SmartPause icon
SmartPause icon

SmartPause

SmartPause is a macOS menu bar utility that fixes a small daily annoyance: pressing play/pause opens Apple Music instead of pausing the YouTube tab or Spotify that is actually making sound. macOS sends the media key to whatever it last remembers as "Now Playing";...

SmartPause screenshot 1

Cost / License

  • Free
  • Open Source (MIT)

Platforms

  • Mac
SmartPause screenshot 1
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Features

  1.  Supports audio media keys
  2.  Sits in the menu bar

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GitHub repository

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  •  0 Forks
  •  0 Open Issues
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What is SmartPause?

SmartPause is a macOS menu bar utility that fixes a small daily annoyance: pressing play/pause opens Apple Music instead of pausing the YouTube tab or Spotify that is actually making sound. macOS sends the media key to whatever it last remembers as "Now Playing"; SmartPause asks Core Audio which app is outputting audio right now and sends the command there.

When two apps are playing, a single press switches between them (the playing one pauses, the other resumes) and a double press plays or pauses the selected one. A small widget in the top right shows what happened and what the next press will do. If nothing is playing, the key is handed back to macOS and the widget shows which app macOS started.

Supports Spotify, Apple Music, VLC, Chrome, Brave and Safari. Unlike noTunes, which only blocks Apple Music from launching, SmartPause routes the key to the right app and handles the two-sources case. Unlike BeardedSpice, it needs no browser extensions.

Free and open source under the MIT license. No analytics, no account, no network access. The only permission it needs is Accessibility, to see the media keys. Requires macOS 14.2 or newer, Apple Silicon and Intel. Interface in English and Turkish. Installs with Homebrew or as a zip.