AirBuddy App for Easily Connecting AirPods to Macs Gets Redesign and New Features

by

App developer Guilherme Rambo last year released AirBuddy, an app that's designed to bring iOS-like AirPods integration to the Mac, and today, Rambo is releasing an updated version of the app, AirBuddy 2.

airbuddy 2 airpods connected
Compared to the original version of AirBuddy, the updated app features a redesigned user interface, reliability improvements, and several new features like historical usage data and custom connection modes.

airbuddy 2 connected devices
AirBuddy 2 is meant to make connecting AirPods and Beats headphones to a Mac as seamless as connecting to an iOS device. When AirPods are near a Mac with AirBuddy 2 installed, a window pops up that lets you click to connect. Battery life is displayed in the menu bar or in the Today center, and a swipe lets you change to a new listening mode.

You can connect iPhones, iPads, and other Macs running AirBuddy 2 to your main Mac to monitor battery life, and in addition to making it easy to swap devices with headphones, it's also designed to make it simple to transfer a Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, or Magic Keyboard between Macs with a click.

airbuddy 2 preferences
Custom connection modes are available to set listening mode, volume, and microphone access when AirPods connect to a Mac, and the app offers up historical data about headphone usage such as listening time, call time, and battery life for 12 hours, 24 hours, or the prior day.

airbuddy 2 device listening history
AirBuddy 2 can be purchased from the AirBuddy website for $9.99. AirBuddy users who purchased the AirBuddy app in 2019 can upgrade for $4.99 in the app, and AirBuddy users who purchased the original app in 2020 will get a free upgrade to AirBuddy 2.

Popular Stories

iOS 26 Battery Glass Feature

iOS 26.1 Beta Liquid Glass Battery Drain Test: Tinted vs Clear Mode

Friday October 24, 2025 2:30 pm PDT by
In the fourth iOS 26.1 beta, Apple added a "Tinted" option that reduces the translucency of Liquid Glass for those who prefer a more opaque look. I saw some comments wondering whether the setting might preserve battery life, so I thought I'd do some testing. Test Settings I did four separate tests using the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and I kept the parameters as similar as possible. Here are the...
Read Full Article • 101 comments
iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features for Your iPhone

Wednesday October 22, 2025 6:15 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more. iOS 26.1 is currently in beta testing. The update will likely be released in the first half of November, and it is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer, but some...
Read Full Article • 35 comments
iOS 26 Maps Glass

Apple Reportedly Moving Ahead With Ads in Maps App

Sunday October 26, 2025 6:22 am PDT by
Apple Maps could feature integrated ads as soon as next year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. In his latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that Apple's plan to bring more ads to iOS is moving "gaining traction," with the Maps app being next in line. The project will apparently give restaurants and other businesses the option to pay to have their details featured more prominently in...
Read Full Article • 382 comments
Emergency SOS via Satellite iPhone YT

iPhone 18 Pro Rumored to Support Full 5G Satellite Internet

Friday October 24, 2025 7:18 am PDT by
At least some new iPhone models launching next year may support full 5G satellite internet, according to a report this week from The Information. "Apple plans to add support in upcoming iPhones as early as next year for 5G networks that aren't tethered to Earth's surface, which includes satellites," the report said. "That would give the iPhone full internet access over satellite," it added. ...
Read Full Article • 56 comments
trump white house ballroom

Apple Donating to Trump's $350M White House Ballroom Project

Thursday October 23, 2025 3:55 pm PDT by
Apple is one of several tech companies that will contribute to the construction of U.S. President Donald Trump's 90,000-square-foot ballroom, reports CNN. Construction began on the ballroom this week, and the White House's east wing was torn down. Trump claims that the ballroom will cost $350 million, and that it will be privately funded through donations. The cost has already increased $150 ...
Read Full Article • 662 comments
iPhone 17 Colors

iPhone 18 Rumored to Feature 50% More RAM

Saturday October 25, 2025 2:57 am PDT by
Apple's upcoming iPhone 18 could feature 50% more memory than its predecessor, according to Korea's The Bell. With its latest iPhone lineup, the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max feature 12GB of memory. This is a significant increase of 4GB more their predecessors, largely driven by the demands of on-device artificial intelligence processing. The iPhone 17 is the only new...
Read Full Article • 87 comments
All Screen iPhone 2027 Feature 1

Report: Apple to Skip 'iPhone 19' Name for 'iPhone 20'

Thursday October 23, 2025 4:28 am PDT by
Apple's new iPhone lineup launched in the fall of 2027 will be called the "iPhone 20" models, rather than the "iPhone 19," according to research firm Omdia. Speaking at a conference in Seoul (via ETNews), Omdia Chief Researcher Heo Moo-yeol corroborated rumors that Apple plans to move the launch of its standard iPhone to the first half of the year and provided some additional clarity about...
Read Full Article • 158 comments
iOS 26 Feature

iOS 26 Leaker Being Sued by Apple is Actually a 'Lifelong Apple Fanboy'

Friday October 24, 2025 9:20 am PDT by
In July, Apple sued well-known YouTuber Jon Prosser and his acquaintance Michael Ramacciotti over alleged theft of the company's trade secrets, after Prosser leaked some iOS 26 details in videos uploaded to his YouTube channel Front Page Tech. If you are not caught up on the lawsuit, read our initial coverage to learn more. Earlier this week, Prosser told The Verge he has "been in active...
Read Full Article • 88 comments
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: iPhone Air Is in Trouble

Friday October 24, 2025 8:32 am PDT by
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the latest rumors about the iPhone Air not selling as well as Apple hoped. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos There have been many recent reports suggesting the iPhone Air has failed to catch on with consumers, with Apple moving to cut production due to lower-than-expected sales. The first warning sign was...
Read Full Article • 188 comments

Top Rated Comments

zaph47 Avatar
zaph47
65 months ago

Does Big Sur do most of this ?
Yes. Natively.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bpeeps Avatar
bpeeps
65 months ago
How much did MacRumors get for this ad?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MEJHarrison Avatar
MEJHarrison
65 months ago

Upgraded immediately, I loved v1. This update has addressed every minor gripe I still had with the app. I just wish Apple would add this functionality to macOS itself
Come back tomorrow for Big Sur. It IS added to MacOS. At least the basic functionality of connecting the AirPods automatically. Looks like a lot of new features were added. Not a surprise. Since the main purpose of the app is now handled by the OS, you either drop your project, or find other ways to add value for your customers.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
luvbug Avatar
luvbug
65 months ago

Honestly, I don’t know. I just purchased the upgrade and have not seen anything that Big Sur does natively.

If people are walking into macOS Big Sur expecting AirPods functionality other than automatic device switching (which sucks on the Mac right now due to misuse of audio APIs) they’re in for some sore disappointment.
Then what on earth are you basing your posts on? Have you been running the last 11.0.1 beta (likely GM) since it came out and actually tested these BT functions? If not, then what? Just pulled something out of the air for sh*ts and grins?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jonblatho Avatar
jonblatho
65 months ago

Then what on earth are you basing your posts on? Have you been running the last 11.0.1 beta (likely GM) since it came out and actually tested these BT functions? If not, then what? Just pulled something out of the air for sh*ts and grins?
Yes, I’ve been testing automatic device switching since it was available and kept my Mac updated. It’s still a mess on the Mac — rapidly improving, but enough of a mess that I have had to disable sound effects on multiple apps and even websites so that (for example) a new chat sound effect from Facebook’s website doesn’t cause audio to switch over to my Mac from my iPhone while playing music. Unless Apple has begun blacklisting certain high-profile incidents like these, and I don’t know why it would/should, these edge cases will continue to be a nuisance for the foreseeable future, pending updates on developers’ end.

An example of something that AirBuddy 2 allows that macOS Big Sur doesn’t is so-called “connection modes,” which resolves a major nuisance for me, an iMac user stuck on Bluetooth 4.2. Sometimes, when connecting my AirPods, macOS likes to choose the AirPods for both output and input, which given Bluetooth 4.2’s reduced bandwidth means atrocious output audio quality until you manually switch the input back to the built-in mics. It does this randomly, even with nothing open that could possibly need the microphone and certainly nothing actively using it. It’s best to just eliminate the issue altogether by telling it to connect for output only when connecting; AirBuddy allows this, and macOS alone doesn’t.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ersan191 Avatar
ersan191
65 months ago
Yep best to release this before Big Sur comes out and people figure out that 90% of it is baked in to the OS now.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments