AirBuddy review: Effortless audio control for Apple and Beats devices

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$9.99; also available through Setapp

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The AirBuddy app offers a low-effort way in macOS to view the status of your Apple and Beats audio devices, quickly connect their audio to your Mac, and stay on top of their current charges. It’s a nearly frictionless addition to macOS, one that makes you wonder (as many Mac Gems do) why Apple hasn’t built in these controls.

Bring any supported audio device near your Mac, and AirBuddy brings up an iOS-like “bubble” display that shows the equipment, your name for it, what it’s associated with, the current battery level (or levels), and a “Click to Connect” link. With Apple or Beats earbuds, the bubble appears when you open the case; with the AirPods Max, it’s triggered when you remove them from the case.

In macOS 12 Monterey, AirBuddy recognizes all Apple and Beats audio hardware plus some devices from other manufacturers, like the Sony WH-1000XM3. With older versions of macOS, some newer audio hardware isn’t supported, and no third-party hardware is recognized. Buddy Software provides a detailed chart for guidance and troubleshooting.

Despite deep integration into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS of my Beats Studio Buds, it’s an ongoing and often irritating battle to switch the association from one of my devices to another. AirBuddy makes it a single click to swap—and a click in the automatically appearing bubble no less.

We don’t live in the days before lithium-ion batteries revolutionized the time we could spend using devices between charges. But we also don’t yet live in the future, when ostensibly a single fill-up might give us weeks of noise-canceling earbuds time. AirBuddy provides the right help in being aware of your peripherals and audio devices’ declining power and staying on top of recharging them.

A drop-down system menu lets you see the current…