[macOS 26.5] Menu bar icon fails to render — NSStatusItemView scene invalidation error

[dyansamuel]

Bug Report: Menu Bar Icon Fails to Display on macOS 26.5
ZeroTier Version: 1.16.1 macOS Version: 26.5 (Build 25F71)

Summary
After upgrading to macOS 26.5, the ZeroTier menu bar icon no longer appears. The app seems unresponsive or "broken" from the user's perspective, but the underlying network daemon continues to function correctly.

What Happened
The ZeroTier UI (ZeroTier.app) fails to render its NSStatusItem (menu bar icon) after the macOS 26.5 update. The following errors are repeatedly logged in the system console:
[NSStatusItemView] No matching scene to invalidate for this identity.
[BSBlockSentinel:FBSWorkspaceScenesClient] failed!
This appears to be caused by a breaking change in macOS 26's Control Center Scene management system, which affects how menu bar status items are registered and invalidated.

What Still Works
Despite the UI failure, the core ZeroTier service remains fully operational:

zerotier-one daemon is running
Node status reports ONLINE
Joined networks show status OK
The virtual network interface (feth*) is UP and RUNNING
IP assignment and routing work as expected
This can be verified via CLI:

$ zerotier-cli status
200 info 1.16.1 ONLINE

$ zerotier-cli listnetworks
200 listnetworks OK PRIVATE feth4549 10.x.x.x/24

Steps to Reproduce
Upgrade macOS to version 26.5 (Build 25F71)
Launch /Applications/ZeroTier.app
Observe that no menu bar icon appears
Check system logs for FrontBoardServices / BaseBoard errors related to NSStatusItemView
Expected Behavior
The ZeroTier icon should appear in the macOS menu bar after launch, providing access to network management UI.

Actual Behavior
No icon appears. The process (ZeroTier, PID visible via pgrep) is running but the UI is not accessible. The system log shows scene invalidation failures tied to macOS 26's updated Control Center architecture.

Workaround
The network remains functional. Use the CLI as a temporary workaround:
zerotier-cli status
zerotier-cli listnetworks
zerotier-cli join

Environment

Field	Value
ZeroTier Version	1.16.1
macOS Version	26.5
Build	25F71
Architecture	Apple Silicon (assumed)
Installation Source	ZeroTier.app (Notarized Developer ID)

[Paraphraser]

Sounds very like the problem - and solution - that I describe in my On ZeroTier, macOS and the menu bar gist.

Although the gist was written three years ago, a comment last year suggests it is still relevant.

[Dovesoup]

I ran into what looks like the same macOS menu-bar visibility failure mode and published a small community workaround here:

https://github.com/Dovesoup/zerotier-status-macos

Observed environment / symptoms:

• macOS 26.x
• ZeroTier.app 1.16.x
• zerotier-one daemon was running
• zerotier-cli status returned a valid node status
• Launching /Applications/ZeroTier.app appeared to do nothing because the official app is menu-only (LSUIElement=YES)
• On a mirrored / crowded menu bar setup, macOS appeared to host the status item, but it was effectively not discoverable in the visible menu bar area

The workaround app does not replace ZeroTier and does not modify the daemon. It is a tiny native SwiftUI MenuBarExtra companion that talks to the already-installed service through zerotier-cli and shows:

• ZeroTier available / unavailable state
• connected vs idle state
• TCP fallback state
• joined networks and assigned addresses
• a simple join-network action

This helped in the case where the official daemon was fine but the macOS tray UI was not visible, so affected users had no obvious way to confirm whether they were connected.

Some reproduction and diagnostic notes are here:

https://github.com/Dovesoup/zerotier-status-macos/blob/main/docs/REPRODUCTION.md

Possible upstream directions, based on the observed behavior:

1. Add a defensive fallback when the status item cannot be visibly presented.
2. Consider a small diagnostic/fallback window when the app is manually launched and the tray item is not discoverable.
3. Document the macOS Menu Bar settings and Command-drag reordering workaround for affected users.

Hope this helps other users who land here while looking for a way to tell whether ZeroTier is actually running/connected on newer macOS versions.