Guide
Mac menu bar system monitor
Activity Monitor is thorough, but it is not glanceable. To know whether the fans are about to spin up, you have to switch apps, click around, and read a table. A menu bar monitor surfaces the same signals next to the clock, all the time. This guide explains what to put there, what to leave out, and the privacy facts that come with always-on metrics.
Written for macOS 13 and Apple Silicon. No subscription.
What belongs in the menu bar
The menu bar is a small surface. Treat it like a dashboard for signals you actually act on. The six metrics that almost always earn their space:
- CPU load. Catch a runaway process before the fans ramp up.
- Memory pressure. Spot the moment a swap storm starts.
- Network throughput. Watch a download or backup in progress.
- Disk activity. See when an indexer or backup is hitting the disk hard.
- Battery level. A precise reading instead of a vague icon.
- Sensor temperatures. Useful on Apple Silicon when sustained loads matter.
MetalStat exposes each of these as an independent menu bar item you can show or hide, with live animated charts in a click-through detail popover. If you would rather have a single glanceable character than a row of numbers, IconRun puts a small animated indicator in the menu bar that speeds up, swims, or changes mood with system load.
What you need. macOS 13 or later on Apple Silicon (M1 or later). Neither MetalStat nor IconRun requires a special macOS privacy permission for the current feature set, so there is nothing to enable in System Settings before you start.
Step-by-step workflow
- Install MetalStat. Open the DMG, drag to Applications, and launch. The app lives in the menu bar.
- Pick your modules. Open MetalStat's preferences and enable only the modules you want in the menu bar — typically CPU, memory, network, and battery for a developer; add disk and sensors if you do sustained work like video or compilation.
- Choose a visual style. Pick the chart style you prefer: sparkline, ring, animated bar, or live line graph. The data updates every two seconds.
- Click for detail. Click any module in the menu bar to open its detail popover. Use the popover to investigate spikes without leaving your current app.
- Add an IconRun companion (optional). If you want a single-character at-a-glance indicator in addition to the numbers, run IconRun alongside MetalStat. Pick a character such as the rainbow cat, the network fish, or the memory blob.
Limits to be aware of
A menu bar monitor is an awareness tool, not a diagnostic suite. If you need to know which process is holding a file open, examine per-process CPU samples over a long window, or correlate activity with timestamps, Activity Monitor remains the right tool. Use the menu bar app to notice the spike; switch to Activity Monitor to investigate it.
MetalStat is also not a remote fleet monitor and does not ship with alerts, long-term analytics, or replacement coverage for every diagnostic tool. It is a small, focused, always-on summary for the Mac you are actively using.
Permissions and privacy, plainly
MetalStat and IconRun read standard system statistics and do not request Accessibility, Screen Recording, Input Monitoring, or any other macOS privacy grant for their current features. They run entirely on-device. The full list of permissions used by Saither apps is on the permissions page.
Related guides
Common questions
Do MetalStat or IconRun need special permissions?
No. The current feature set does not request Accessibility, Screen Recording, Input Monitoring, or any other macOS privacy grant.
How often does the data update?
The live data and charts in MetalStat update every two seconds.
Can I hide modules I don't care about?
Yes. Each MetalStat module can be shown or hidden so the menu bar only shows the information you want.
Does this replace Activity Monitor?
No. It is designed for quick, always-visible awareness. Activity Monitor remains useful for deeper per-process investigation.
What Macs are supported?
macOS 13 or later on Apple Silicon (M1 or later). Intel Macs are not supported.
At a glance
Need more help? Email [email protected] or visit the support page.