Now Playing Notify Download

A menu bar app for Mac

Every new track. At a glance.

When Spotify starts a new song, a notification tells you what it is: the title, the artist, and the cover art. It looks like it came with your Mac.

View in the Mac App Store

macOS 13 Ventura or later
Works with the Spotify desktop app

Finder
Click ♪ in the menu bar.

Notifications

The song you just heard. Named.

Music runs behind everything else you do. When a new track starts, a notification slides in with the title, the artist, and the album, plus the cover art. Click it and Spotify opens to that song.

Native notificationsThe same banners as Mail or Messages. They follow Focus and your Notification settings.
One per songPause and resume, and you won’t get the same song twice.
SilentNo sound. A quiet banner while the music plays.

Notification Center

A quiet Notification Center. Only what’s playing now.

When the next song starts, the app removes the last one. After a full day of music, Notification Center holds one entry, not a hundred.

GroupedEntries stack under Now Playing Notify, so they never get mixed in with your messages.
Still clickableThe entry for the current song opens it in Spotify, just like the banner.

Permissions

What it asks of you. Two permissions.

macOS asks you about both once, the first time you open the app. You can change your mind any time in System Settings.

Notifications

So your Mac can show you each new song.

Spotify access

So the app can read what’s playing in the Spotify app on your Mac. It never controls playback.

Privacy

Private by design. Your listening stays yours.

Nothing collected.

No analytics and no tracking. The app doesn’t keep a record of what you listen to.

No account.

No sign-in and nothing to set up. Your one setting stays on your Mac.

Two connections. Both Spotify.

It talks to the Spotify app on your Mac, and to Spotify’s servers only to download cover art.

Questions

The liner notes. For the curious.

Everything you might wonder about between songs, from permissions to Intel Macs.

I said no to a permission. How do I fix it?

Click the note in your menu bar. The menu shows a button that opens the right page of System Settings.

Does it work with the Spotify web player?

No. It reads from the Spotify desktop app, so that app needs to be installed and playing.

What happens when Spotify isn’t running?

The app waits quietly. It stops checking for songs until Spotify opens again.

I can’t find the note in my menu bar.

Open Now Playing Notify again from your Applications folder. A window opens with your settings and a Quit button.

Does it run on Intel Macs?

Yes. It runs natively on Apple silicon and Intel.

Hear something new? Now you’ll know.

Available on the Mac App Store.

View in the Mac App Store