UTCMenuClock is a lightweight macOS menubar app that keeps Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) visible at all times. It is handy for operations teams, distributed work, aviation, astronomy, or anyone who needs a reliable UTC reference next to the system clock.
- UTC clock in the menu bar using monospaced digits for stable alignment.
- Toggle 24-hour/12-hour display, seconds, date, Julian day, and timezone suffix.
- ISO-8601 override for the menubar text plus “Copy as ISO-8601.”
- Copy the current UTC timestamp (using your selected format) to the clipboard.
- “Open at Login” toggle built into the menu.
- Grab the unsigned universal binary:
downloads/UTCMenuClock_v1.4_universal.zip. - Because the app is unsigned, macOS will warn on first launch. Use
Right Click > Opento allow it, or permit it under System Settings → Privacy & Security.
- Requirements: macOS 15+, Xcode 16 (project is updated for ARC).
- Open
UTCMenuClock.xcodeproj, select theUTCMenuClockscheme, then build & run. - The built app will appear in Xcode’s derived data under
build/Release/UTCMenuClock.appwhen using a Release build.
- Launching the app adds the UTC clock to the menu bar; click it to open the menu.
- Menu items:
Copycopies the current UTC string using your chosen format.Copy as ISO-8601copies an ISO-8601 UTC timestamp.- Toggles:
24 HR Time,Show Date,Show Seconds,Show Julian Date,Show Time Zone,Show ISO8601 Instead. Open at Logintoggles a login item;Quitexits the app.
- When
Show ISO8601 Insteadis enabled, the other format toggles are disabled and the menubar displays a full ISO-8601 string.
- Unsigned app: allow it via
Right Click > Openor Security settings after the first block. - If the clock stops updating after sleep, toggle a preference or restart the app to rebuild the timer (the app also listens for wake events).
- Built and maintained by John Adams (
jna@retina.net). - LaunchAtLoginController by Ben Clark-Robinson (
ben.clarkrobinson@gmail.com). - Licensed under the Apache License 2.0. See
LICENSEfor details.