unity installations, define which projects open in which version, etc. But I don't see how moving core application functionality, such as New/Open Project, to an external application makes sense.

 

The reason is that they've made the Hub responsible for managing your login. That makes sense, as the Hub interacts with your login to show cloud projects and such.


In other words, the Hub opens when you do file->open due to a cascading failure of product and project management and poor ideas that stack on top of each other.

 

Thanks for the information. I'm already closing the Hub after Unity launches, but it's good to know that I can use the command line. However, as someone who cares about user experience, I think there's unnecessary friction there, and that wasn't there until just recently. Software seems to be on a trend line of not respecting its users, and I don't want to see Unity moving in that direction, as in general it's been a tool I've been quite happy with.

 

@AbrahamDUnity Thanks! To be more specific about the speed issue I encountered, File->Open… in Unity gave the Hub focus (it was already open), but it was a blank window for a while; then it finally displayed my list of projects. I suspect it was going out to the internet to fetch a project list, but it would be great if it would display local projects first, which should be instantaneous.

Thanks!

 

I wasn't aware that the Unity Hub showing in the Dock is not intentional. Actually I like the way it is right now, i.e. the unintended behavior (shows in the Dock, but not in the menu bar). Let me elaborate.

In my opinion a running app that the user opened on macOS should show in the Dock. If it also has a menu bar icon I should be able to get rid of it. I appreciate the functionality Unity Hub provides currently and how it is designed. In my opinion however the Hub should show in the Dock alongside open Editor versions since I don't see it as a background service. The functionality the menu bar icon provides right now I don't need since I never have multiple Unity Editors open at the same time and I switch projects through the Hub.

Skype opens both in the Dock and the menu bar - I'd like to get rid of the latter but can't. I keep Skype running all the time (it automatically opens via System Settings -> Users -> Login items) but I wouldn't describe it as a service. I'd like to handle Unity Hub the same way. Some apps create such a Login item during installation, asking the user for permission.

Razer Synapse is an app in /Applications, but upon installation also installs a launch demon. You never open it manually, but it still shows as an icon in the menu bar. I am not ok with that since I can't get rid of it. It only shows in the Dock when opened manually via the app folder. Since Synapse is more a service than an app that behavior might be more justified, but the same is true for Little Snitch - a background tool that I open through /Applications when I need to make changes but doesn't have a menu bar or Dock icon. Still it's open automatically all the time thanks to it's launch demon.

You might even consider the method Menu Meters or the NVidia Web Drivers use. Installing a system preference pane that also shows as a deactivatable menu bar icon.

The general problem of a cluttered menu bar (especially on macOS notebooks since users often install power management tools) is the main driver of my complaint.

 

I would love if there was no dock icon and purely a persistent menu bar icon for the HUB. Its annoying to have both, let me choose maybe? I think ideally I can open it from the menu bar would be best, cheers.

 

I don't see the need for either as an "always on" thing TBH. If I want it—which is incredibly rare—I spotlight Unity Hub and it's there.

 

I still have two icons: in the dock and in the menu bar. Just one is enough

 

I second this! I want the option to remove the Unity Hub icon in the Mac menu bar. It's annoying, especially as that real estate is at a premium on the new MacBook Pro M1's with the notch. I prefer to just use the desktop hub anyways.