It’s Ben Surtees, the original developer of Bartender. Twelve years ago, I embarked on a journey to create Bartender, a macOS app designed to help you manage your menu bar items. Over the years, it has been incredibly rewarding to see Bartender grow and become an essential tool for so many of you. Your support and feedback have been invaluable in shaping the app into what it is today.

Posted by Ben Surtees.

Over the last few days Apple internet has been blowing up with folks talking about Bartender and the concern with it being taken over by a new owner without clear transparency on the shift. I’ve been a Bartender user for years. Love the product, and how it simplifies the menu on my Mac. 

This letter feels like one forced out of necessity with the new company not wanting all their customers to abandon them. 

I appreciate the apologetic tone, and I also personally get it; if I’d worked on something for years and finally saw an opportunity to take a break and potentially have revenue, that’d be interesting. 

But to do so without letting anyone know ahead of time feels off a bit. 

What I hear over the next few days will likely decide whether I keep using Bartender or not.