AirBuddy 2 changelog

In this page, you can find the changelog for every update of AirBuddy 2, in reverse chronological order.

Instructions on how to update your installation of AirBuddy can be found here.

AirBuddy 2.7.3 (September 10, 2024)

Adds support for AirPods (4th generation) and AirPods Max (USB-C)
Addresses an issue that caused AirBuddy to group AirPods with the wrong device in some situations
Bug fixes for macOS Sequoia

AirBuddy 2.7.2 (March 25, 2024)

Improved AirPods connection reliability in macOS Ventura and later
Improved reliability of Spatial Audio control, especially for apps that don’t show up in now playing
Improved support for AirPods Pro (2nd generation) USB-C charging case (macOS Ventura and later)
In macOS Ventura and later, charged battery alerts will now work for AirPods Pro (2nd generation) even when they're charging inside the case with the lid closed
In macOS Sonoma, the AirBuddy volume indicator will no longer show up for volume changes caused by the Personalized Volume feature on AirPods Pro (2nd generation)
Addresses an issue that could cause repeated low battery alerts for some AirPods models
Addresses an issue where a battery indicator could be partially hidden in the small status window when using increased font size
Addresses an issue that could cause AirBuddy to display incorrect charging case battery information when only a single AirPod was inside the charging case

AirBuddy 2.7.1 (July 24, 2023)

Addresses an issue that caused the status window to show up unexpectedly when playing audio on Beats Studio Pro
(Setapp) Addresses an issue that could cause the settings window to hang

AirBuddy 2.7 (July 6, 2023)

Initial support for new Beats devices
AirPods connection improvements
Addresses a high CPU usage issue that could occur in some situations
Improvements to Magic Handoff speed and reliability
Significant improvements to the process for pairing iPhone and iPad devices from the app's Devices tab
There's a new option in the app's advanced settings to manage license activations, including the ability to deactivate the license from other computers
Addresses an issue that caused some notifications to overlap with the Menu Bar
macOS Sonoma is not yet supported, but this release addresses an issue that caused certain AirPods controls to become unavailable when running the macOS Sonoma developer beta
Adds experimental support for Adaptive Mode on AirPods Pro (2nd generation) running the developer preview firmware; full support for Adaptive Mode requires macOS Sonoma, but there's an option to interpret the "Off" listening mode as "Adaptive" when running in macOS Monterey or Ventura

AirBuddy 2.6.3 (November 7, 2022)

Version 2.6.3 addresses an issue that could cause repeated charged battery alerts for AirPods Pro (2nd generation)

AirBuddy 2.6.2 (October 28, 2022)

Version 2.6.2 addresses an issue that could cause incorrect battery level readings and alerts for AirPods Pro (2nd generation)

AirBuddy 2.6.1 (October 25, 2022)

Version 2.6.1 addresses installation issues affecting some users running macOS Ventura

AirBuddy 2.6 (October 24, 2022)

Spatial Audio Support

AirBuddy can now control Spatial Audio settings on macOS Monterey and later:

Configure a global keyboard shortcut in the Shortcuts tab to switch between Spatial Audio modes
View and change the current Spatial Audio mode in the Menu Bar context menu for supported AirPods and Beats devices
Get and set Spatial Audio settings in the Shortcuts app with new actions provided by AirBuddy

Improvements for AirPods Pro (2nd generation)

AirBuddy will now show battery information for the AirPods Pro 2nd gen. charging case when it's available, even if the AirPods are not in the case

Improvements to Battery Alerts

Adds support for custom notification sounds when using macOS notifications for battery alerts on macOS Catalina and later
There are 4 new custom AirBuddy sounds available for battery alert notifications
The entry for AirBuddyHelper under System Preferences > Notifications will now correctly show the option to enable/disable notification sounds
When using the circular battery alert style, the alert sound will now play according to the settings in System Settings > Sound > Sound Effects, which is consistent with how macOS notifications play sounds
Tweaked copy in the low battery alert message to avoid confusion between earbuds sides and the word "left" as in "remaining"

Widget Improvements for macOS Big Sur and later

Note: Due to limitations with how Apple has implemented WidgetKit on macOS, after updating to AirBuddy 2.6, you'll need to reconfigure your AirBuddy widgets in Notification Center. AirBuddy widgets will show up in Notification Center under the name "AirBuddyHelper". If you don't see its widgets listed in the "Edit Widgets" screen, try clicking "Clear Widget Cache" in AirBuddy Settings under "Advanced".

The new AirPods widget is now available!
- Get current information about your favorite AirPods or Beats device at a glance
- Configure the widget to run a quick action such as changing listening modes when clicked
- Improved widget reliability on macOS Big Sur and later
- The monochrome theme now works as expected when using the large widget size

Other Improvements and Bug Fixes

The AirBuddy Settings window now uses monochrome icons to better match modern macOS interface guidelines
Addresses an issue that caused some notifications to be clipped by the camera housing or Menu Bar on newer MacBooks
The connection mode that best represents the current settings is now shown as selected in the context menu when right-clicking a headset in the Menu Bar list

AirBuddy 2.5.5 (September 9, 2022)

Adds basic support for second-generation AirPods Pro; full support and new features coming in a future release
Adds appropriate icons for iPhone 14 Pro and Apple Watch Ultra
Addresses an issue that caused Apple Watch to not be grouped with the paired iPhone on the list

AirBuddy 2.5.4 (July 12, 2022)

Adds icon for the new M2 MacBook Air
Minor bug fixes

AirBuddy 2.5.3 (March 10, 2022)

Adds appropriate icons for the new iPad Air, iPhone SE and Mac Studio
Beats Fit Pro configured with press and hold for volume controls will now correctly show the volume UI when enabled in settings > Audio
Addresses an issue that caused some Beats devices to show up with the wrong color
Addresses an issue that caused the favorite button in the app's preferences to not stay selected after clicked
Addresses an issue where certain devices were incorrectly showing the Apple Watch icon
Addresses a missing string in the alert that pops up when multiple versions of the app are installed on the Mac

AirBuddy 2.5.2 (February 25, 2022)

Proximity Engine 2 is now enabled by default for all versions of macOS; it can still be disabled in Proximity > Advanced when running on macOS Big Sur and earlier
Addresses an issue that caused the volume UI to not be shown when adjusting the volume on AirPods Max and similar devices with volume controls
Addresses an issue that caused battery alerts to display the incorrect icon when showing an alert for a specific battery in a device with multiple batteries

AirBuddy 2.5.1 (January 29, 2022)

Improves support for Beats Studio Buds with the latest firmware update:
- Red Beats Studio Buds are no longer shown with the default color
- When the volume feedback setting is configured as "headsets with volume controls", the volume feedback UI will be shown if the connected Beats Studio Buds have the "Press & Hold" feature set to the "Volume Control" option
- The Siri Remote now shows up in AirBuddy when connected to the Mac in macOS Monterey
- Adds an option to the "Get Device Firmware Version" Shortcuts action to ignore errors, an updated version of the example "Check AirPods Firmware" shortcut can be downloaded from this link
- When the AirBuddy preferences window is closed while another app window is opened (such as the bug report window), it is now possible to reopen the preferences window from the Window menu, or with the keyboard shortcut Command+1
- Bluetooth LE human interface devices (such as the Logitech MX Master 3) now show up in AirBuddy when running in macOS Monterey; if your device doesn't show up, make sure that it's correctly detected as a mouse or keyboard in System Preferences > Bluetooth (if it's not, remove the device in System Preferences and pair it again)
- AirBuddy will now correctly show the volume feedback UI when adjusting the volume on Powerbeats Pro with the "Headsets with volume controls" option enabled
- The status window no longer disappears when switching between spaces on macOS 12.2
- Improved the reliability of Magic Handoff when transferring multiple devices in a single operation
- Addresses an issue that caused installation to fail on some systems after updating from an older version of AirBuddy; you can find installation troubleshooting steps in this support document
- Addresses an issue that caused the charged battery alert for an Apple HID device to be triggered again when the device was disconnected from USB on the Mac
- Addresses an issue that caused some Apple HID devices to not be recognized correctly
- Addresses an issue that caused battery information to not be available for some Apple devices
- Addresses an issue that caused the "Get Device Firmware Version" Shortcuts action to fail in macOS 12.3 beta
- Addresses an issue that could cause the Bluetooth permission step to show up during setup even when the app was already authorized to use Bluetooth
- Addresses an issue that could cause battery alerts to be triggered for stale device data when connecting a headset to the Mac
- Addresses a connection failure that could occur on macOS Big Sur for AirPods with auto-switching enabled
- Addresses an issue that caused the status window to not be shown for some devices when running on macOS Big Sur or earlier
- The old about window will now show up correctly on Apple Silicon Macs running OS versions before 12.1
- Addresses a couple of issues that could prevent charged and low battery alerts from being shown for some devices in specific configurations
- Addresses an issue that could cause the widget to not be refreshed in some circumstances
- Addresses an issue that caused clicking the close button in the large status window to connect to the AirPods instead of just closing the window
- Addresses an issue that caused the close button in the large status window to not work in some situations
- Addresses an issue that caused the circular battery alert style to not be selectable by clicking the radio button

AirBuddy 2.5 (January 20, 2022)

Major update with lots of new features and improvements, especially for macOS Monterey. View the full list of release notes for AirBuddy 2.5.

AirBuddy 2.4.5 (Build 344) (October 25, 2021)

Adds initial support for the new AirPods 3rd Generation

AirBuddy 2.4.5 (October 25, 2021)

Addresses an issue that prevented the status window from showing up automatically for some AirPods users on macOS Monterey

AirBuddy 2.4.4 - macOS Monterey compatibility (October 13, 2021)

This build includes important fixes for compatibility with macOS Monterey:

Addresses an issue that prevented AirBuddy from detecting nearby headsets
Viewing and changing the listening modes of headsets now works as expected
Beats Studio Buds are now correctly identified on macOS Monterey
Addresses an issue that caused the Magic Mouse 2 to not be detected on macOS Monterey
Addresses a layout issue in the Magic Handoff picker user interface
Changing settings for headsets from AirBuddy's preferences is now available on macOS Monterey when the device is connected to the Mac, just right click a headset in the Devices tab and pick "Configure", or click the three dots button next to a device

AirBuddy 2.5 will be out soon with lots of enhancements and new features designed specifically for this new version of macOS.

AirBuddy 2.4.3 (August 18, 2021)

Potential fix for an AirBuddyHelper crash on macOS 11.5 and later

AirBuddy 2.4.2 (July 27, 2021)

This build improves support for the Beats Studio Buds. Beats Studio Buds don't have the W1 or H1 chip, therefore their behavior differs from other AirPods and Beats headsets, and some functionality may not be available. This support document has additional information.

AirBuddy 2.4.1 (June 28, 2021)

Addresses an issue that caused the circular battery alert halo to linger on screen after being shown
Addresses an issue that caused AirBuddy to incorrectly prioritize AirPods Max in the Smart Case when attempting to disconnect a headset and switch microphone input
Addresses an issue where sometimes an accessory that's charging wouldn't have its battery information updated
Addresses a bug that caused a dialog about battery alerts not being supported to be presented multiple times in some circumstances (80118125)

AirBuddy 2.4 (June 21, 2021)

You can now configure low battery and charged notifications for your devices by right clicking the device on the list and picking "Create Battery Alert"
There's a new setting that allows you to quickly connect to your favorite device by clicking the AirBuddy icon in the Menu Bar
Adds basic support for Beats Studio Buds
Adds support for the new Magic Keyboard with Touch ID
The list of devices in the menu bar will now grow to show all devices when there's enough space available on screen
Some device icons have been refined
AirBuddy will now use simplified monochrome glyphs for Macs just like it does for other device types
When using the "connect to favorite device" and "disconnect" shortcuts, AirBuddy will now attempt to connect/disconnect directly, even when the given device can't be immediately seen nearby
In Device settings, AirBuddy will now dim devices that have not been seen recently and suggest that you remove them (this will apply after a device hasn't been seen by AirBuddy in two weeks)
The "connect to nearest headset" shortcut and the shortcut to manually show the status window are now better at picking the expected device when multiple devices are present
AirBuddy now uses the new Big Sur icon style regardless of which version of macOS it's running on
Improved reliability when connecting to a headset with auto-switching enabled
Addresses an issue that caused the microphone on/off shortcut to not work when a Mac doesn't have a built-in input
The right-click menu for devices on the menu bar list is now accessible to VoiceOver
Addresses an issue where the big "Enable AirBuddy" switch would be read by VoiceOver as disabled even though it's enabled
Addresses an issue that caused the status window to be shown even when "Don't show when Do Not Disturb enabled" was set in preferences
Addresses an issue where the status window would show up repeatedly when one of the buds of an AirPods pair was poorly engaged with the charging case
Addresses an issue where a renamed device wouldn't have its name immediately updated in the app
The contextual menu on the list of devices will now correctly and immediately reflect the current listening mode as expected
Addresses an issue that caused the listening mode to not change or change to the incorrect listening mode when connecting a headset to the Mac
Addresses a rare crash that could occur during setup

AirBuddy 2.3.2 (April 7, 2021)

Minor bug fixes

AirBuddy 2.3.1 (March 29, 2021)

Improved compatibility with AirPods auto-switching in macOS Big Sur
AirBuddy can now notify you about new firmware updates for headsets such as AirPods and AirPods Pro; this behavior can be configured in Settings > Devices.
VoiceOver will now correctly speak the messages that show up when changing listening modes and other settings using keyboard shortcuts
Potential fix for an issue that could cause excessive CPU usage in rare circumstances
Improved the reliability of the "connect to nearest headset" shortcut

AirBuddy 2.3 (February 27, 2021)

AirBuddy can now show feedback when changing the volume on AirPods Max using the Digital Crown, this behavior can be configured in the app's preferences under "Audio"
Initial support for AppleScript, with support for the "connect to favorite headset", "connect to nearest headset" and "disconnect headset" commands; if you have any interesting use case or feature idea for AppleScript in AirBuddy, send feedback from the app's "Help" menu
When running on macOS Big Sur, there's a new user interface for Magic Handoff when invoked using the keyboard shortcut defined in the app's settings under "Advanced" that lets you pick multiple peripherals to send/receive at the same time
AirBuddy will now apply your custom connection mode (if any) when a headset is connected through means other than AirBuddy itself
AirBuddy now speaks Brazilian Portuguese (se você usa o Mac em Português, envie feedback sobre traduções faltando ou incorretas)
Pressing the Escape key will now close the status bar menu
The notifications that show up when connecting to a device, changing listening modes and performing other actions will now show up even when the AirBuddy icon is not present in the status bar
The icon for AirPods Max on the list of devices and Notification Center widget will now show the Smart Case when they're stowed
The status window will now show up / close automatically when the AirPods Max are removed from or inserted into the Smart Case
Changing listening modes through the trackpad gestures when the headset is already connected to the Mac is now faster
Improved the look of AirPods Max in the status window
The preference that configures the status window to show up automatically has been unified into a single setting for both Apple and Beats devices, regardless of charging case
The app is now much faster at detecting when a given headset has been connected to the Mac and reflecting that in the UI and when invoking keyboard shortcuts
AirBuddy will no longer check for updates in the background and send a notification when "Automatically Check for Updates" is disabled
There's a new setting under "Proximity" > "Advanced" called "Preserve Power" which makes it so AirBuddy uses less resources when scanning for nearby devices
Addressed an issue where battery information for the AirPods Pro would not show up in the status window in macOS Mojave
Addressed an issue that could cause the information in the status window to flicker when removing a single bud from the charging case while leaving the other one inside with the lid opened
Fixed a rare crash in one of AirBuddy's helper processes
Addressed an issue that could cause the status window to reopen immediately after being dismissed in some cases
Addressed an issue that could cause the status window to be shown repeatedly when using only one side of the AirPods while the other one is in the charging case (20283484, 11959522)
Addresses an issue that could cause AirBuddy to try to connect to the wrong headset when invoking the "connect to nearest headset" shortcut
Addresses an issue that could cause devices which have no battery to show up in the Batteries widget on macOS Big Sur
The widget on macOS Big Sur will now correctly hide "This Mac" when it's deselected in the widget's configuration
The widget on macOS Big Sur will now correctly hide devices that have been deselected in the widgets's configuration when using the large style
Addresses an issue that caused the feedback form text view to be invisible depending on the the current system appearance
Addresses an issue that could cause the "Automatically Check for Updates" setting to be reset without user intent
Addresses an issue that could cause the small notifications that appear when changing listening modes and performing other actions to be clipped when using an app in full screen mode

AirBuddy 2.2.1 (December 19, 2020)

Addresses a crash that could occur when a headset was connected to the Mac.

AirBuddy 2.2 (December 15, 2020)

Added initial support for the new Apple AirPods Max
There's now an option when right-clicking a headset in the status bar menu to disconnect from that headset (when it is currently connected to the Mac)
Switching listening modes will now cycle between the modes configured for that device in the Bluetooth settings on macOS 10.15.1 or later (this can also be edited within AirBuddy's settings under "Devices" when the headset is connected to the Mac)
AirBuddy will now show feedback in the UI when connecting to a nearby headset using the "Connect to Favorite Device" or "Connect to Nearest Device" keyboard shortcuts
The status bar menu window will now appear instantly (with no animation) and more closely mimic the behavior of other menus like Control Center
Tweaked the design of the status bar menu window on macOS Big Sur to more closely match the system design
Several optimizations to reduce helper app CPU and memory usage
Improved the reliability when displaying the current listening mode for a headset and when switching listening modes
Addresses an issue which could cause excessive battery drain on paired nearby Apple Watches in some circumstances
Connecting to headsets is now more reliable
Transparency mode on AirPods Pro, Beats Solo Pro and AirPods Max will now work in macOS Mojave through AirBuddy
When connecting to a device through the menu bar list, the app will now display a loading indicator until the connection is established
Addresses an issue that could cause some Macs to not be able to see other Macs nearby for Magic Handoff
Additional reliability improvements for Magic Handoff
Addresses an issue that could cause the status bar menu window to get clipped depending on its position on screen
Addresses an issue that caused some Macs with no battery to not show up on the list

AirBuddy 2.1 (November 24, 2020)

Note: AirBuddy will not display an Apple Watch on the list when its battery information is not available anymore, which seems to be occurring more often than it was ever an issue during testing. I appreciate your patience while this issue is being worked on.

The app is now a Universal binary so it will run natively on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs
Right clicking a device within the app's settings now lets you remove it from the list, rename it, and more
There are new settings in Proximity > Advanced to prevent the status window from showing up when the computer is locked or sleeping and to automatically close the status window after a delay if it's not used
Opening up the Magic Handoff menu by right-clicking a peripheral on the list will now dynamically try to find other nearby Macs if none is available
Magic Handoff will now be more reliable when connecting a peripheral to the destination Mac
Significantly reduced Bluetooth LE bandwidth usage for Magic Handoff; to take advantage of this improvement, make sure all of your Macs are running version 2.1 or later
Addresses an issue where sometimes a peripheral would not show up on the list anymore after being transferred using Magic Handoff
Addresses an issue that could cause devices transferred over Magic Handoff to be disconnected shortly after the transfer
Addresses an issue that caused headset parts with disparate battery levels to be shown as a single item instead of separate parts
The status window will now correctly display the only bud that's available for AirPods and similar devices when that's the case
Headset parts for which the connected device is not available will now be grouped together in the menu bar window
Addresses several issues that could occur when the Mac was not logged in to iCloud, including not being able to see the status of other Macs running AirBuddy, Magic Handoff not working, and others
Addresses an issue that could cause the license key to appear to be truncated in the text field when registering the app
The app will now update its icon to a square version when running on macOS Big Sur
Addresses some reliability issues when displaying battery information for other Macs and their peripherals
Addresses an issue that could cause devices to appear duplicated with different names under the "Devices" tab
Peripherals will now show up under the "Devices" tab and have their name updates correctly reflected
Addresses an issue that could cause the app to use an excessive amount of CPU in some rare circumstances (27198250)
The setup flow is now more accessible for VoiceOver users
Addresses an issue which could prevent some checkboxes from working in the app's settings
Addresses an issue where the control used to set keyboard shortcuts would not be accessible by VoiceOver
The Escape key can now be used to close the status window and this information is read by VoiceOver
The status bar menu window now groups device rows as a single element for easier navigation, clicking a row for a connectable device will connect to that device. The list will not refresh while being navigated to prevent navigation from being interrupted

AirBuddy 2.0.1 (November 11, 2020)

Addresses an issue that could cause the activation pop up to show up on every launch for some users