Best Touch Bar Apps for MacBook Pro in 2026

The best Touch Bar apps in 2026 fall into two groups. Apps that replace the bar change what the strip is: BetterTouchTool for building your own buttons and widgets, Pock for putting your Dock on it, MTMR for a bar defined in a config file, and Revive the Touchbar for turning the whole strip into an animated display with a clock, a focus timer, a CPU monitor, your own text, or a GIF. Apps with built-in Touch Bar controls just add buttons while you use them, and you can check any app in five seconds with View › Customize Touch Bar…

Here's the problem with most "best Touch Bar apps" lists: they were written in 2016 or 2022, when the hardware was new, and they mostly list apps that happened to add a few buttons at launch. Apple stopped selling Touch Bar models, a lot of those buttons were never updated, and nobody went back to check. If you still have one of these MacBook Pros, you don't need a list of apps that mention the Touch Bar. You need the handful that make it worth having.

This guide sorts them by what you actually want the bar to do, tells you how to check whether an app still supports it, and covers what to look for before you install anything.

Applies to MacBook Pro models with a Touch Bar (sold 2016–2022). Newer MacBook Pros have physical function keys and no Touch Bar, so none of these apps do anything on them.

The two kinds of Touch Bar apps

Kind	What it does	Examples
Bar replacements	Take over the Touch Bar, everywhere, with their own buttons, widgets, or visuals.	BetterTouchTool, Pock, MTMR, Revive the Touchbar
Apps with Touch Bar support	Show their own buttons on the bar only while that app is in front.	Safari, Mail, Finder, Pages, Keynote, many pro and third-party apps

Most people searching for Touch Bar apps want the first kind. The second kind is nice, but you don't install an app for its Touch Bar buttons. You'd use Pages or Safari anyway.

Pick by what you want the bar to do

You want…	Best fit
Your own buttons, shortcuts, and widgets for any app	BetterTouchTool
Your Dock and a few small widgets on the bar	Pock
A replacement bar you set up in a text file	MTMR
Something to look at: animations, a clock, a timer, a CPU meter, your text, a GIF	Revive the Touchbar
F1–F12 always, or in certain apps	Nothing to install: macOS does it (see how)
Your Shortcuts as buttons	Nothing to install: set Touch Bar shows to Quick Actions

The rest of this post goes through each one.

BetterTouchTool: build your own buttons

BetterTouchTool is the power tool. It's a long-running Mac utility for customizing input of every kind (trackpad gestures, mouse buttons, keyboard shortcuts), and the Touch Bar is one part of it.

What it's good for:

Adding buttons that run a shortcut, open an app, or trigger a script.
Showing different buttons depending on which app is in front.
Widgets that display information on the bar.
Replacing Apple's layout entirely, or just adding to it.

The catch: it's deep. You'll spend real time in its configuration window before your bar looks the way you want, and it's a paid app with a trial. If you love tinkering and want the bar to be a control panel built exactly for your workflow, nothing else goes as far.

Best for: people who automate their Mac and want the Touch Bar to be part of that.

Pock: your Dock on the Touch Bar

Pock is a free, open-source app that moves your Dock onto the Touch Bar, along with a few small widgets. The idea is simple: hide the Dock on screen, get the space back, and launch apps from the bar.

What it's good for:

Reclaiming the strip of screen the Dock takes up.
Seeing running apps at a glance.
A more useful default bar without configuring much.

The catch: it's a community project, so updates depend on its maintainers. Check that the version you download supports your macOS before relying on it, and download it from its official project page rather than a mirror.

Best for: small-screen laptops where every pixel of display matters.

MTMR: a Touch Bar in a config file

MTMR ("My TouchBar My Rules") is another open-source replacement. Instead of a settings window, you describe your bar in a JSON file: which buttons, in what order, doing what.

What it's good for:

Developers who prefer a text file to a settings panel.
Versioning your setup or copying it between Macs.
A lean, predictable bar with exactly the buttons you list.

The catch: same as Pock. It's community maintained, so check that it's still updated for your macOS before you depend on it. And if editing JSON doesn't sound fun, it isn't for you.

Best for: programmers who want their bar to be config, not clicks.

Revive the Touchbar: a bar you actually look at

The first three apps are about controls. Revive the Touchbar is about what you see. It's a menu bar app that turns the whole Touch Bar into a full-width animated display, so the strip becomes the coolest thing on your desk instead of a row of buttons you ignore.

You pick an animation from six shelves and it runs edge to edge:

Shelf	What's on it
Ambient	Light to set a mood: Rainbow Wave, Aurora, Lava Lamp, Fireflies, Snowfall, and more.
Retro	Matrix code rain, Synthwave, Snake, a VHS glitch, a chunky equalizer.
Gaming	A health bar, an XP bar, a boss fight, a tiny pixel runner.
Productivity	A big clock, a focus timer (25 minutes on, 5 off), a live CPU and memory monitor, a countdown, year progress, a binary clock.
Memes	"Let him cook," a fake system update, a loading bar stuck at 99.
Custom	Your Text scrolling like an LED sign, and Your GIF: a GIF, image, or short clip.

Then you tune it by hand: a knob for the corner shape (square to full pill), sliders for speed, brightness, color, and width, and presets you switch between from the menu bar. New animations arrive about once a week and download into the app on their own.

What it's good for:

A glanceable clock, timer, or system monitor without a widget on your screen.
A desk setup that looks alive, on camera or off.
Putting your own words or a GIF on the bar.

The catch: it's not a button builder. When the lighting is on, the bar shows the animation; one tap gives you the normal controls back. If you want custom shortcut buttons, that's BetterTouchTool's job.

Best for: people who'd rather look at their Touch Bar than poke it. Browse every animation on the Touch Bar animations page.

How to check if an app still supports the Touch Bar

You don't need a list for the second kind of app. Your Mac can tell you:

Open the app and make it the front window.
Look at the Touch Bar. If the buttons change from the generic ones, the app has Touch Bar support.
Open the View menu. If there's a Customize Touch Bar… item, you can also rearrange its buttons: drag them down off the screen onto the bar.

If neither happens, the app doesn't support the Touch Bar, or no longer does. Since Apple stopped making Touch Bar Macs, developers have less reason to keep those buttons up to date, so treat old "this app has great Touch Bar support" claims as something to check, not a promise.

Apple's own apps are the most reliable here. Finder, Safari, Mail, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote all show their own controls, and most of them let you customize the layout.

Try the built-in options first

Before installing anything, make sure macOS isn't already doing what you want. In System Settings › Keyboard › Touch Bar Settings… you can:

Show F1–F12 all the time, or only in certain apps.
Show Quick Actions, so your Shortcuts become buttons.
Show Spaces, one button per desktop.
Rearrange the Control Strip of system buttons.

The complete Touch Bar customization guide walks through every one of these, step by step.

Before you install any Touch Bar app

A short checklist that saves headaches:

It supports your macOS. Check the app's own site or release notes for your version. This matters most for community projects.
It comes from the developer. Download from the official site, the Mac App Store, or the project's own repository, never a random mirror.
It opens without a security warning. Apps from identified developers that are notarized by Apple open normally. Revive the Touchbar is signed and notarized.
You know what permissions it asks for. Apps that create buttons for other apps often need Accessibility access to do it. Grant it only to apps you trust.
You run one bar replacement at a time. Two apps that both take over the Touch Bar can fight over it. If the bar behaves oddly, quit one.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best Touch Bar app?

It depends on what you want the bar for. BetterTouchTool is the best for custom buttons and automation, Pock for putting your Dock on the bar, and Revive the Touchbar for turning the bar into an animated display with a clock, timer, system monitor, your own text, or a GIF.

Are there free Touch Bar apps?

Yes. Pock and MTMR are free and open source. Revive the Touchbar is free to download and has a Free plan with six animations, including Matrix, Rain, and a clock; Pro Yearly or Lifetime unlock the full library.

Do Touch Bar apps still work in 2026?

Many do, but check each one. Actively developed apps keep up with new macOS versions, while community projects depend on their maintainers. Look for your macOS version in the app's release notes before you rely on it.

Can I use BetterTouchTool and Pock at the same time?

It's best not to run two apps that both replace the Touch Bar. They compete for the same strip, which can make buttons flicker or disappear. Pick one as your main bar, or quit one before using the other.

How do I know if an app has Touch Bar support?

Bring the app to the front and watch the Touch Bar: if the buttons change, it supports it. If the app's View menu has Customize Touch Bar…, you can also rearrange its buttons.

Do Touch Bar apps work on a new MacBook Pro?

No. Only MacBook Pro models sold from 2016 to 2022 have a Touch Bar. Newer MacBook Pros have a row of physical function keys instead, so there's no bar for these apps to use.