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            Bringing Back the Keyboard Flags in macOS 12.4 Monterey

   Josh Centers

   When Apple released macOS 12.4 Monterey, it seemed like a relatively
   minor update (see '[1]Apple Releases iOS 15.5, iPadOS 15.5, macOS 12.4,
   watchOS 8.6, tvOS 15.5, and HomePod Software 15.5,' 16 May 2022), but
   it included a small undocumented change that has irritated some users:
   it removed the colorful national flags associated with each keyboard
   input source. Previously, in System Preferences > Keyboard > Input
   Sources, you would see an American flag for the US keyboard, a Canadian
   flag for the Canadian English keyboard, a British flag for the British
   English keyboard, and so on.

   More importantly, you would also see these flags in the menu bar's
   Input menu, with the currently selected keyboard's flag showing as the
   menu icon.
   With macOS 12.4, Apple chose to replace the flags with drab
   monochromatic blocks containing a one- or two-character code to
   identify keyboards, which are nowhere near as visually distinct.

   Apple has seemingly been on a war against color for years, most notably
   in the sidebar icons of the Finder. However, Daring Fireball's John
   Gruber says that a 'little birdie' [2]told him it's a deliberate move
   on Apple's part to not denote languages using national flags.

   That makes some sense because languages aren't always neatly tied to
   countries. But why now, after decades of presenting input languages
   this way? Especially considering that macOS has long used these little
   blocks to distinguish languages that don't correspond to countries,
   such as Cherokee and Uyghur, and even some languages that would seem to
   match up, like Japanese and Thai. Regardless, there are several simple
   apps that can restore the colorful flags to your menu bar.

Keyboard Flag Solutions

   At Daring Fireball, [3]John Gruber highlighted a couple of App Store
   apps to solve this problem: the $0.99 [4]Colorful Input Menu Flags and
   the $1.99 [5]Keyboard Switcheroo. Neither app collects personal data. I
   decided to try out Keyboard Switcheroo on Gruber's recommendation since
   he felt it was the more polished of the two.

   Keyboard Switcheroo works pretty much like Apple's old Input menu, with
   the key exception being a first-launch splash screen that offers basic
   instructions and prompts you to start Keyboard Switcheroo at login.
   Click Get Started to bypass that, and if you ever need to bring it
   back, choose Options > Help from the Switcheroo menu.

   When I first installed Keyboard Switcheroo, it placed the icon at the
   far left of the menu bar. You can hold down Command and drag a menu bar
   icon to move it wherever you want it, apart from the locked right-most
   positions.

   If you choose Edit from Keyboard Switcheroo's menu, you can add
   languages directly without delving into System Preferences. (However,
   changes in Keyboard Switcheroo aren't reflected in System Preferences
   and vice versa.) You can also customize the language icons, choosing
   from the standard flag image, the flag's emoji, text labels, or any
   image on your Mac.

   So there you have it: a simple solution for a small but annoying change
   in macOS 12.4.

References

   Visible links
   1. https://tidbits.com/2022/05/16/apple-releases-ios-15-5-ipados-15-5-macos-12-4-watchos-8-6-tvos-15-5-and-homepod-software-15-5/
   2. https://daringfireball.net/linked/2022/06/14/macos-12-input-menu-flags
   3. https://daringfireball.net/2022/06/two_new_apps_to_flag
   4. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/colorful-input-menu-flags/id1630533969?mt=12
   5. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/keyboard-switcheroo/id1630573891?mt=12

   Hidden links:
   6. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2022/07/System-Preferences-keyboard-flags.png
   7. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2022/07/Menu-bar-flags.png
   8. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2022/07/Menu-bar-no-flags.png
   9. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2022/07/Keyboard-Switcheroo-splash.png
  10. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2022/07/Keyboard-Switcheroo.png
  11. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2022/07/Keyboard-Switcheroo-edit.png

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