User Guide

1Getting Started

MACA is a menu-bar app. After installation, a small icon appears in the macOS menu bar (top-right area of your screen). Click it to open the main popup window.

First Launch

On first launch, a setup wizard guides you through:

• Welcome — an overview of the permissions MACA needs.
• Audio Permission — MACA uses Core Audio Taps to control per-app audio. A button opens System Settings so you can grant access if prompted.
• Notifications — optional. Enables alerts when audio issues are detected or automatically repaired.
• Finish — a summary of your choices. You can go back and change any step.

Launch at Login

To start MACA automatically when you log in, enable “Launch at Login” in Settings › General.

2Menu Bar Icon

MACA lives in the menu bar. You can choose between four icon styles in Settings › General:

Level Meter Details

The level meter updates 10 times per second and displays the combined audio level of all apps currently controlled by MACA.

• Clipping detection — when audio peaks above 98% on either channel, that bar flashes fully red for 200 milliseconds.
• Energy optimization — the meter pauses automatically when the display is asleep and resets cleanly on wake.

Additional Icon Behaviors

• Animation — when enabled, the icon animates while any app is playing audio. Does not apply to the Level Meter style.
• Auto-Hide — when enabled, the menu-bar icon hides after 5 minutes of no audio activity. It reappears instantly when any app starts playing audio.

3Main Popup Window

Click the menu-bar icon to open the main popup. It contains the following sections, from top to bottom:

Master Volume

A horizontal slider at the top controls the system master volume (0–100%). To the left and right of the slider:

• Mute All — mutes every app at once. Press again to unmute.
• Focus Mode — mutes all apps except communication apps.
• Normalizer — automatically balances audio levels across apps. (Pro)

Search and Sort

• Search field — type to filter the app list by name. Recently used apps that are not currently active also appear with a “Launch” button.
• Sort order — choose between Alphabetical (A–Z) and Recent Activity.

Profile Picker

A dropdown menu lets you activate, deactivate or manage saved audio profiles.

App List

Shows all apps currently producing audio. Each app has its own row with volume controls.

• A green dot indicates the app is currently playing audio.
• A red speaker-slash badge indicates the app is muted.

System Processes

A collapsible section labeled “System Services” shows system-level audio processes such as phone calls, notifications and screen sharing. Hidden by default — enable it in Settings › General.

Secondary Devices

A collapsible section showing volume controls for all connected output devices other than the default device.

Footer

• Default Output Device — a dropdown to change the system-wide default audio output. Devices are grouped into Local, Bluetooth and AirPlay sections.
• Settings (gear icon) — opens the Settings window.
• Quit (power icon) — shows a confirmation dialog, then quits MACA. All audio taps and virtual devices are cleaned up on exit.

4Per-App Volume Control

Each app in the list shows its own controls:

How It Works

MACA uses Apple Core Audio Taps to intercept each app's audio stream. Volume is applied in real time using digital signal processing. All audio channels pass through unmodified — only the gain is adjusted. Per-app volume and mute are free for every app, with no limit.

5Per-App Audio RoutingPro

Click the speaker/device icon on any app row to open the output device picker. This lets you send an individual app's audio to a different output device than the system default — and one app can play through up to four devices at once.

Device Picker

• Use System Default — routes this app through the default output. This is the default behavior.
• Available Devices — lists all connected output devices: built-in speakers, USB audio interfaces, HDMI outputs, Bluetooth headphones and more.
• Bluetooth Section — shows paired Bluetooth audio devices separately.

6Per-App EqualizerPro

Click the EQ button on any app row to open a separate 10-band equalizer window for that app.

EQ Window Controls

Custom EQ ProfilesPro

Create custom EQ profiles in Settings › Equalizer. Custom profiles appear at the top of the preset picker in every EQ window. You can rename, edit and delete custom profiles from Settings.

EQ in Settings

Settings › Equalizer shows an overview of all custom EQ profiles and all apps with configured EQ settings. From there you can open any app's EQ window, reset an app's EQ, or manage your custom profiles.

7Focus Mode

Focus Mode mutes all audio except your communication apps — pre-configured for 160+ apps like Teams, Discord, Zoom and FaceTime. Activate it by:

• Clicking the phone icon in the master-controls area of the main popup.
• Using the keyboard shortcut (default: Option + Command + F).

When active, the phone icon turns green. Press again or use the shortcut to deactivate.

8Audio NormalizerPro

The Normalizer automatically balances audio levels across all apps so no single app is significantly louder or quieter than the others.

Activate it by clicking the normalizer toggle in the master-controls area. When it is actively adjusting levels by more than 0.5 dB, a small gain indicator appears next to the toggle:

• Colored orange when boosting (positive dB).
• Colored cyan when cutting (negative dB).

9Profiles

Profiles save a snapshot of your audio configuration — per-app volume, mute state, output-device assignment and EQ settings — so you can switch between setups with one click. Free includes 1 profile; Pro unlocks unlimited profiles.

Creating a Profile

• Open Settings › Profiles.
• Click the “+” button.
• Enter a name and choose an icon from the grid (10 icons available).
• Optionally enable “Capture current state” to save all running apps' current settings into the new profile.

Activating a Profile

• From the profile-picker dropdown in the main popup.
• From Settings › Profiles by hovering over a profile and clicking the checkmark, or double-clicking it.
• Via the Shortcuts app: the “Load Profile” action.

Auto-Save

Each profile has an Auto-Save toggle. When enabled, any volume, mute, device or EQ changes you make while the profile is active are automatically saved back to the profile.

Editing a Profile

In Settings › Profiles, select a profile and click the edit button. The detail view shows:

• Icon picker (dropdown menu with SF Symbols).
• Name field.
• A list of all apps in the profile, each with: icon, name, mute toggle, volume slider, output-device picker, EQ preset picker and a remove button.
• An “Add App” button to include additional apps from the running list or history.

10Secondary Devices

The Secondary Devices section at the bottom of the main popup shows volume controls for all connected output devices other than the current default device. Each device row includes:

• Device icon (based on transport type: built-in, USB, Bluetooth, HDMI, etc.).
• Device name.
• Volume slider.
• Mute button.
• Info button (opens a popover with device details).

11Keyboard Shortcuts

MACA supports global keyboard shortcuts that work from any app. Configure them in Settings › Shortcuts.

Default Shortcuts

Customizing Shortcuts

Click the recorder field next to any shortcut to assign a new key combination. Press your desired shortcut, then click elsewhere to confirm. Use the “Reset to Defaults” button to restore all shortcuts to their original values.

12Siri & Shortcuts App

Open the Shortcuts app, create a new shortcut and search for “MACA” to find these actions — so you can automate MACA from Siri and system automations:

13Settings

Open Settings from the gear icon in the main popup footer, or by right-clicking the menu-bar icon.

General

App Visibility

Control which apps appear in the main popup.

• Toggle visibility for individual apps (eye icon).
• Search by app name or bundle identifier.
• Filter to show hidden apps only.
• “Show All Apps” resets all apps to visible.
• “Clear History” removes the record of previously seen apps.

Device Visibility

Control which output devices appear in the Secondary Devices section.

• Toggle visibility for individual devices (eye icon).
• Search by device name.
• Each device shows its transport type and unique identifier.
• “Show All Devices” resets all to visible.
• “Clear History” removes the record of previously seen devices.

System

About

• MACA version and build number.
• Pro or Free tier badge.
• For Pro users: a thank-you message. For Free users: an “Upgrade to Pro” button.
• Links to the MACA website, support email, App Store page and version history.

14Audio Health Monitor

MACA runs an automatic health check every 30 seconds in the background. It looks for:

• Orphaned aggregate devices — left over from previous crashes or abnormal terminations.
• Orphaned audio taps — that are no longer connected to a running app.
• Competing apps — that may interfere with MACA.

When an issue is found, MACA attempts to repair it automatically. You can review repairs in Settings › System › Repair History.

Cleanup on Quit

When you quit MACA (or if the process is terminated by SIGTERM, SIGINT or SIGQUIT), all audio taps and aggregate devices are destroyed to leave your system in a clean state.

15Free vs Pro

Per-app volume and mute are free for all your apps, with no limit and no account. Pro adds the studio tools:

To upgrade, click “Upgrade to Pro” in Settings › About, or the lock icon on any Pro feature. Pro is a monthly or yearly subscription, or a one-time Lifetime purchase — see the pricing section on the home page. The purchase is handled through the App Store and can be restored on any device signed in with the same Apple ID.

16Troubleshooting

The most common topics and their quick fixes:

No apps appear in the list

Make sure MACA has audio permission (Core Audio Taps). Reopen the setup wizard via Settings › General › “Show welcome screen again” and grant access. Only apps currently producing audio are listed — use the search field to launch a recently used app.

The level meter shows no activity

The meter pauses while the display is asleep. If an app is playing but shows no level, check that it isn't muted and that MACA is controlling it.

Audio sounds distorted

Reset the app's EQ to flat (0 dB) in its EQ window, and turn off the normalizer boost if levels are already high.

An app disappeared, or audio misbehaves after a crash

MACA's health monitor repairs orphaned taps and aggregate devices every 30 seconds; you can also run a manual check in Settings › System › Run Health Check. On quit, MACA cleans up all taps and virtual devices.

MACA is missing from the menu bar

Auto-Hide hides the icon after 5 minutes of silence; it returns the moment audio starts. You can disable Auto-Hide in Settings › General.

Competing audio software

Settings › System lists apps that may conflict with MACA's audio processing, so you can spot and close them.

Still stuck? Reach us at support@getmaca.de or the Discord community.

17Local Control APIPro

MACA provides a local REST API that lets you control every audio-producing app programmatically — perfect for automation workflows, Stream Deck integrations, smart-home setups and custom scripts. The API runs locally on your Mac on port 59622, defaults to localhost-only, and never sends data to any external server.

Optional: control from other devices on your network

An opt-in LAN mode lets other devices on the same home network reach the API — handy for a Stream Deck on another machine or a smart-home hub. Enable it only on networks you trust: the connection is plain HTTP without TLS, so treat it like any other unencrypted home-network service.

Check if MACA is running

curl http://127.0.0.1:59622/v1/status

Read endpoints (no authentication required)

Write endpoints (Bearer token required)Pro

Example: change an app's volume

curl -X PUT http://127.0.0.1:59622/v1/apps/com.spotify.client/volume \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"volume": 0.5}'

The API is local-only. All communication stays on your machine — no data is sent to any external server.