Is there a Mac menu bar app for what needs you across Gmail, Slack and your calendar?
Updated
Short answer: Most menu bar apps cover one tool: a calendar like Itsycal or Fantastical shows your next meeting, and Slack and Gmail show their own badges and notifications. Lowtide is a Mac app that covers all three in one place: a glance in the menu bar and a full window with the replies you owe in Gmail and Slack, what you’re waiting on, and today’s meetings with what you owe the people in each.
The menu bar is the right place for this: it’s always on screen, it doesn’t take a window, and one glance is enough. The trouble is what each tool puts there. A badge counts unread messages, and most unread messages don’t need you, while the one that does is often already read. A calendar shows your next meeting but not that you still owe the person in it a reply.
What each tool gives you on its own
What you can see at a glance with each tool’s own features
| Tool | At a glance | What it misses |
|---|---|---|
| Gmail | Unread count, desktop notifications | Emails you’ve read and still owe a reply; questions you asked that nobody answered |
| Slack | Badges, notifications, reminders and saved messages | Questions in threads you’ve read; anything you didn’t think to save |
| Calendar (Itsycal, Fantastical) | Your next meeting in the menu bar | What you owe the people in it |
| macOS Notification Center | Recent notifications from every app | Order: they arrive by time, not by who’s waiting |
What a single list across all three needs to do
- Read what’s addressed to you in Gmail and Slack, and keep only what needs a reply.
- Remember the questions you asked that nobody answered, since nothing arrives to remind you of them.
- Know your meetings, and put what you owe each person next to their meeting.
- Order everything by who’s waiting and how long, not by when it arrived.
- Fit in a glance: a count or one line in the menu bar, and the full list one click away.
Doing it without a new app
Keep a menu bar calendar for meetings, star emails that need a reply in Gmail, set a Slack reminder on messages you need to answer, and go through both twice a day, starting with whoever you meet next. It works if you keep it up; what slips is the email you read on your phone and meant to come back to.
Questions people ask
Can I see Slack and Gmail in the Mac menu bar together?
Not with their own apps: each shows its own badge and notifications. An app that reads both can put what needs you from either in one place; Lowtide does this in the menu bar and in its window.
Does Lowtide replace my calendar app?
No. It reads your Google Calendar to show today’s meetings, counts down to the next one, and lists what you owe the people in each. You keep your calendar app for scheduling.
Does it work with coding agents too?
Yes. Claude Code and Codex approvals and questions show on the same list, so you can answer them without going back to the terminal.
Sources
What this guide says about other products and research comes from these sources, checked on the date above.