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Touch Bar Simulator vs xbar

Side-by-side comparison for macOS

Touch Bar Simulator

8.0
Developer Tools

Touch Bar as a standalone app

xbar

8.5
Developer Tools

View output from scripts in the menu bar

Metric Touch Bar Simulator xbar
Category Developer Tools Developer Tools
AI Score 8.0 8.5
30-day Installs 15 403
90-day Installs 35 1.2K
365-day Installs 146 3.2K
Version 4.2.0 2.1.7-beta
Auto-updates No No
Deprecated Yes No
GitHub Stars 1.9K 18.0K
GitHub Forks 86 649
Open Issues - 186
License MIT MIT
Language Swift Go
Last GitHub Commit 2y ago 1y ago
First Seen Aug 9, 2023 Aug 9, 2023

Reviews

Touch Bar Simulator

The Touch Bar Simulator lets any Mac use the Touch Bar interface, offering a testing and development tool for apps. It's ideal for developers and users wanting to experiment with Touch Bar functionality.

Simulates the Touch Bar interface on any Mac, allowing users to interact with apps as if they had a physical Touch Bar.

Pros

  • + Enables Touch Bar functionality on non-Touch Bar Macs
  • + Free and open-source under MIT license
  • + Strong community support with active GitHub engagement

Cons

  • - Manual updates required as there's no auto-update feature
  • - Occasional issues with Touch Bar functionality, though resolved

xbar

xbar is a powerful macOS menu bar tool that allows developers to display script outputs directly in the menu bar, offering customization and automation capabilities.

Displays output from scripts or programs in the macOS menu bar.

Pros

  • + Customizable menu bar with script outputs
  • + Strong community support and active development
  • + Open-source with MIT license

Cons

  • - Beta version with some lingering bugs
  • - No auto-update feature