Night Bus Home Lumen Field
1:08-2:14

with the windows down

Night drive Focus Kyiv mornings Liked music

Up Next

  1. Paper MoonsOrla Vey3:48
  2. Kyiv, 5 a.m.Teo Brann3:07
24:59
In 5 minutesDesign review Join
ConnectedAirPods Pro 82

Brimtune for Mac

Your notch, playing along.

Brimtune turns the notch on your Mac into a small stage for whatever you're listening to. Cover, controls and lyrics, right where your eyes already are.

Download for Mac

Free. macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon and Intel.

Hover the island at the top to try it.

01 Lock screen

A better lock screen.

Music, lyrics and your playlists, before you even sign in.

02 Quiet by design

Quiet by design.

No Dock icon, no window, no fan noise. Brimtune waits for something to happen instead of constantly checking, so your Mac barely notices it's there.

1.5%of one core, with music paused

36MBof memory

0accounts, ads or trackers

03 It keeps going

  1. It lives in the notch.

    A slim strip around the notch: the cover on one side, a live waveform on the other. Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music or Spotify in Safari and Chrome.

  2. Hover, and it opens up.

    Cover, progress, play and skip. Move away and it tucks itself back in.

  3. Lyrics, word by word.

    Synced lyrics light up as they're sung. Running early or late? Click the line being sung and it catches up.

  4. Find any song.

    Type right in the island, press Return, and it plays in YouTube Music.

  5. Your playlists, and what's next.

    Open any playlist from your YouTube Music account, see every song and play the one you want. Up Next shows what's coming.

  6. Timers and a stopwatch.

    Start one from the menu bar. It counts down next to the cover, and tells you when it's done.

  7. Meetings, five minutes ahead.

    From your calendar, with a button that joins the call.

  8. AirPods, the moment they connect.

    With their battery, so you know before the call starts.

04 Full-screen player

A player that breathes.

Click the cover and your whole screen fills with its colours, slowly moving, with the lyrics beside it. Keep scrolling to sing along.

Night Bus HomeLumen Field

We took the long way home

with the windows down

and the city humming

a song we didn't know

every light turned green

like it knew the words

so we sang it anyway

The waveform follows what your Mac plays. It listens in memory and never records.

05 And the little things

Small, and everywhere you need it.

Everything you played.

Your listening history, grouped by day. Click a song to hear it again.

  • Kyiv, 5 a.m.Teo Brann, YouTube Music09:12
  • Paper MoonsOrla Vey, Spotify08:58
  • Night Bus HomeLumen Field, Apple Music08:41
  • GlasshouseMira Sol, SpotifyYesterday

Every display.

Around the notch on your MacBook. On an external display, a small island floats at the top.

Out of the way, in the menu bar.

A tiny island icon holds the rest: timers, the stopwatch, history and the full-screen player.

Updates arrive on their own.

New versions download quietly and keep your permissions. You'll see what changed.

Free. Really.

No account, no ads, no trial, no tracking.

06 The idea

Good luck going back.

It sits in the notch doing nothing at all, until there's something worth seeing. Then it shows you, and gets out of the way.

07 Install

Install in a minute.

  1. Download Brimtune and open the file.
  2. Drag Brimtune into Applications in the window that appears.
  3. Open it. The first time, macOS may say it can't verify the developer: Brimtune is free and signed by its maker rather than through Apple's paid programme. Open System Settings, go to Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway. You do this once.
  4. Follow the setup guide. It asks for each permission and explains what it's for. Every extra is optional.
Privacy & Security

Security

Allow applications fromApp Store & Known Developers

“Brimtune” was blocked to protect your Mac.

Open Anyway

FileVault

Lockdown Mode

08 Questions

Before you ask.

Will it slow down my Mac or drain the battery?

No. It waits for something to happen instead of constantly checking. With music paused it uses around 1.5% of one processor core and 36 MB of memory.

Does my Mac need a notch?

No. On Macs and external displays without one, Brimtune shows a small floating island at the top centre of the screen, and only when something's playing.

Which music apps work?

The Apple Music and Spotify apps, and YouTube Music or Spotify in Safari or Chrome. For covers, progress, Up Next and your playlists from the browser, turn on Allow JavaScript from Apple Events: in Safari it's under Settings, Advanced, "Show features for web developers", then the Developer tab. The setup guide shows you where.

Why does macOS warn me the first time I open it?

Apple only skips that warning for developers in its paid programme. Brimtune is signed by its maker, so macOS asks you to confirm once in Privacy & Security. After that it opens like any other app, and updates keep your permissions.

What does it do with my data?

Nothing leaves your Mac except the song details needed to find lyrics and covers. There's no account and no tracking. The privacy policy lists exactly what goes where.

How do I remove it?

Choose Quit Brimtune from its menu bar icon, then drag Brimtune from Applications to the Bin. To remove its history too, delete the folder Library/Application Support/Brimtune in your home folder.

Give your notch something to do.

Download for Mac

Free. For macOS 14 or later, on Apple silicon and Intel.