Unglitch
Your Mac's Bluetooth and sound, kept in working order.
Unglitch is a small menu bar app. It notices when headphones drop to call quality, when devices do not come back after sleep, or when sound starts to crackle, and puts it right.
What goes wrong, and what Unglitch does about it
These are the fixes people usually find in forum threads and run by hand. Unglitch runs them for you.
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Headphones or a mouse do not come back after your Mac wakes up.
Reconnects after sleep. Unglitch remembers which Bluetooth devices were connected before sleep and reconnects the ones that are missing after wake.
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Music turns muffled the moment a call or recording app starts.
Keeps headphones out of call mode. It detects that a Bluetooth microphone has pulled your headphones into low-quality call mode and switches the input to your Mac's built-in mic.
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The call ended, but the sound still feels flat.
Unsticks low quality. It detects headphones left in call quality while nothing is using their microphone, and reconnects them.
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Sound crackles, or there is no sound at all.
One-click sound fix. It re-selects your output device or resets its sample rate - the step that often saves you a restart.
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A device says "connected" but nothing plays.
One-click Bluetooth restart. It turns Bluetooth off and on, then reconnects the devices you had connected before.
New in this build
In the current build. Tested on one headphone model so far.
- Connect any paired device with one click from the menu
- Auto-connect your favorite headphones, including non-Apple headphones that do not reconnect on their own
- A global "Fix now" keyboard shortcut that you choose yourself
- A switch to never use a Bluetooth microphone
- An app window for settings, devices and the full history of fixes
- You choose what the menu shows
How it works
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It waits in the menu bar
Unglitch watches for sleep and wake, and for changes to your sound input and output. It stays out of the Dock until you open its window.
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It tells you what it found
When it detects a known problem, the menu bar icon gets a dot and the menu names the problem in plain words.
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You fix it, or it does
Click Fix, or turn on automatic fixing. The menu shows the latest result, and the app window keeps the full history.
Questions
Is it safe?
Unglitch runs on your Mac and changes only three kinds of things: which sound input and output is selected, whether a Bluetooth device is connected, and - when you ask - turning Bluetooth off and on. It has no account. It shares anonymous usage data, which you can turn off.
Why is it not on the Mac App Store?
Restarting Bluetooth and reconnecting devices need system access that App Store apps are not allowed to have. Unglitch will be a direct download instead.
Which headphones does it work with?
It is built for any Bluetooth headphones paired with your Mac, AirPods or not. It is early: testing across headphone models has only just started, and behavior can differ from one model to the next.
What data does it send?
Which version of Unglitch and macOS you run, which fix ran and whether it worked, and a random install number so installs can be counted. Never device names, what you listen to, or anything that identifies you. Turn it off in the app window under General > Privacy. This site counts page views and downloads without cookies.
How do updates work?
From version 0.1.3 on, Unglitch checks this site for a newer version and offers it in the menu and the app window. One click downloads it, replaces the app and reopens it. Older copies need one manual download.
macOS says it cannot verify the app. How do I open it?
This early build is not yet signed with an Apple Developer ID, so macOS blocks it the first time. Drag Unglitch to Applications and open it once, then go to System Settings > Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. A signed build is planned. If you would rather wait for it, do.
Does it need admin rights?
No. The current version does not ask for an admin password. macOS will ask you once to allow Bluetooth access.
How much will it cost?
Pricing has not been announced yet.
Which Macs can run it?
Macs with Apple silicon running macOS 13 or later.