If your Mac is on macOS 14 Sonoma, 15 Sequoia or 26 Tahoe, the menu bar calendar you installed a few years ago may have quietly stopped getting features this autumn. Here is what macOS shows on its own, which menu bar calendar apps still run and still get updates on your version, and how to set one up.
What macOS Sonoma puts in the menu bar on its own
Sonoma, Sequoia and Tahoe all give you the same thing: a clock. In System Settings > Control Centre, the Clock options let it show the date, the day of the week and seconds. Notification Centre has a Calendar widget, and Spotlight answers “today’s date”. There is no month grid and no agenda in the menu bar, and clicking the clock opens Notification Centre rather than a calendar.
Which menu bar calendar still gets updates on macOS 14, 15 and 26
This is the table nobody publishes. Each app’s current build and the oldest macOS it runs on, as listed on the vendor’s site or App Store page on 6 November 2026.
| App | Current build | Runs on | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Itsycal | 0.28.0 | macOS 27 and later | The current build (4 Nov 2026). Every new feature ships here only. |
| Itsycal | 0.15.15 | macOS 11 to 26 | The legacy build (25 Sep 2026). Still downloadable, no new features. |
| Dato | 5.8.4 | macOS 26 and later | Older builds are offered free for macOS 10.14 to 15 but are frozen (5.4.4 for 14, 5.7.2 for 15). |
| Dot | 2.4.3 | macOS 13 and later | Apple silicon and Intel. |
| Calendr | 1.26.2 | macOS 15 and later | Free, open source. |
| InstaCal | Current | macOS 15 and later | Mac App Store only. A full calendar with a menu bar item. |
| MeetingBar | 5.0.0 | macOS 12 and later | Meetings only, no month grid. |
| Menu Bar Calendar (Sindre Sorhus) | Current | macOS 26 and later | A month grid only; it shows no events. |
| Blipcal | 1.0 | macOS 14 and later | Every feature on 14 Sonoma, 15 Sequoia, 26 Tahoe and 27 Golden Gate. Apple silicon. |
Current builds and minimum macOS versions as published on each vendor's site or App Store listing on 6 November 2026. Versions move; confirm before relying on them.
Two things stand out. Itsycal, the free default, split on 5 October 2026: version numbers jumped to 0.27 and 0.28 to match macOS 27, and every new feature since (reminders in the agenda, an Overdue section, undo and redo, a redesigned event popover) ships only there. Macs on 11 to 26 keep 0.15.15 from 25 September 2026, which still works but is frozen. Dato did the same earlier: its current version needs macOS 26, and the builds it leaves for 14 and 15 are fixed at 5.4.4 and 5.7.2.
So on macOS 14 your current choices are Dot and Blipcal; on 15 add Calendr and InstaCal; on 26 add Dato.
If you are staying on Itsycal
Nothing is wrong with staying. Download the macOS 11+ build from mowglii.com, or use the Homebrew cask, which now installs 0.15.15 on macOS 26 and older. You keep the month grid, the agenda, event creation and deletion, ISO week numbers, the clock pattern, vim keys and ⌘J to join meetings. You will not get reminders, undo, the new popover or anything that ships from now on, and Itsycal has never edited events, shown time zones or put the next event in the menu bar.
Setting up a menu bar calendar on Sonoma with Blipcal
Blipcal runs with every feature on macOS 14 and later, and takes about a minute to set up.
Download and open it
Drag it to Applications and open it. It lives in the menu bar, with no Dock icon.
Allow calendar access
Choose Allow Full Access when macOS asks; that is what lets it show and edit events.
Choose calendars and the menu bar look
Settings > Calendars for which calendars show; Settings > Menu bar for the icon, a clock pattern and the next event.
Press ⌃⇧C
Or click the date. The month, your agenda and your time zones are there.
Replacing the system clock
If you would rather have one clock, hide the system one in System Settings > Control Centre and write your own pattern in Blipcal’s Menu bar settings, for example E d MMM HH:mm for “Thu 5 Nov 09:18”. The pattern reference lists every letter.
On macOS 14, 15 or 26 and want a calendar that still moves? Read about Blipcal: a 14-day free trial, every feature, no card.