SwiftMediaBar

A sleek macOS menu bar application that displays your currently playing media information right in your menu bar. SwiftMediaBar provides a clean, unobtrusive way to see what's playing across all your media applications.

Features

• Real-time Media Display: Shows currently playing song, artist, and album in your menu bar
• Universal Compatibility: Works with Apple Music, Spotify, and other media applications
• Album Artwork: Displays album artwork when available
• Playback Status: Shows play/pause status and progress information
• Clean Interface: Minimalist design that doesn't clutter your menu bar
• Lightweight: Runs efficiently in the background with minimal resource usage
• Auto-refresh: Updates every 5 seconds to keep information current

Screenshots

Media Playing

No Media Playing

Menu Bar Display

The app shows a compact view of your current media in the menu bar:

♪ Artist Name - Song Title

Detailed Popover

Click the menu bar item to see detailed information including:

• Album artwork
• Full song title, artist, and album
• Playback status
• Additional metadata (genre, track number, source app)

Requirements

• macOS: Compatible with all macOS versions including the latest macOS Sonoma
• media-control: Version 0.7.2 (automatically handles media information retrieval)
• Xcode: 15.0 or later (for building from source)

Installation

Option 1: Download Pre-built App (Recommended)

1. Download the latest release from the Releases page
2. Unzip the downloaded file
3. Move SwiftMediaBar.app to your Applications folder
4. Install the required dependency (see below)

Option 2: Build from Source

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/bilipp/SwiftMediaBar.git
   cd SwiftMediaBar

2. Open the project in Xcode:

   open SwiftMediaBar.xcodeproj

3. Build and run the project (⌘+R)

Installing media-control Dependency

SwiftMediaBar requires the media-control command-line tool to function. Install it using Homebrew:

brew install media-control

Important: Only version 0.7.2 of media-control has been tested and confirmed to work with SwiftMediaBar. If you encounter issues, ensure you're using this specific version:

brew install media-control@0.7.2

Usage

Getting Started

1. Launch SwiftMediaBar from your Applications folder
2. The app will appear in your menu bar with a musical note (♪) icon
3. Start playing music in any supported application
4. The menu bar will update to show your current media information

Menu Bar Display

• No Media: Shows "♪" when nothing is playing
• Loading: Shows "♪ Loading..." while fetching information
• Playing: Shows "♪ Artist - Song Title" (truncated to fit)
• Error: Shows "♪ Error" if there's an issue

Detailed View

Click the menu bar item to open a popover with detailed information:

• Album artwork (when available)
• Full song title, artist, and album names
• Playback status (playing/paused)
• Additional metadata like genre and track number
• Source application information

Quitting the App

Click the menu bar item and select "Quit SwiftMediaBar" from the popover.

Supported Applications

SwiftMediaBar works with any application that provides media information through macOS's Media Remote framework, including:

• Apple Music
• Spotify
• iTunes
• VLC
• QuickTime Player
• Safari (for web-based media)
• Chrome (for web-based media)
• And many more!

Configuration

SwiftMediaBar works out of the box with minimal configuration needed. The app automatically:

• Updates every 5 seconds
• Truncates long titles to fit in the menu bar
• Handles different media sources
• Manages album artwork display

Customization Options

Currently, SwiftMediaBar focuses on simplicity and doesn't require configuration. Future versions may include:

• Custom update intervals
• Display format options
• Menu bar text length preferences

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

"No Media Playing" when music is playing

Cause: The media-control dependency might not be installed or accessible.

Solutions:

1. Verify media-control is installed:

   which media-control

   Should return: /opt/homebrew/bin/media-control

2. Test media-control directly:

   media-control get

3. Reinstall media-control:

   brew uninstall media-control
   brew install media-control

"Error" message in menu bar

Cause: Permission issues or media-control execution problems.

Solutions:

1. Check if media-control has proper permissions
2. Restart SwiftMediaBar
3. Ensure your media application is actually playing content

App doesn't appear in menu bar

Cause: The app might have crashed or failed to launch properly.

Solutions:

1. Check Activity Monitor for SwiftMediaBar process
2. Try launching from Terminal to see error messages:

   /Applications/SwiftMediaBar.app/Contents/MacOS/SwiftMediaBar

3. Restart your Mac if the issue persists

Outdated or incorrect media information

Cause: Caching or timing issues with media updates.

Solutions:

1. Wait a few seconds for the next automatic update
2. Restart SwiftMediaBar
3. Check if the source media application is responding properly

Getting Help

If you encounter issues not covered here:

1. Check the Issues page for similar problems
2. Create a new issue with:
   • Your macOS version
   • media-control version (media-control --version)
   • Steps to reproduce the problem
   • Any error messages

Development

Project Structure

SwiftMediaBar/
├── SwiftMediaBar/
│   ├── SwiftMediaBarApp.swift      # Main app entry point
│   ├── Managers/
│   │   └── MenuBarManager.swift    # Menu bar management
│   ├── Services/
│   │   └── MediaService.swift      # Media information service
│   ├── Models/
│   │   └── MediaInfo.swift         # Media data model
│   └── Views/
│       └── MenuView.swift          # Popover UI
├── SwiftMediaBarTests/             # Unit tests
└── SwiftMediaBarUITests/           # UI tests

Key Components

• MenuBarManager: Handles menu bar item creation and updates
• MediaService: Interfaces with media-control to fetch media information
• MediaInfo: Data model representing current media state
• MenuView: SwiftUI view for the detailed popover interface

Building and Testing

1. Open SwiftMediaBar.xcodeproj in Xcode
2. Select the SwiftMediaBar scheme
3. Build with ⌘+B or run with ⌘+R
4. Run tests with ⌘+U

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Add tests if applicable
5. Submit a pull request

Dependencies

• media-control: Command-line tool for media information retrieval
  • Repository: ungive/media-control
  • Required version: 0.7.2
  • License: MIT

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Acknowledgments

• ungive/media-control - Essential command-line tool that makes this app possible
• menubar-ticker - General idea of a menu bar media ticker
• Apple's MediaRemote framework - Underlying technology for media information access
• The Swift and SwiftUI communities for excellent documentation and examples

Changelog

Version 0.1.0

• Initial release
• Basic media information display in menu bar
• Detailed popover view with album artwork
• Support for all major media applications
• Integration with media-control 0.7.2

---

Note: This app is not affiliated with Apple Inc. or any media application providers. It simply displays information that's already available through macOS's built-in media frameworks.