Mooziac is an ultra-lightweight, 100% native Swift & AppKit music player built specifically for macOS.
The native alternative to YouTube Music Desktop, Spotify, and Electron players — tucked right into your menu bar with an invisible trackpad edge volume slider, real-time synchronized lyrics HUD, and zero battery-draining Chromium bloat.
Interactive player preferences, themes, live audio waveforms, and native macOS menu bar playback controls.
Most desktop music players are heavy Electron wrappers that bundle a full Chromium browser, devouring system resources and draining laptop battery life. Mooziac was built from scratch in pure native Swift and AppKit with zero third-party dependencies.
| Feature | ⚡️ Mooziac | 🌐 Official YTM Web / Desktop | 📦 Electron Wrappers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technology | 100% Native Swift & AppKit | Chromium / Web App | Heavy Chromium + Node.js |
| Trackpad Edge Volume | ✅ Yes (with haptic feedback) | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Synchronized Lyrics HUD | ✅ Line-by-line LRC | ❌ No | |
| Local Offline Audio | ✅ FLAC, MP3, WAV, AAC, M4A | ❌ Cloud only | ❌ No |
| Background Media Keys | ✅ Native macOS integration | ||
| Discord Rich Presence | ✅ Native Unix socket (0 deps) | ❌ No | |
| Telemetry & Privacy | 🔒 100% Local (Zero tracking) |
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Turn the rightmost 1mm border of your MacBook trackpad into an invisible hardware volume dial.
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Sing along with real-time, line-by-line synchronized LRC lyrics right beneath your menu bar.
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Stream your cloud favorites or play lossless offline libraries in one seamless unified queue.
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Dynamic ambient interface that harmonizes with your music and desktop wallpaper.
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Broadcast your now-playing status without third-party bloat or background daemons.
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Architected with strict privacy principles — your music and listening data remain strictly on your Mac.
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| Gesture | Trackpad Region | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Edge Slide | Far-right 1mm border | Smooth volume adjustment with tactile haptics |
| Double Tap | Bottom-right corner | Next Track |
| Triple Tap | Bottom-right corner | Previous Track |
| Double Tap | Bottom-left corner | Play / Pause Toggle |
| Scroll | Over Menu Bar Icon | Fast Volume Stepping |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Space |
Play / Pause |
⌘ + Right Arrow |
Next Track |
⌘ + Left Arrow |
Previous Track |
L |
Like / Unlike Song |
⌘ + R |
Reload Web Engine |
⌘ + Q |
Quit Mooziac |
Install directly via the official Homebrew tap:
brew install shirkeharsh/tap/mooziacTo update in the future:
brew upgrade --cask mooziac- Download
Mooziac.dmgorMooziac.zip. - Open
Mooziac.dmgand drag Mooziac into your Applications folder. - Launch Mooziac from Spotlight (
⌘ + Space) or Launchpad.
Note
macOS Gatekeeper: Because Mooziac is distributed directly outside the Mac App Store:
- If macOS prompts that the app cannot be verified, go to System Settings > Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway.
- Or run this one-line command in Terminal:
xattr -cr /Applications/Mooziac.app
- macOS 13.0 (Ventura) or later
- Xcode 15+ or Xcode Command Line Tools (
xcode-select --install) - Swift 5.9+ toolchain
# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/shirkeharsh/mooziac.git
cd mooziac
# Run unit tests
swift test --parallel
# Build and launch debug app locally
./build_app.sh
# Build universal release binary & DMG package
./build_app.sh --release-onlyMooziac is architected cleanly into modular Swift packages with native macOS frameworks:
Mooziac/
├── Package.swift # SPM Manifest (macOS 13+, Swift 5.9)
├── Mooziac.entitlements # Hardened Runtime security entitlements
├── build_app.sh # Universal build & packaging pipeline
├── Sources/Mooziac/ # Main application target
│ ├── App/ # Application lifecycle, AppDelegate, background media
│ ├── Audio/ # CoreAudio volume hooks, AVFoundation audio player
│ ├── Core/ # Central coordinators, NowPlaying, StatusItem
│ ├── Input/ # MultiTouch gesture engine & global shortcuts
│ ├── Managers/ # Local SQLite3, YTMClient, synced lyrics, yt-dlp
│ ├── Models/ # State representations, playlist records, audio configs
│ ├── Views/ # Dynamic Island player UI, waveform, lyrics HUD
│ └── Web/ # Sandboxed WebKit bridge for YouTube Music
└── Tests/MooziacTests/ # Parallelized unit test suite
Is Mooziac free and open-source?
Yes. Mooziac is 100% free and open-source software distributed under the permissive MIT License. There are no subscriptions, paywalls, ads, or hidden tracking.
Does Mooziac require a YouTube Music Premium account?
No. Mooziac works seamlessly with both free YouTube Music accounts and YouTube Music Premium accounts. Free users get access to the full standard catalog, while Premium users enjoy higher-bitrate audio streams.
How is Mooziac different from the official YouTube Music web or desktop apps?
Official and third-party desktop wrappers are built on Electron or Chromium, often consuming 500 MB to 1.2 GB of RAM and impacting laptop battery life. Mooziac is engineered in pure native Swift and AppKit with zero third-party dependencies, consuming minimal system resources while running directly in the macOS menu bar.
How does the MacBook trackpad volume gesture work?
Mooziac captures multi-touch events along the rightmost 1mm border of your MacBook trackpad. Gliding your finger along that outer edge smoothly adjusts system volume while triggering physical tactile clicks through the Mac's built-in Taptic Engine. Intelligent palm rejection prevents accidental triggers during typing.
Does Mooziac collect any personal data or listening history?
None. Mooziac features a zero-telemetry architecture: no analytics beacons, no tracking SDKs, and no crash reporters. Your listening history, playlists, and liked songs are saved solely in a local SQLite database on your Mac, and credentials remain sandboxed in Apple's official WKWebsiteDataStore.
How do I install or update Mooziac using Homebrew?
Install via the official tap with one command:
brew install shirkeharsh/tap/mooziacbrew upgrade --cask mooziacCan I play local audio files (FLAC, MP3, WAV) offline?
Yes. Mooziac features a dual audio engine: alongside YouTube Music streaming, it includes a native AVFoundation offline player supporting FLAC, ALAC, WAV, MP3, AAC, and M4A, complete with album artwork and integrated offline caching.
If you find Mooziac useful, please consider starring the repository — it helps more Mac users discover native, lightweight open-source software!
- 🐛 Found a bug? Open an issue
- 💡 Have a feature idea? Submit a feature request
- 🌐 Official Website: mooziac.pages.dev
- License: Distributed under the MIT License. Copyright © 2026 ThreeTen.
- Disclaimer: YouTube Music is a trademark of Google LLC. Mooziac is an independent open-source project and is not affiliated with, authorized, or endorsed by Google LLC.