Magnetite

Your MacBook’s notch, now a music player.

Hover it for Spotify or Apple Music controls, with black liquid that moves to the song.

Download for Mac

macOS 26 on Apple silicon · Free and open source · 783 KB

  1. Hover the notch to open the player.
  2. Drag its bottom edge to seek.
  3. Swipe two fingers to skip or pause.
Music becomes liquid. The ink around the notch heaves with whatever your Mac plays, and drains back when it goes quiet.
Lyrics, in time. Synced lyrics from LRCLIB scroll under the controls, if you want them.
Folded, still playing. Move away and it tucks back into the notch, keeping the cover, the elapsed time and the liquid beside the camera.
Every song, its own color. The panel’s colors come from the cover, and slowly turn.
  • The player in a dusty rose, under the cover of Pop by ILLIT.Pop
  • The player in a dark green, under the cover of Sunsetz by Cigarettes After Sex.Sunsetz
  • The player in a pale violet, under the cover of Art Deco by Lana Del Rey.Art Deco
  • The player in a deep red, under the cover of Hush by The Marías.Hush

Get Magnetite

Download v0.1.15

Needs macOS 26 on Apple silicon (Apple menu → About This Mac). Free and open source, 783 KB.

All versions and checksums

Or paste this into Terminal:

curl -fsSL https://magnetite.app/install.sh | sh

It checks the checksum and signature. Read the installer.

Opening it the first time

  1. Open the ZIP, drag Magnetite to Applications and double-click it.
  2. macOS can’t verify it, because it isn’t notarized. Click Done.
  3. In System Settings → Privacy & Security, click Open Anyway.
  4. Play something, hover the notch, and allow the two prompts.

You only do this once.

Steps 2 and 3, as they look on a Mac.

Questions

What permissions does it need?

Automation, to control Spotify or Music. System audio recording, for the liquid: the sound is read in memory and never saved or sent. No account, no tracking. Privacy details.

Do I need a Spotify account connected?

No. Likes, shuffle and repeat need a free Spotify developer app of your own; the README has the steps.

No track, or the liquid is still?

Check Automation and Screen & System Audio Recording in Privacy & Security, then quit and reopen Magnetite.

How do I update or uninstall?

Rerun the installer to update. To remove it, quit from the M menu and delete the app.