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MacOS Monterrey focus mode clock unreadable

Is there a way to turn off the "feature" where the clock in my menu bar becomes unreadable and black when the system goes into any of the "focus modes"? Just because I'm in "work" mode doesn't mean that I don't need to know the time... in fact, I need to know the time even more!

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 12.0

Posted on Nov 21, 2021 4:40 PM

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Posted on Dec 1, 2021 5:15 AM

I just had this issue and was able to solve it!


You have to make sure the new "Focus" icon is visible when Focus mode is active, otherwise the clock becomes unreadable.


Go to Settings -> Dock & Menu Bar > Focus and change the setting to "When active".


My theory is that there needed to be a way to know if Focus mode was enabled even if you hide the little icon, so hiding the clock was their way? Somehow the clock widget is related to the Focus setting since you can option-click the clock and it will toggle Focus mode on and off, making the clock visible again.


6 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 1, 2021 5:15 AM in response to yashodhan

I just had this issue and was able to solve it!


You have to make sure the new "Focus" icon is visible when Focus mode is active, otherwise the clock becomes unreadable.


Go to Settings -> Dock & Menu Bar > Focus and change the setting to "When active".


My theory is that there needed to be a way to know if Focus mode was enabled even if you hide the little icon, so hiding the clock was their way? Somehow the clock widget is related to the Focus setting since you can option-click the clock and it will toggle Focus mode on and off, making the clock visible again.


Feb 18, 2022 11:29 AM in response to zingbat

zingbat wrote:

This has been driving me nuts for months. Thanks for the help. Apple folks, if you're listening, you should really make robgongora's setting the default, or at least make it easier to find how to control the clock-blocking feature. I'd have never intuited that turning on the icon was how to make the clock not do that.

Tell Apple yourself via Feedback - macOS - Apple.  Apple engineers don't peruse these forums. They are strictly user to user.


MacOS Monterrey focus mode clock unreadable

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