Rogue Amoeba’s 2026 Status Report

It’s time for new calendars, and that means it’s also time for another annual status report. Today, I’m going to take a look back at what Rogue Amoeba accomplished in 2025, then preview a few of the things we’re looking forward to in 2026. Let’s jump right in!

Software Updates

We’re a software company, so our biggest news ought to be updates made to our software. It was!

SoundSource 6

Our single biggest update in 2025 was SoundSource 6. Hopefully, you already know about SoundSource, which provides instant access to audio settings right from your Mac’s menu bar, giving you powerful per-app control and the ability to apply effects to any app’s audio.

In version 6, we added dozens of helpful new features, alongside countless improvements. When an upgrade is this big, it can be difficult tough to convey all that it contains, so we focused our marketing on four key features: Quick Configs, AirPlay support, grouped output devices, and the powerful new Audio Devices window. You can learn about those, and so much more, on the What’s New page.

Whether you’re new to SoundSource, or just haven’t checked out version 6, download the free trial to check it out on MacOS 15 and higher. And if you previously purchased SoundSource 5 (or even SoundSource 4), you’re eligible for a discounted upgrade to version 6.

Free Updates, Big and Small

In addition to one paid upgrade, we also shipped a whopping 49 free updates across our product lineup in 2025, including three big releases.

With Audio Hijack 4.5, we removed the “Beta” label from the relatively new Transcribe block. That means Audio Hijack’s powerful speech-to-text abilities are now fully supported. This update also made transcription much faster and less CPU intensive.

Fission 2.9 included some notable interface improvements, like a better top navigation bar. However, user feedback convinced us that our choice of new colors was a misstep. We rectified things in subsequent updates, while also improving VoiceOver support.

We optimized SoundSource 5.8 to reduce CPU usage and correct an assortment of rare but irksome issues. The new SoundSource 6 is the current version of the app, but version 5 remains supported for existing users. In fact, it received another bug fix just a few days ago.

Rather than on-going subscriptions, all of our products are sold as one-time purchases. Nevertheless, the apps are always being refined, with a constant flow of free updates. In 2025, we shipped new features, performance enhancements, and hundreds of bug fixes to make all of our apps as reliable as possible. We also invested significant effort on full compatibility with MacOS 26 (Tahoe), ensuring everything was ready when it arrived.

Important MacOS Updates

Speaking of MacOS, we once again found ourselves eagerly awaiting point updates from Apple. While we have full control over our own apps, corrections to problems with the Mac’s underlying audio system can only come from Apple. Both MacOS 15 (Sequoia) and MacOS 26 (Tahoe) saw critical fixes arrive after their initial releases, with important improvements in Sequoia 15.4, as well Tahoe 26.1. We tested those OS updates in beta to validate Apple’s changes, and issued updates where needed.

Celebrating Our Team

We were delighted to have the chance to celebrate two employee milestones in 2025. Our ace designer, Neale Van Fleet, has now been with us for 10 years and counting. In that time, he’s done incredible work to make all that we do look good. Meanwhile, our support manager, Chris Barajas, crossed the 15-year mark. Chris has done more than anyone to make things better for customers. We know we’re lucky to have them both, and we hope our users do too.

One More Thing

One other project worth noting is our new Customer Dashboard. It provides automated access to full details on all your purchases from Rogue Amoeba. Retrieve lost licenses, download the latest version your license can unlock, view your purchase history, and update the email address under which your purchases are stored.

Click to check it out. You shouldn’t need it often, but when you do, the Customer Dashboard will be ready for you.

Updates Big and Small

We’re a software company, so our biggest plans ought to be updates for our software. They are!

First, I’m delighted to spill the beans on a major new feature coming to our audio router Loopback: audio effects! Currently, using effects to make microphone input sound better requires pairing Loopback and Audio Hijack. That’s not as streamlined as we’d like it to be. In the future, Loopback may be all you need to make your mic audio sound great.

We’re aiming to begin beta testing soon, so if you’re a Loopback user interested in testing the next iteration, we’d be glad to have you. Click here to apply, by sending your full name and your favorite food.

At this time, our Loopback beta is full. Stay tuned for more news on updates to Loopback.

After unveiling SoundSource 6 last month, we found plenty to polish in subsequent minor updates. Now, we’re working hard on SoundSource 6.1, a sizable update we hope to ship before spring. It will contain some features that didn’t make it into 6.0, as well as backend enhancements which will reduce latency and CPU usage.

And of course, we’ll be keeping things shipshape in all the rest of our products. The steady procession of free updates to our entire product line will continue apace in 2026.

Still Faster Beta Support

When Apple provided MacOS 26 betas last year, most of our product line worked without needing updates. However, Loopback and SoundSource took a bit more time, because the ARK plugin they use for audio handling required an update for the new OS. Last fall, we decided it was time to change that.

While we’ll continue to counsel caution when running beta OS versions, you’ll no longer need to wait for updates from us just to run the apps. For the first time ever, when Apple provides a beta of the next version of MacOS, you’ll be able to use our entire product line on it from day one. We know our users will appreciate it.

Fascinating Blog Posts

I don’t think I’ve ever teased blog posts in a status report before, but there are two in the works from other Amoebas that I’m personally very excited about. Neale’s design evolution posts are always excellent, so I’m eager to read his forthcoming “Design of SoundSource 6”. Meanwhile, Chris recently spearheaded some customer outreach that’s worth hearing about, and he’ll be posting about it soon.

Staying Up-To-Date

This annual status report is a good chance to reiterate how you can keep up with our latest news. Of course, our apps themselves offer automated update checking, with comprehensive release notes. But beyond that, there’s our:

Mailing List

Want our biggest news? We send just a few emails a year, and your address is never shared. Click right here to subscribe.

Blog

On Under the Microscope, you’ll hear about big updates, smaller updates, and other stories too. Subscribe to the RSS feed in a reader like NetNewsWire, or even get an email for every post with a service like Feedrabbit.

Social Media

You can follow @RogueAmoeba on an assortment of social media sites. We post about nearly all of our updates, provide links to articles on our blog, and share other ephemera.

New Year, Same Rogue Amoeba

We’re well into our third decade of developing the best audio tools for the Mac, and we don’t have any plans to stop. Everyone at Rogue Amoeba is hard at work on multiple updates we’ll be unveiling in the months ahead. It’s time to get back to that, so please allow Ammo and me to close by wishing you a happy new year.