Live reading in the menu bar
A small level bar and the current dB value, refreshed about four times a second. The popover adds a large number and a word: Quiet, Conversation, Busy or Loud.
Open source · macOS 14+ · Universal binary · System Monitoring
Know how loud
your room is.
NoiseGaugeBar puts a live decibel reading in your menu bar. Click it for a five-minute history graph, Min/Avg/Max stats and an optional too-loud alert.
Free & MIT licensed · Apple Silicon & Intel · Latest release
Features
A simple sound meter, built in.
Everything runs natively on your Mac, with no accounts, no servers and no recorded audio.
Five-minute history graph
See the last 1200 samples with grid lines and a dashed line at your alert level. Min, Avg and Max since start sit below, with a Reset button.
Weighting, smoothing, calibration
Choose A-weighted or unweighted readings and Fast (125 ms) or Slow (1 s) smoothing. Adjust the calibration offset in 0.5 dB steps to match a reference meter.
Too-loud alert
Get a notification when the level stays above your threshold (default 85 dB) for a set number of seconds. A 3-minute cooldown prevents repeats, and the alert is off by default.
Private by design
Audio is analysed in memory and never recorded, saved or transmitted. The app makes no network connections.
Choose your microphone
Pick a specific input device or follow the system default. Measuring pauses while the Mac sleeps and resumes on wake.
Screenshots
See it in action.
Install
Up and running in a minute.
NoiseGaugeBar is open source and not notarized with a paid Apple Developer ID, so macOS needs one extra step the first time.
- Download NoiseGaugeBar-macOS.zip and unzip it.
- Move NoiseGaugeBar.app to your Applications folder.
- Clear the quarantine flag once, then right-click the app and choose Open:
xattr -cr /Applications/NoiseGaugeBar.app
- When prompted, allow Microphone access if you declined it, enable NoiseGaugeBar in System Settings Privacy Security Microphone.
Download
Get NoiseGaugeBar for macOS
Free, forever. Built for macOS 14 Sonoma or newer, Apple Silicon and Intel.
Not notarized: on first launch right-click NoiseGaugeBar.app → Open.
- macOS 14 Sonoma+
- Universal (Apple Silicon + Intel)
- MIT licensed · open source
- No ads, no accounts, no telemetry
- Built with Claude Code · how and why
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Is NoiseGaugeBar really free and open source?
Yes. It is released under the MIT license, with no ads, accounts or paid tiers. The full source is on GitHub, and you can build it yourself with Xcode.
What permissions does it need?
Microphone access is required to measure the room. Notifications are requested only if you turn on the too-loud alert, and a login item is used only if you enable Launch at login. It needs no Accessibility or Screen Recording access.
Where is my data stored?
Audio is never recorded or saved. Your settings are stored locally in macOS preferences on your Mac, and the history graph lives in memory only and is cleared when you quit.
Why isn't the app notarized?
Notarization requires a paid Apple Developer account, which this free project does not have. Right-click the app and choose Open once to run it, or build it from source.
Was this written by AI?
Yes. NoiseGaugeBar was generated by Claude Code from a written spec as a clean-room reimplementation, with no code or assets from any commercial app. The full source is on GitHub under MIT, so you can read every line before you run it. It has had less human review than a hand-written app, so bug reports are welcome.
Support ❤️
Built by one person, given away for free.
NoiseGaugeBar is a free, open-source alternative to paid utilities. If it earns a spot on your Mac, a coffee keeps the updates coming.
☕ Support Or on Ko-fi