Audio Hijack is well-known for its ability to record any audio on your Mac, but that’s not all it can do. For instance, the built-in Transcribe block enables you to convert spoken audio into text. Whether you’re a podcaster looking to generate a transcript for your show or an office worker who can benefit from your own automated stenographer, Audio Hijack and Transcribe are ready to assist.

With the release of Audio Hijack 4.5, we’ve made several key improvements to Transcribe.

Faster and More Efficient, Thanks to Metal

Metal is a technology from Apple which allows apps to directly access your Mac’s GPU for fast rendering and complex calculations. We’ve now updated Transcribe to take advantage of Metal, for faster and more efficient processing on all Apple Silicon-based Macs.

When using the new Metal-enhanced Transcribe in Audio Hijack 4.5, you’ll see markedly lower CPU usage. In addition, your transcriptions will now finalize much faster, often almost instantly. It’s quite an advancement.

An Updated Template

When the Transcribe block was introduced, we also added a new Transcribe template to Audio Hijack’s Template Chooser window to help you get started. That template has now been improved to clean up audio before feeding it to the Transcribe block:

With the new Transcribe template, your transcripts will be more accurate than ever.

“Beta” No More

When the Transcribe block first shipped, we worried it wasn’t quite polished enough for a fully supported release, so we attached a “Beta” label to it. Our concerns proved quite unfounded, as countless users have made great use of Audio Hijack’s transcription functionality without incident. We’re delighted to remove that beta label now, and provide full support for Transcribe.

Download Audio Hijack 4.5 Now

These updates are immediately available in Audio Hijack 4.5, a free update for all existing users of version 4. Select Check for Updates from the Audio Hijack menu to download it now. If you’re new to Audio Hijack, visit its product page to learn more, then download the free trial to test it out.

Last year was a long one for us here at Rogue Amoeba, and not just because February had an extra day. Let’s kick off the new year with a look back at 2024 and a brief preview of 2025, in our latest annual status report.

A Major Transition Completed

Our biggest undertaking last year was the transition to our new audio capture technology, known as ARK. The backends for Airfoil, Audio Hijack, Loopback, Piezo, and SoundSource were all completely rewritten and replaced. Updating those apps with ARK was the culmination of a multi-year effort discussed at length last month. This grueling process was what led to 2024 feeling so long for us, and we’re thrilled that it’s finally complete.

The new ARK-powered versions of our apps greatly simplify the first launch experience, so you can get started in under a minute. Better yet, there are no extensions, no adjustments to the arcane “System Security Policy” in the Mac’s startup options, and no restarts at all.

Free Updates Abounded

42 is more than just the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. It’s also how many updates we shipped last year. In addition to the ARK transition, we added full support for MacOS 15, fixed bugs, worked around issues, and implemented new features.

Our aim is to provide outstanding value when you purchase our products, and boy did the team deliver last year. Every one of those 42 updates was free for existing customers. That’s nothing new, however. Since our founding, we’ve provided nearly 1,000 free updates across our product line.

And More

In addition to our many software releases, we enjoyed two distinct celebrations in 2024. First, Audio Hijack was enshrined in the Upgradies Hall of Fame. It’s the founding member of the “Best Mac App” category, and we’re very proud!

We were also thrilled to celebrate an employee milestone, Nathan Tiddy’s five-year anniversary. Nathan is part of an outstanding team of a dozen people here at Rogue Amoeba, all working hard on the apps you use and love.

In the fall, we noted Apple’s releases of MacOS 15.1 and MacOS 15.2, which brought important audio improvements that fixed issues users may have hit while using our tools. While we can often work around bugs in MacOS, some problems require Apple to provide the cure. When they do, we want to highlight those improvements, so you know how to get the very best experience with our products.

Faster Beta Support

It’s very likely Apple will unveil MacOS 16 this summer, and that they’ll offer public betas you can install. It’s wise to be cautious when installing beta OS versions, but we know that some folks are eager to experiment. In 2025, it will be possible to use our apps on the new OS much sooner.

With the transition to ARK, we were able to remove restrictions which previously blocked our apps from running on unrecognized OSes. Now, when you install the MacOS 16 beta, Airfoil, Audio Hijack, Farrago, Fission, and Piezo will allow you to test the software without needing an update from us. Exciting!

You might notice that Loopback and SoundSource aren’t listed above. The new ARK plugin they use will require a new version to get those apps running on MacOS 16, but we intend to provide those necessary updates quickly.

Big Updates Afoot, And Smaller Ones Too

In last year’s status report, I mentioned pending updates to our three most popular products: Audio Hijack, Loopback, and SoundSource. While the backends for those apps were overhauled as part of the ARK transition, we have more in the pipeline that didn’t make it out last year.

In 2025, we’re aiming to ship major updates for all three of those apps, and I’m very excited about what we’re working on. Stay tuned for more, including chances to beta test ahead of official releases.

Of course, it won’t just be big, splashy new versions. We’re always working to keep things running smoothly for you, so expect plenty of smaller updates that squash bugs, implement new features, and add support for new versions of MacOS.

Keep in Touch

That’s it for today’s status report, but you can stay in the know by finding us on:

Social Media

Rogue Amoeba is on social media. We’re partial to:

Bluesky

Instagram

Mastodon

Micro.blog

This Very Blog

The blog carries in-depth information to accompany our major updates, but we also post things that are informative or just plain fun. Subscribe to our handy feed in any RSS reader.

Our Mailing List

Members of our extremely low-traffic mailing list get word of our biggest news, as well as some exclusive discounts. We send just a few emails each year, and work hard to make them worthy of your inbox.

Onward to 2025

We’re aiming for a big year here at Rogue Amoeba, so it‘s time to get to it. For now, Ammo and I will close by wishing you a happy new year!

An existential threat. An unlikely alliance. A massive feat of engineering. Today, I’m going to share one of the most important stories in Rogue Amoeba history.

The First 18 Years

We begin at the beginning, way back in 2002 when Rogue Amoeba shipped version 1.0 of our flagship app Audio Hijack. From that very first version, Audio Hijack could capture any audio playing on the Mac, including audio from other applications. This took quite a bit of sorcery, because MacOS did not provide any assistance in this area.

We next abruptly flash forward through a rather astonishing 18 years. In this time, digital audio became a major part of daily life. Voice chat took off, podcasts boomed, and music (first downloadable and then streaming) flourished. Meanwhile, Rogue Amoeba developed an array of tools powered by our unmatched ability to capture any audio on the Mac. Our lineup included Airfoil, Audio Hijack, Loopback, Piezo, and SoundSource.

Even as our products steadily grew in popularity, our relationship with Apple was almost non-existent. Plenty of individuals inside the company were fans, but we received very little attention from Apple as a corporate entity. We didn’t much mind being outsiders, but it meant that we often had zero notice of breaking changes introduced by Apple.

During this time, Apple placed an emphasis on improving the security of MacOS, continually locking the operating system down further and further. Though their changes weren’t aimed at the legitimate audio capture we provided our users, they nonetheless made that capture increasingly difficult. We labored to keep our tools functioning with each new version of MacOS. Through it all, we lived with a constant fear that Apple would irreparably break our apps.

Disaster and Recovery

In 2020, the disaster foreshadowed literally one sentence ago struck. Beta versions of MacOS 11 broke ACE, our then-current audio capture technology, and the damage looked permanent. When we spoke briefly to Apple during WWDC 2020, our appeals for assistance were flatly rejected.¹ We spent weeks attempting to get ACE working again, but eventually we had to admit defeat. ACE as we knew it was dead in the water, and all options for replacing it involved substantial reductions in functionality. Though we did not discuss it publicly at the time, things looked grim for the future of our products.

Thankfully, we had three things going for us. First, in the 18 years since our inception, we had built up quite a large user base. In addition, the massive shift to working from home caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had created a corresponding surge in usage of our products. More than any other time in our company’s history, users were relying on us to do their jobs. That made it an especially bad time for Apple to break our tools. Lastly, because we also had a licensing program for ACE, we weren’t the only ones affected. Over a dozen other companies, some quite large, would be harmed if ACE ceased to function.

These factors meant that our problem was also Apple’s problem, and thus they were incentivized to work with us on fixing it. With this in mind, we engaged in further discussions with the company throughout the MacOS 11 beta period. Those were much more fruitful than our initial conversation, and eventually yielded a two-part plan. First, ACE would be temporarily allowlisted, so its audio capture could continue to function for the near future. Second, Apple would work with us to develop a sanctioned method of capturing audio on the Mac.

This was monumental! Even as our products had become essential for hundreds of thousands of Mac users, we’d never been able to trust the ground beneath our feet. Eventually, that ground gave way, and our company faced a threat to its very existence. Fortunately, Apple looks out for their customers as much as we do. As a result of that care from both our companies, we were assured that our tools would be able to continue to help users. It was a stunning turnaround, and we were equal parts thrilled and relieved.

Getting to the Future

Still, we weren’t in the clear yet. In November of 2020, MacOS 11 did indeed ship with the promised exception that allowed ACE to continue functioning.² However, the OS also dictated a new installation method for ACE which was truly painful. At its worst, users were required to make their way through a 20-step procedure to get up and running. They had to endure multiple system restarts, in addition to adjusting an obscure MacOS security setting and making their way past several unnerving warnings.

This led to many confused users, some of whom were scared off from our products entirely. Even after spending countless hours optimizing our portion of the process, we were still left frustrated with the first-run experience our users faced. Unfortunately, we were stuck for the time being, and that wound up being the uncomfortable status quo for multiple years.

We’ll now skip ahead two and a half more years to the summer of 2023, when MacOS 14 provided a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Apple informed us that changes coming later to MacOS 14 would, at long last, allow us to move past ACE and its arduous installation process.

We’ve Reached 2024

That brings us to the beginning of this year, when the two-part plan first proposed in 2020 was finally nearing completion. With that in mind, we announced our intention to streamline the first-run experience for all of our audio capture apps. We promised that soon, the painful setup process would be a thing of the past.

We thought we could see the finish line, but we had really only completed the first 90% of our work. We still had to complete the second 90%, transitioning our apps to use ARK, our next-generation audio capture backend. This involved many more months of working around myriad issues, reporting bugs to Apple, and waiting for MacOS updates to fix them. For those of us here at Rogue Amoeba, this past year was a very long one indeed.

Happily, we’re at the end of both this story and 2024. I’m delighted to say that we have completed our transition to ARK, and it now powers all of our audio capture apps on MacOS 14 and higher.³ Our glorious hassle-free future has finally arrived, and you can get started with our apps in under a minute. This major improvement will allow many more people to utilize our tools, and we want everyone to know about it.

Getting Started With the New Versions

The new ARK backend makes getting started a breeze. Airfoil, Audio Hijack, and Piezo now feature a completely installer-free setup. Approve the necessary System Audio Access permission on first launch, and you’re set. Since Loopback and SoundSource perform more complex audio routing, they’re powered by a new ARK plugin, which installs with just your Administrator password.

Setup now takes place in our sleek new Permissions window. Though recent versions of MacOS contain a morass of permissions prompts, we’ve worked hard to make things easy for you. When you first launch any of our apps, the Permissions window presents both required and optional permissions in one place for you to approve. The window then tucks itself away, but is always available for review from within the app.

Take Another Look

For too many people, the complexity of the old setup process prevented even a test drive of our products. We also had existing users who stopped using our apps rather than make the required security adjustments. With our incredibly easy new setup, we hope to win those folks back, and gain new users as well.

That’s why we’re shouting from the rooftops that capturing audio with Rogue Amoeba’s products now requires no extensions, no adjustments to the arcane “System Security Policy” in the Mac’s startup options, and no restarts at all.⁴

We’re also still licensing our technology, in the form of a new ARK-SDK. If you have a commercial Mac app that needs to capture audio, or you just want a simplified way of dealing with MacOS’s byzantine audio system, head over to our licensing page.

Wrapping Up

Getting to where we are now was quite an odyssey, and it required an incredible effort by our entire team. I’m immensely proud of the work done by everyone here at Rogue Amoeba, in addition to being deeply grateful for the work done by our colleagues at Apple.

After decades alone in the wilderness, we came in from the cold, working with Apple to the benefit of our mutual users. It took literally years of work, but our ARK transition is finally behind us. Now, we’re looking ahead to major updates for several of our products in 2025. We can’t wait to show you more soon!

Footnotes:

1. WWDC was virtual for the first time that year, which meant this took the form of a very disheartening WebEx call. ↩︎

2. Ultimately, that exception was needed all the way through MacOS 14. ↩︎

3. All of our products remain fully supported on MacOS 11 and higher, so you’re covered even if you’re not yet running the latest version of MacOS. Our audio capture apps now come in two variants, and the intelligent in-app software update system verifies that you have the correct variant for your version of MacOS. If necessary, it will download the right one to get you sorted.

   For even older versions of MacOS, our Legacy page is here for you. Rest assured, if you bought a product from us, you’ll always be able to get it from us. ↩︎

4. If you used earlier versions of our products on an Apple Silicon-based Mac, you had to adjust your machine’s Startup Security Policy. While the required Reduced Security setting is still tremendously secure, we know some users would now like to revert back to Full Security. Click here for instructions on how to revert your Mac back to its default setting. ↩︎

Apple has just shipped their most recent major update to MacOS 15 (Sequoia), with MacOS 15.2. This update once again brings important audio-related bug fixes to the operating system. Those fixes on Apple’s end lead to several improvements when using our products:

• Muting when capturing audio playing to aggregate and multi-output devices
  When capturing audio that is being played to an aggregate audio device or a multi-output audio device, it will now always correctly mute as requested.

  For: Airfoil Audio Hijack Loopback Piezo SoundSource

• Voice chat audio no longer doubled
  Another MacOS muting issue has also been sorted by Apple. As a result, using a voice chat application like FaceTime will no longer result in doubled audio while running SoundSource.

  For: SoundSource

• Capturing from Music.app when it’s streaming via AirPlay
  Changes Apple made in 15.2 make it possible for our apps to capture audio from Music.app even while it’s streaming audio via AirPlay. An update for Piezo is still needed to handle this, and will be released in the near future.

  For: Airfoil Audio Hijack Loopback Piezo SoundSource

• Muting while capturing from System AirPlay Receiver
  Audio now mutes as expected when capturing from System AirPlay Receiver and other unusual sources.

  For: Airfoil Audio Hijack Loopback SoundSource

• Audio adjustments of Music.app when streaming via AirPlay
  When streaming from Music.app to local and AirPlay speakers simultaneously, SoundSource’s features like volume control, redirection, and effects will once again apply to audio routed to the Mac’s default output.

  For: SoundSource

Update Now

MacOS 15.2 will provide the best experience when using our apps, so we again strongly recommend updating your Mac now. Of course, we also recommend using the latest versions of our own products. Select Check for Updates from within the app to get those.

On Monday, Apple shipped the first major update to MacOS 15 (Sequoia). In addition to the premiere of Apple Intelligence, MacOS 15.1 includes important audio-related bug fixes. Here’s a look at several improvements you can expect to find with our products once you’ve updated to MacOS 15.1:

• Capture from iPhone Mirroring
  Capturing audio from Apple’s new “iPhone Mirroring” application now works as expected.

  For: Airfoil Audio Hijack Loopback Piezo SoundSource

• Capture of audio from command-line interface (CLI) tools
  Audio capture from command-line processes now works as expected. Whether you’re targeting the Terminal for a process like `mpv` or `say` or an app that uses a command-line utility under the hood, audio will once again be correctly captured

  For: Airfoil Audio Hijack Loopback Piezo SoundSource

• Correct muting with System-Wide Audio captures
  After a System-Wide Audio capture has been initiated, apps launched will now always be properly muted.

  For: Airfoil Audio Hijack

• Greatly reduced CPU usage
  Thanks to fixes in the Mac’s “CoreAudio” system, SoundSource now uses minimal processing power when no applications are playing audio.

  For: SoundSource

• Improvements for apps running in exclusive (“hog”) mode
  Previously, if an app was hogging an audio device, attempting to work with it could cause all audio capture to fail. That is no longer the case.

  For: SoundSource

Update Now

We have long advised taking it slow when upgrading to a major new version of MacOS (from MacOS 14 to MacOS 15, for instance). In the case of this smaller update from MacOS 15.0 to MacOS 15.1, though, we heartily recommend updating your Mac now. As always, we also recommend using the latest versions of our own products. Select Check for Updates from within the app to get those.