# BackgroundMusic changelog

> Background Music, a macOS audio utility: automatically pause your music, set individual apps' volumes and record system audio.

- Vendor: kyleneideck
- Category: Media
- Official site: https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic
- Tracked by: What's New (https://whatsnew.fyi/product/backgroundmusic)
- Harvested from: GitHub (kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic)
- Entries below: 10 (newest first)

What's New is an index, not a publisher: every entry below links to the vendor's own release notes, which are the authoritative source. Entries are labelled where they are hand-curated sample data, pre-releases, or drawn from a secondary source such as a developer blog.

Reuse: the summaries, labels and curation here are © What's New. Quote freely with attribution and a link back; wholesale republication of the corpus is not permitted — terms: https://whatsnew.fyi/terms. The vendors' own release notes remain their publishers'.

## Releases

### v0.5.0 — Background Music v0.5.0

- Date: 2026-06-10
- Version: v0.5.0
- Original notes: https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic/releases/tag/v0.5.0
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/backgroundmusic/releases/v0.5.0

- **added** — Per-app mute button
- **added** — Configurable auto-pause delays for better YouTube compatibility
- **changed** — Improved per-app volume support for Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, Arc Browser, NAVER Whale and Discord
- **changed** — Background Music now stops processing audio when nothing is playing so macOS won't show the microphone indicator
- **added** — Installs without needing Rosetta 2 installed
- **changed** — Turning on debug logging now also enables it in Background Music's virtual audio driver
- **fixed** — Fix a crash when an app's volume is set with no bundle ID
- **fixed** — Fix the volume icon not being centred in the menu bar
- **fixed** — Fix multiple crashes in Background Music.app
- **fixed** — Fix a theoretical crash (use-after-free) in audio playthrough
- **fixed** — Fix the "device is running" listener doing nothing
- **fixed** — Fix BGMXPCHelper showing as "Kyle Neideck" in System Settings

If you don't know which file to download, you want `BackgroundMusic-0.5.0.pkg` and you can ignore the others.

##### Changes since v0.4.3

###### New
* Per-app mute button by @TwelfthFace in #843
* Configurable auto-pause delays, for better YouTube compatibility, by @jackdrowlands in #818
* Improved per-app volume support for Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, Arc Browser, NAVER Whale and Discord. Thanks to @manzick (#741), @abdulkadiryugruk (#839) and @GloryWord (#852).
* Background Music now stops processing audio when nothing is playing, so macOS won't show the microphone indicator. It still shows while audio is playing. We're working on that. (2171d9f)
* Installs without needing Rosetta 2 installed (48bdcd1)
* Turning on debug logging now also enables it in Background Music's virtual audio driver (BGMDriver) (0f808cf)

###### Fixes
* Fix a crash when an app's volume is set with no bundle ID by @abdulkadiryugruk and @kyleneideck in #839
* Fix the volume icon not being centred in the menu bar by @7Backwards in #767
* Fix multiple crashes in Background Music.app by @johzzy in #777 and #778
* Fix a theoretical crash (use-after-free) in audio playthrough (5158af0)
* Fix the "device is running" listener doing nothing (c235bc9)
* Fix BGMXPCHelper showing as "Kyle Neideck" in System Settings (86ca21c)

###### Under the hood
* Code cleanup and refactoring to support C++11 by @johzzy in #779 and #781, and a log-message fix in #776
* Update Homebrew installation instructions by @khipp in #785
* Fix BGMDriver and BGMXPCHelper debug builds not loading on recent macOS (8769ff7)
* Fix warnings on Xcode 26.5 (f5435da)
* Remove `BGM_WrappedAudioEngine` and other dead code (035e4de)

##### New Contributors
* @manzick made their first contribution in #741
* @7Backwards made their first contribution in #767
* @johzzy made their first contribution in #776
* @khipp made their first contribution in #785
* @jackdrowlands made their first contribution in #818
* @abdulkadiryugruk made their first contribution in #839
* @TwelfthFace made their first contribution in #843
* @GloryWord made their first contribution in #852 (partially merged so far)

**Full Changelog**: https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic/compare/v0.4.3...v0.5.0

### v0.4.3 — Background Music v0.4.3

- Date: 2024-04-26
- Version: v0.4.3
- Original notes: https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic/releases/tag/v0.4.3
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/backgroundmusic/releases/v0.4.3

- **fixed** — Fix menu alignment on macOS Big Sur and later
- **changed** — Update references to System Preferences
- **fixed** — Fix installer failing in macOS 14.5
- **added** — In the About panel, link to the contributors page on GitHub
- **fixed** — Fix the About panel not always opening on macOS 14.4+
- **fixed** — Fix BGMDevice not immediately removed after uninstall on macOS 14.4
- **fixed** — Fix BGMXPCHelper not launching due to Gatekeeper in macOS 14.5

If you don't know which file to download, you want `BackgroundMusic-0.4.3.pkg` and you can ignore the others.

This release mostly fixes issues introduced in new versions of macOS.

##### Changes since v0.4.0

* Add Run / Configure instructions to README by @Kache in https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic/pull/614
* Fix menu alignment on macOS Big Sur and later by @dnicolson in https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic/pull/622
* Update references to `System Preferences` by @LawrenceWarren in https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic/pull/638
* Fix Login Items path in README by @mrbaloghakos in https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic/pull/721
* Fix installer failing in macOS 14.5. Thanks to @gchilds for solving this issue. (3097f4b6210e3ee4fedb28a23066dd90fce69f4c, #705)
* In the About panel, link to the contributors page on GitHub. (9257d50b15a011fc32142257a21039433f23c5a7)
* Fix the About panel not always opening on macOS 14.4+. (e655d571e05a7d7b91084076841508dc22d5fea1)
* Fix BGMDevice not immediately removed after uninstall on macOS 14.4. (ad14e1b0a45686555c7b568b2942a1afd108a8ed, #731)
* Fix BGMXPCHelper not launching due to Gatekeeper in macOS 14.5. (b96fcb7a47e282e4a70f57b443cf7c3f424e3da3)

**Full Changelog**: https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic/compare/v0.4.0...v0.4.3

### v0.4.0 — Background Music v0.4.0

- Date: 2022-06-15
- Version: v0.4.0
- Original notes: https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic/releases/tag/v0.4.0
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/backgroundmusic/releases/v0.4.0

- **fixed** — Ensure the installer launches BGMApp as the logged-in user
- **added** — Add app volume workaround for Google Chrome
- **changed** — BGMDriver now copies settings when a new client matches an existing one
- **fixed** — Fix stale data when recording system audio
- **added** — Add optional debug logging in release builds
- **fixed** — Fix a segfault caused by BGM_PlayThrough
- **fixed** — Fix apps failing to start audio after upgrading Background Music
- **changed** — Try to avoid using the discrete GPU on multi-GPU systems to save power
- **fixed** — Work around deadlocks when starting IO on macOS Big Sur
- **added** — Add app volume and pan setting to AppleScript
- **added** — Add a bundle ID property for apps in the AppleScript API
- **changed** — Installer now retries if opening BGMApp fails
- **fixed** — Fix dropdown arrows moving instead of performing actions
- **fixed** — Fix installer errors on macOS Monterey due to removal of Python 2
- **added** — Add app volume workaround for Microsoft Edge
- **fixed** — Fix post-install check for BGMDriver failing unnecessarily
- **added** — Show an error message if the user denies input device permissions
- **fixed** — Fix slider knob sizes
- **removed** — Drop support for macOS 10.9

If you don't know which file to download, you want `BackgroundMusic-0.4.0.pkg` and you can ignore the others.

Changes since v0.3.2:

- Make sure the installer launches BGMApp as the logged-in user. (4c7eba30afb7c19567e1920dc20d9f5558b7da37)
- Add app volume workaround for Google Chrome. See #61. (dfad77dc35cd065390cff0d870ed6bcb81042d7e)
- BGMDriver: Copy settings when a new client matches an existing one. (f61f998c5142f05fc26f412327d28bd4d7e8aece)
- Fix stale data when recording system audio #217 (40f0128dcd5319da6f1a1795c1b733a26c6fe675)
- Add optional debug logging in release builds. (2c1677305d5ce9b932965be4e4cad4187ab83610)
- Hopefully fix a segfault caused by BGM_PlayThrough. (488ed16dfce7950ac6d0aef2cd904abbe12e097e)
- Fix apps failing to start audio after upgrading Background Music. (70a64de73428820e345dbfb5b33ec51b5267afa5)
- Try to avoid using the discrete GPU on multi-GPU systems to save power. (f24a6cb2f12b35820dfc825d58d7340b72f618ba)
- Workaround deadlocks when starting IO on macOS Big Sur. (c0ab98b98b0f2fab1f1fb4ddf1b19c807e71c972)
- Added app volume and pan setting to AppleScript #457 (9765193c1fb42d28bbfc1d881424daf554e999a6)
- Add a bundle ID property for apps in the AppleScript API. (213c339309b4f65206e82a388375ed73ddc5af13)
- Installer: Retry if opening BGMApp fails. (0e0cc5fd05cf14454137ac09424897a2054546f5)
- Fix for issue #475 dropdown arrows move instead of doing something (24b248e09d727db5fdf1ca1a33efc839d537f1e7)
- Fix installer errors on macOS Monterey due to removal of Python 2 (01217d2d8c4a2a7e4fbe0c7d8e2864aa91a13fb1)
- Add app volume workaround for Microsoft Edge #597 (4608f4bbac3c1e6a1609efd596e3f021fae6bb9d)
- Installer: Fix post-install check for BGMDriver failing unnecessarily. (b2770f1793680150fa6138ed75c3a9bc5406d997)
- Show an error message if the user denies input device permissions. (89eebb0e021a8b438869ab9e563f19565e189299)
- Fix slider knob sizes. (d0482871409f1f90d16e0ec5b8e859f3ac6e03dc)
- Drop support for macOS 10.9. (d0482871409f1f90d16e0ec5b8e859f3ac6e03dc)

### 0.4.0-SNAPSHOT-b38f6dd

- Date: 2021-04-03
- Version: 0.4.0-SNAPSHOT-b38f6dd
- Original notes: https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic/releases/tag/0.4.0-SNAPSHOT-b38f6dd
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/backgroundmusic/releases/0.4.0-snapshot-b38f6dd
- Labels: Pre-release

- **added** — Added app volume and pan settings to the AppleScript API
- **added** — Add a bundle ID property for apps in the AppleScript API
- **changed** — Installer now retries if opening BGMApp fails
- **fixed** — Fix uninstall failing when BGMApp has debug symbols

ℹ️ **This version works on macOS Big Sur, but will sometimes cut off the first few milliseconds when audio starts playing.** (It doesn't have that issue on older versions of macOS.)

Changes since 0.4.0-SNAPSHOT-c0ab98b:
 - Added app volume and pan settings to the AppleScript API. Thanks to @marcuswu (#457).
 - Add a bundle ID property for apps in the AppleScript API.
 - Installer: Retry if opening BGMApp fails.
 - Fix uninstall failing when BGMApp has debug symbols.

### 0.4.0-SNAPSHOT-c0ab98b

- Date: 2020-11-26
- Version: 0.4.0-SNAPSHOT-c0ab98b
- Original notes: https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic/releases/tag/0.4.0-SNAPSHOT-c0ab98b
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/backgroundmusic/releases/0.4.0-snapshot-c0ab98b
- Labels: Pre-release

- **fixed** — Workaround deadlocks when starting IO on macOS Big Sur

ℹ️ **This version works on macOS Big Sur, but will sometimes cut off the first few milliseconds when audio starts playing.** (It doesn't have that issue on older versions of macOS.)

Changes since 0.4.0-SNAPSHOT-f24a6cb:
 - Workaround deadlocks when starting IO on macOS Big Sur. Thanks to @BlackTr.

### 0.4.0-DEBUG-f20dd57

- Date: 2020-06-22
- Version: 0.4.0-DEBUG-f20dd57
- Original notes: https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic/releases/tag/0.4.0-DEBUG-f20dd57
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/backgroundmusic/releases/0.4.0-debug-f20dd57
- Labels: Pre-release

Background Music debug version, June 22 (commit f20dd578ab99dda2b7f6b3e2a5a7ef93970017b9)

⚠️ You might need to right-click on the .pkg file and choose "Open". Please [open an issue](https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic/issues) if it still fails to install.

### 0.4.0-SNAPSHOT-f24a6cb

- Date: 2020-04-21
- Version: 0.4.0-SNAPSHOT-f24a6cb
- Original notes: https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic/releases/tag/0.4.0-SNAPSHOT-f24a6cb
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/backgroundmusic/releases/0.4.0-snapshot-f24a6cb
- Labels: Pre-release

- **changed** — Avoid using the discrete GPU on multi-GPU systems to reduce energy and battery consumption

Changes since 0.4.0-SNAPSHOT-70a64de:

 - Try to avoid using the discrete GPU on multi-GPU systems, which wastes energy/battery.

### 0.4.0-SNAPSHOT-70a64de

- Date: 2020-04-19
- Version: 0.4.0-SNAPSHOT-70a64de
- Original notes: https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic/releases/tag/0.4.0-SNAPSHOT-70a64de
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/backgroundmusic/releases/0.4.0-snapshot-70a64de
- Labels: Pre-release

- **fixed** — Fix apps failing to start audio after upgrading Background Music
- **fixed** — Fix a segfault caused by BGM_PlayThrough
- **fixed** — Fix BGMDriver and BGMXPCHelper's version strings for SNAPSHOT builds
- **added** — Add optional debug logging in release builds accessible by option-clicking the icon
- **fixed** — Fix a bug where BGMDevice would repeat old audio data when audio stopped playing if BGMApp wasn't running

Changes since 0.4.0-SNAPSHOT-bab1ec9 (the last release with a .pkg):

 - Fix apps failing to start audio after upgrading Background Music.
 - Hopefully fix a segfault caused by BGM_PlayThrough.
 - Fix BGMDriver and BGMXPCHelper's version strings for SNAPSHOT builds.
 - Add optional debug logging in release builds. Option-click the icon to show it in the menu.
 - Fix a bug where BGMDevice would repeat old audio data when audio stopped playing if BGMApp wasn't running. (Thanks to @gchilds.)

### v0.3.2 — Background Music v0.3.2

- Date: 2019-11-17
- Version: v0.3.2
- Original notes: https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic/releases/tag/v0.3.2
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/backgroundmusic/releases/v0.3.2

- **fixed** — Background Music audio device not being loaded immediately after installation on macOS Catalina by implementing an additional method of restarting coreaudiod in the installer

Changes since v0.3.1:

 - Fixed the Background Music audio device not being loaded immediately after installation on macOS Catalina. (The installer now tries an additional method of restarting coreaudiod so it will load BGMDriver.)

### 0.4.0-SNAPSHOT-bab1ec9

- Date: 2019-11-16
- Version: 0.4.0-SNAPSHOT-bab1ec9
- Original notes: https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic/releases/tag/0.4.0-SNAPSHOT-bab1ec9
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/backgroundmusic/releases/0.4.0-snapshot-bab1ec9
- Labels: Pre-release

- **changed** — Update Xcode Command Line Tools check in build_and_install.sh
- **changed** — Update MANUAL-UNINSTALL.md command to work on macOS Catalina

Changes since 0.4.0-SNAPSHOT-c024116:
 - Update the Xcode version for Travis builds and make releases drafts.
 - Update a command MANUAL-UNINSTALL.md to work on macOS Catalina.
 - build_and_install.sh: Update the Xcode Command Line Tools check.