Product1 publisher3 min readPublished
AirBuddy 3 absorbs the Mac plumbing Apple left alone, then dresses it in Liquid Glass
The indie utility's third major version adds input-device pinning, scriptable Bluetooth control and a custom Now Playing surface. It costs $20 and runs on macOS 14 or later.
The Product Desk · Product desk
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What happened
- AirBuddy 3 is now available for Mac with more than 150 new features and improvements, including a revamped design, new automation and customization tools, a Now Playing widget, and a more reliable Magic Handoff system.
- Magic Handoff makes transferring a Magic Mouse, Magic Keyboard, or Magic Trackpad between Macs faster and more streamlined.
- When AirBuddy launched in 2019, it offered an easy way to connect and manage AirPods on the Mac.
- Indie developer Gui Rambo has steadily expanded AirBuddy to include other Bluetooth devices and third-party accessories, plus battery monitoring, device handoff between Macs, and automation.
- AirBuddy 3 adds Audio Input Lock: users pick up to two preferred audio inputs and AirBuddy ensures one remains selected rather than the Mac switching unexpectedly; it can be toggled from a global keyboard shortcut or Shortcuts action, with an optional Action HUD notification when a change is blocked.
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Why it matters
AirBuddy 3 shipped for the Mac with more than 150 new features and improvements, including a redesigned Action HUD and Dashboard, desktop widgets, a Now Playing implementation, and a more reliable Magic Handoff for moving a Magic Mouse, Magic Keyboard or Magic Trackpad between Macs, according to 9to5Mac [1][2]. Read as a changelog it is an indie update; read as a feature map it is a list of system responsibilities that a single developer has decided to carry.
The trajectory is the interesting part. AirBuddy launched in 2019 as a faster way to connect and manage AirPods on the Mac, and developer Gui Rambo has since extended it to other Bluetooth devices, third-party accessories, battery monitoring, device handoff between Macs, and automation [3][4]. Each of those is plumbing rather than product: things a user notices only when they are missing.
Version 3 pushes further into that territory. Audio Input Lock lets users pick up to two preferred audio inputs and keeps one of them selected rather than letting the Mac switch unexpectedly, with a toggle available from a global keyboard shortcut or a Shortcuts action and an optional Action HUD notification when a change is blocked [5]. AppleScript can now inspect device and battery information, audio routes, listening and Spatial Audio modes, and trigger actions such as connecting or disconnecting Bluetooth devices, toggling Audio Input Lock, opening the Dashboard, or starting a Magic Handoff transfer [6]. Shortcuts gains actions for Dark Mode, True Tone, Night Shift, display brightness, Spatial Audio, paired Bluetooth devices and Magic Handoff, while Focus Filters can suppress the AirPods, Now Playing and Battery Alert HUDs during a selected Focus [7][8]. That is a scripting surface for settings, not for the app.
The Now Playing work is a custom implementation rather than a wrapper, with layered depth effects, color-matched designs, recent-content suggestions when nothing is playing, and a global shortcut to summon it; it appears on the desktop, Lock Screen, Action HUD and in macOS widgets [9][10]. The Action HUD can sit anywhere along the top of the screen in large or small layouts, and on notched MacBooks supported events can render in a compact interface built into the camera housing [11][12]. Less visible but more consequential: a new mobile-device engine is said to keep iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch battery and charging data current more reliably while cutting background CPU and power use [13].
On design, the redesigned Dashboard supports Liquid Glass on macOS Tahoe and later, while the app itself requires only macOS 14 [14][15]. So Liquid Glass is a conditional layer across a support range spanning several OS versions, not a floor [16] - the pragmatic choice for a paid utility with an installed base.
Distribution is unchanged in shape: $20 for new purchases with localized pricing in some regions, free or discounted upgrades depending on when a user bought AirBuddy 2, and Setapp availability described as coming soon [17][18].
What to watch: whether the Setapp release lands close behind the direct one, since subscription bundling changes the economics of maintaining this much system-adjacent code; and how much of the automation surface survives the next macOS release, given that Bluetooth, audio routing and battery reporting are exactly the areas Apple tends to lock down between versions.