Tuneful

Tuneful is a cool app that takes your music experience on macOS to the next level! While macOS has that Now Playing icon in the menu bar where you can see album art and control playback, it could really use some upgrades. The controls are pretty basic, which is where Tuneful steps in.

Upgrade Your Music Controls

This app gives you a much better view of your music's album art and way more controls. Plus, it has an optional desktop mini player, and it works with both Apple Music and Spotify. Once you set it up to manage playback, you're ready to rock!

Easy-to-Use Interface

The best part? Tuneful shows all the important info right in the menu bar: you'll see the song's album art, title, and artist. Everything is laid out nicely so you can find what you need at a glance.

Full Control Over Playback

The playback options are super extensive! You can play or pause tracks, skip songs, shuffle playlists, or repeat tracks. Plus, you can adjust the system volume and pick your output device—all from the menu bar. I found it really user-friendly and visually way nicer than the standard Now Playing controller.

Mini Player Option

If you right-click on Tuneful’s menu bar icon, you'll see an option for a mini player. It reminds me of Silicio, but with fewer customization features. It has some basic playback controls and stays on top of other windows so you don’t miss a beat!

Aesthetic Yet Functional

The mini player helps you keep track of what’s playing all the time and looks great too! However, having more size options or being able to snap it to screen edges would be fantastic.

Support for More Services

Even though Apple Music and Spotify are super popular, adding support for other services would be awesome! Also, it'd be great to have more visual customization options or even a hotkey for toggling that mini player.

A Note on Spotify Integration

I noticed something interesting when using Spotify: there's a selection border around the album art in both the menu bar display and mini player. This doesn’t happen with Apple Music—you actually get to mark songs as Loved when hovering over album art.

The Bottom Line on Tuneful

Tuneful is definitely worth checking out if you're looking for an improved menu bar music controller. The mini player could use some enhancements still but who knows? Future updates might bring those features!