Version 3.3.1: Dock icon doesn't disappear

stefandesu

Hi,

there is a change in dock icon behavior from 3.3.0 to 3.3.1. Previously, if you closed the OpenVPN Connect main window (using the X), it stayed open in the background via the menu bar item, but the dock icon disappeared. With 3.3.1, the dock icon stays there, and the only way to remove it is to completely quit OpenVPN Connect.

Is it possible to restore the previous behavior? Thanks!

(I've reverted to 3.3.0 for now because I don't want the icon permanently in my dock.)

openvpn_inc

Hello stefandesu,

This is a case of "impossible to please everyone". We changed this behavior like this just because people were asking us to change it. Now you're asking to change it back. Sorry. The way it is now is the way it is now. You may put in a feature request at https://openvpn.net/support and if there's enough people asking for it then we'll consider it.

Kind regards,
Johan

pedroscamara

I second this! And I didn't find the "suggest new feature" section.

I'd also like to add that many programs have the option of showing or not the dock icon, such as OneDrive (picture below). I find that's the case for most softwares one can access through the menu bar (which is the case of OpenVPN Connect...). That would be the "possible to please everyone" solution, in my opinion.

amalyshev

I just registered to report the same issue. This is my first post on the forum. 🙂

jdonnici

This is a case of "impossible to please everyone". We changed this behavior like this just because people were asking us to change it. Now you're asking to change it back. Sorry. The way it is now is the way it is now.

You've added a preference for "colorful" vs "monochrome" menu icon, but a "Hide app icon from Dock" option isn't reasonable?

blinkingline

openvpn_inc wrote Hello stefandesu,

This is a case of "impossible to please everyone". We changed this behavior like this just because people were asking us to change it. Now you're asking to change it back. Sorry. The way it is now is the way it is now. You may put in a feature request at https://openvpn.net/support and if there's enough people asking for it then we'll consider it.

Kind regards,
Johan

This is a pretty crap response from a user perspective. In general you don't want to take away options from users, but rather provide users with additional options.

Not only that, there's absolutely NOTHING about it in the release notes, which AT THE VERY LEAST would have saved the time of at least one user who now has spent the time looking at the forums for your garbage response.

blinkingline

For anyone else who want to follow this, I've opened a support ticket: https://support.openvpn.com/hc/en-us/requests/394476

amidr

i was also facing the same issue

stefandesu

openvpn_inc wrote Hello stefandesu,

This is a case of "impossible to please everyone". We changed this behavior like this just because people were asking us to change it. Now you're asking to change it back. Sorry. The way it is now is the way it is now. You may put in a feature request at https://openvpn.net/support and if there's enough people asking for it then we'll consider it.

Kind regards,
Johan

Hello,

I appreciate the reply, but I disagree. As others have stated, it's possible to please everyone by making it an option. Shouldn't be a big deal either; many other apps have it.

I won't open a support ticket since blinkingline has already done it. Thanks!

kelly.clowers

openvpn_inc wrote Hello stefandesu,

This is a case of "impossible to please everyone". We changed this behavior like this just because people were asking us to change it. Now you're asking to change it back. Sorry. The way it is now is the way it is now. You may put in a feature request at https://openvpn.net/support and if there's enough people asking for it then we'll consider it.

Kind regards,
Johan

Are you kidding me???? There's a real easy solution to this, it's called "give us an option in settings".
These people I swear...

kelly.clowers

Anyone have a link for 3.3.0 or even 3.2.x or something?

openvpn_inc

Hi all,

I myself am a new Mac user. I had not yet noticed this issue, or I guess I don't think of it as a problem because I like having it in the dock (I often need to connect/disconnect for testing things.) I will ask again (the #394476 ticket was closed back in October), but I have litlle/no familiarity with the source code to know how possible a "hide" option would be. Also note that we have to try to keep the same basic UI across multiple operating systems, so a Mac-only feature is unlikely.

I will point out that Mac users also have the choices of the Tunnelblick open source client, as well as the community openvpn(8) software. I think both should be available in Macports or Homebrew. Tunnelblick has pre-compiled downloads, but the community software is only distributed as source code.

Perhaps one of those would be more to your liking? OpenVPN truly is "open", we do not lock you in to proprietary software, as seems to be the norm in the Mac world.

hth, regards, rob0

openvpn_inc

Hi again,

I got word back from the Connect development team. A feature request ticket has been added, but don't expect it immediately. Probably Q2 or Q3 2022. If I have a Support ticket with this thread's link I can get notified when the feature is released, and I'll know to update this thread.

regards, rob0

kelly.clowers

kelly.clowers wrote Anyone have a link for 3.3.0 or even 3.2.x or something?

using info about the URL from homebrew, and the version numbers in the release notes, I found the URL for version 3.3.0, which does not have this change:

https://swupdate.openvpn.net/downloads/connect/openvpn-connect-3.3.0.3924_signed.dmg

I will stay on that until an update fixes this issue.

j7c5

Hiding the application's icon from the dock can be accomplished by launching from the terminal with the minimize flag.
/Applications/OpenVPN\ Connect/OpenVPN\ Connect.app/Contents/MacOS/OpenVPN\ Connect --minimize

Automator can be used to create an application > shell script icon that can launch OpenVPN hidden from the dock.

This explains how to use automater and you can set up your script to run on login
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6442364/running-script-upon-login-mac

leto

Thank you to all the people that have analysed this. I have just installed OpenVPN on a new MacBook and was surprised when the icon just stuck around, as I am so used to it disappearing. This is the kind of behaviour I expect from anything that has icons in the sys tray area. But still, many apps do have this at least as an option.

I suspect that it is similar on Windows, where there is a sys tray and a task bar. Some people want to see the big application icon because they only use VPN for short periods, or just for comfort. Then there are others like me that want it to disappear because I leave VPN on all day.

Being a cross platform app will always complicate things like this, especially as it targets mobile devices as well that don't even have the concept of a sys tray icon, or indeed even of a window. But still, I hope that there is a way to provide an option, as this is a very important usability feature, no matter how much one or two people may disagree, a substantial portion of actual users get distracted by too much clutter on their desktops.

Well, thanks to this thread, I quickly found out why the app icon was there, and followed the link to downgrade. So I am sorted for now. Fingers crossed for a future version.

aab203

Hi @rob0 is there an update as to when we can expect to see this option in the macOS client? You said Q2/Q3 this year, but wanted to know if this is still the case or not.

Thanks!

cheapeone

Hi, found this thread after starting to use openvpn and confused why the dock icon would not disappear with no option to hide. Excited to have this option soon to unclutter my dock, is this still Q2/Q3? I see the last reply is a few weeks old wanted to bump again and +1 this, thanks!

GrowfyBruce

New OpenVPN user and, as soon as I got my connection working, this was the first thing I searched Google about.

C'mon guys, you know enough to have a tray icon - there's no point in forcing users to have an icon in the dock _as well_.

logi

Same situation here, how after 10 months this feature request hasn't been addressed? It seems there are a lot of us, very interested in this functionality