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Each app, its own speaker.

Splitwave lives in your Mac's menu bar and sends each app's sound wherever you want it. Music on your AirPods, the movie on the TV, the call on your speakers, all at the same time.

Download for Mac Try it in your browser Free and open source. macOS 14.2 or later.
Setups
Splitwave routing each app to its own output Apps on the left are wired to outputs on the right. The wiring changes with each setup.

See it in 30 seconds.

Music to the AirPods, the browser turned down, a film on two outputs, and a whole setup switched in one click.

Hear it for yourself.

Put on headphones. Your left and right ears stand in for two speakers: send each sound wherever you like and set its volume, just as you would in Splitwave.

Two sounds made in your browser: a melody and a beat. Nothing is downloaded.

Small app, lots of control.

Everything sits in one menu-bar popover. No windows, no setup wizard, no audio driver.

The Splitwave menu with an output picker and volume slider for each app.

Scriptable, too.

A command-line tool ships inside the app. Wire routes into Shortcuts, Raycast, or a script that runs when you dock your laptop.


        

        

          
Set it up once

          
Link the tool so splitwave works anywhere (macOS asks for your password):

          
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/bin
sudo ln -sf /Applications/Splitwave.app/Contents/MacOS/splitwave /usr/local/bin/splitwave

          
Or skip Terminal

          
Anything that can open a link can switch your setups: splitwave://setup/Desk from Shortcuts, Raycast or a hotkey.

        

      

    

  


  

    

      

        
Up and running in a minute.

        
Splitwave is free and isn't notarized by Apple yet, so macOS asks you to confirm it once.

      

      
    
        
  1. 
          
    Download and drag
    
          
    Open Splitwave.dmg and drag Splitwave into your Applications folder.
    
        
    2. 
        
  2. 
          
    Allow it to open
    
          
    The first launch is blocked. Open System Settings › Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway next to Splitwave.
    
        
    3. 
        
  3. 
          
    Allow system audio recording
    
          
    macOS asks before any app can capture another app's sound. Splitwave needs it to move audio, and never records or saves anything.
    
        
    4. 
      

    

  


  

    

      
      
Give every app the right speaker.

      
One small download. No driver, no account, no subscription.

      
        
        Download Splitwave
      
      
macOS 14.2 or later, Apple silicon and Intel. Release notes

    

  


  

    

      
Questions

      

        

          Does Splitwave record anything?
          
No. macOS calls the permission “system audio recording” because the same feature powers recorders, but Splitwave only passes sound from an app straight to your speakers. It has no network access, no accounts and no analytics.

        

        

          Can I send two browser tabs to different speakers?
          
Not yet. Browsers play every tab through a single process, so macOS sees the whole browser as one app. To split two sites, play them in two browsers, or save one as a Safari web app with File › Add to Dock.

        

        

          Why does one app sound out of sync on two outputs?
          
Bluetooth headphones and speakers run about 100–200 ms behind wired ones. That's fine for music in different rooms, less so in the same room.

        

        

          Does it need a driver or system extension?
          
No. Splitwave uses the audio taps built into macOS 14.2 and later. To uninstall, quit it and delete it from Applications.

        

        

          Why does macOS say it can't check the app?
          
Splitwave is free and isn't signed through Apple's paid developer program yet, so macOS asks you to confirm it once in System Settings › Privacy & Security. The source is on GitHub if you'd rather build it yourself.