Mac Island by EvlentSpotify, Apple Music or YouTube Music. Your music stays within reach, with floating lyrics, screenshot notes and a file tray alongside it.
v1.12.0 · 1.85 MB · macOS 14.0+ · M-series Macs
Public preview · Not Apple-notarized. Read the installation guide.
Catch a thought.
Keep it in a note.
Try screenshot selection, Float and text capture using sample content. This silent demo does not read your clipboard or other apps; notes reset on reload. The Mac app runs on your desktop.
Close when you need it
Hover at the notch to open. Move away to tuck it back in. No extra Dock or menu-bar icon competing for your attention.
Play, pause, skip and seek. Adjust the active player’s volume or mute it without changing your Mac’s other sounds. Timed lyrics follow your position, including while you scrub.
Lyrics depend on availability from LRCLIB. Player support and setup vary. Find your music source.
Write a thought, paste a screenshot or send selected text from another app into a new note. Float a note beside your work, then drag it back to the notch. Text and images save locally.
Drop a file at the notch. Preview it, open it or drag it into your next task. Switch between files and music or notes without clearing the tray. Removing an item leaves the original file alone.
New places to press play
Start a song in a connected player and Mac Island follows automatically. For one-time setup, right-click the island → Music Connections.
Playback, covers, seeking and Spotify-only volume through the app already running on your Mac.
Allow macOS AutomationControl the Music app, with local cover art, seeking and volume. Track information depends on what Music makes available.
Allow macOS AutomationConnect a music.youtube.com tab in Safari, Chrome, Brave or Edge. Pear Desktop connects through its local API.
Extra setup required ↗No music developer account is needed. The current public download includes playback controls; Spotify account sign-in and likes are not included.
A minute to get started
Apple Silicon, macOS 14.0 or later. Open a supported music player on the same Mac.
Download Mac Island 1.12.0This public preview is locally signed, not signed with an Apple Developer ID or notarized by Apple. macOS may block its first launch.
If you trust this download, try opening it, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security. If offered for Mac Island, choose Open Anyway. Managed Macs may prevent this.
If macOS reports damage or malware, stop and contact us.
Apple's instructions for opening appsOpen music.youtube.com in Safari, Chrome, Brave or Edge. Right-click Mac Island → Music Connections and open that browser’s entry for setup.
Chrome, Brave and Edge use View → Developer → Allow JavaScript from Apple Events. In Safari, enable web developer features in Settings → Advanced, then use Develop → Allow JavaScript from Apple Events. This setting permits browser automation; Mac Island does not enable it for you.
Click Connect and approve macOS Automation access. Mac Island checks open-tab URLs locally to locate YouTube Music, then reads and controls only that page’s player. It does not read other page content, cookies or account details.
Installed Chromium web apps work only when the parent browser exposes their window. Firefox, Safari Dock web apps and other third-party wrappers are not supported. Browser changes may affect the connection; a regular supported browser tab is the recommended starting point.
In Pear Desktop, enable Plugins → API Server. Set the host to 127.0.0.1 and port to 26538, keeping authorization enabled.
Open Music Connections → YouTube Music · Pear in Mac Island, click Connect and approve Mac Island in Pear. The connection stays on your Mac; its token is stored in Keychain. To revoke access, remove Mac Island from Pear’s authorized clients.
Mac Island follows the most recently started player and keeps a paused song when nothing is playing. Switching is always automatic. Old saved source selections are cleared on upgrade, and switching waits until you finish a seek or volume drag.
Apple Music uses the Music app’s local Automation interface. Some macOS versions do not expose the current track for radio, autoplay or songs outside your library. Try a library track if information is missing.
Live behavior depends on your player, browser and permissions. Use Music Connections to set up each player you want to use, then check playback, seeking and volume on your Mac.
Click in a note and press ⌘V to paste a clipboard screenshot or an image file copied from Finder. Click the image to select it, then copy, cut or delete it. Double-click to enlarge it. Text wraps within the card and long notes scroll.
Click Float, or drag that button onto the desktop, to open a resizable note beside your work. It shares the same saved content. Drag its top handle toward the notch and release when you see Release to dock. Closing a floating window keeps the note; floating windows do not reopen automatically after quitting.
When the tray contains files, use the tray icon beside the note controls to view them. Use the two-card icon in the tray to return to music and notes. Your note’s cursor, scroll position and undo history are preserved.
Select text in an app that supports macOS Services. Open its Services menu and choose Send to Mac Island. Mac Island saves the selection as a new local note and reveals it in the island. The source text and your clipboard stay unchanged.
Availability depends on the source app exposing its selection to macOS Services.
Quit Mac Island from the right-click menu in the open island. Download the latest ZIP, replace the app in the same Applications folder and reopen it. Notes and file references are stored separately from the app. Existing text notes migrate to the image-capable format; older builds cannot edit that newer format.
This download uses manual updates. Automatic updates are not enabled in this release. The current public edition does not include Spotify likes or account setup.
Your notes, embedded screenshots, captured text and file references stay on your Mac. Mac Island has no ads, analytics or notes/files cloud sync. Spotify, Apple Music and supported browsers use local Apple Events with your permission. Pear uses its API on this Mac, with its authorization token kept in Keychain.
Spotify and YouTube cover images download anonymously from their image servers, which receive the image request and normal connection information, including your IP address. Apple Music covers come locally from the Music app. Artwork is cached only in memory.
While floating lyrics are open, Mac Island sends the active song’s title, artist, album and duration to LRCLIB. LRCLIB also receives normal connection information. No notes or files are sent. Closing the panel cancels lookups; lyrics are cached only in memory.
The public download has no Spotify account sign-in or Spotify account API requests. It makes no automatic update requests. Your music apps and browsers retain their own account connections and privacy settings.
Right-click an empty area of the open island for How to Update, privacy details and Quit Mac Island. Open Welcome & Launch at Login to revisit the guide or turn on launch at login. It is off by default; macOS may ask you to approve it in Login Items settings.
The app keeps growing
New features, fixes and downloads live here. Older entries describe those versions; the current feature set is shown above.