# Sleeve alternatives for Mac, for a desk player that follows every source

The best Sleeve alternative for Mac depends on what Sleeve misses for you: Tuneful puts the player in the notch, Silicio is free, and Waltz ($4.99 once, macOS 14 and later) is a turntable or cassette deck on the desk that follows browser tabs and any app, and plays focus music of its own.

- URL: https://swiftfox.studio/blog/sleeve-alternatives-for-mac
- Covers: https://swiftfox.studio/apps/waltz, https://swiftfox.studio/apps/pawodoro
- Published: 2026-11-07
- Updated: 2026-11-07
- Publisher: Swiftfox Studio (https://swiftfox.studio)

## In short

- Sleeve by Replay Software is a customizable now playing accessory for the Mac desktop, $5.99 once direct, that follows Apple Music, Spotify and Doppler, and Sleeve 3 needs macOS 26 Tahoe.
- Sleeve is still the right choice for designing the look down to the font, for Last.fm scrobbling, custom keyboard shortcuts and buying through the Mac App Store.
- macOS Control Center shows and controls what is playing for free, but it lives behind a click, and Spotify has no widget for the Mac desktop.
- Waltz is a one-time $4.99 desk player for macOS 14 and later that follows Spotify, Music, seven browsers and any app's sound, names unknown songs with Shazam and plays focus music offline.
- Waltz has no themes to design, no Last.fm, no custom shortcuts and no Doppler support, and it is sold from its own site rather than the Mac App Store.

## What Sleeve is actually good at

[Sleeve](https://replay.software/sleeve) is a now playing accessory for the Mac
desktop: the album cover, the song and the artist, sitting on your wallpaper or
floating over your windows, with play, pause, skip, shuffle, repeat, a like button
and volume. It follows **Apple Music, Spotify and Doppler**, including Apple Music
radio stations. Replay Software, the studio of Alasdair Monk and Hector
Simpson, makes it, and Sleeve 3 has had steady updates since it launched on
30 January 2026, the latest being 3.3.1 in July.

Customization is the strongest part. Sleeve ships with seven themes, and almost
everything in them can be changed: the artwork's size, corners, shadow, lighting
and shelf, the font, weight, size and colour of each line of text,
the layout, a backdrop layer and whether the controls show at all. Version 3.3
added worn artwork and plastic sleeves for a record-shop look. Themes can be
exported as files and sync between Macs through iCloud. Sleeve can be pinned to any
corner or edge of any display, kept above or below windows, made to float up only
when the track changes, and hidden while playback is paused. Custom keyboard
shortcuts control playback, likes and volume with an on-screen HUD, and
**Last.fm** scrobbling is built in.

Sleeve costs **$5.99 once** bought from Replay directly; the US Mac App Store
listing showed $7.99 on the day we checked. There is no subscription and no in-app
purchase. Sleeve 3 needs **macOS 26 Tahoe**; on earlier versions, Sleeve 2.3.5 is
the final release of the previous version. The app is in English, and its App
Store privacy label says no data is collected.

If you listen in Apple Music or Spotify, run macOS Tahoe and want to design exactly
how your desktop now playing looks, Sleeve is the obvious choice. The Sleeve
alternative for Mac this page is about, Waltz, does not let you design a theme.

## Why people go looking anyway

**The current version needs macOS 26.** Sleeve 3 runs only on macOS Tahoe. Anyone
on macOS 14 Sonoma or macOS 15 Sequoia, by choice or because of an older Mac, is
left on Sleeve 2.3.5, which Replay calls the last planned release of Sleeve 2.

**It follows three apps.** Sleeve shows what plays in Apple Music, Spotify and
Doppler. Music in a browser tab, such as YouTube Music, SoundCloud or Spotify's web
player, does not appear, and neither does a podcast app or a game.

**Some long-time users report it got less stable.** One App Store review says
"with each release, the app's behavior has gotten more and more flaky", and
another calls it "very buggy" and says radio sets are not scrobbled unless they are
live. Version 3.3.1 deals with Spotify connections that now expire every six months
because of changes on Spotify's side.

**Some people want more than a picture.** Sleeve shows the cover beautifully, and
that is its purpose. People who want the desk to feel like a record player, or want
something to play when the music runs out, are asking for a different kind of app.

## What macOS already does for free

macOS already shows what is playing. The **Now Playing** module in Control Center,
and in the menu bar if you add it there, shows the song and the app and has play,
pause and skip for whatever is playing, Safari tabs included. Since macOS 14
Sonoma, widgets can sit on the desktop, and with an iPhone nearby you can place its
widgets there too.

Where it stops: Now Playing lives behind a click, not on the desk, and its cover is
small. Spotify has no widget for the Mac desktop, and its users still ask for one
in Spotify's community forum. Nothing built in plays music for you when nothing is
playing.

## Waltz: a small machine on the desk that plays along with any source

[Waltz](https://swiftfox.studio/apps/waltz) is a desk player for macOS 14 and later. Instead of a cover in
a frame, it puts a small machine on the desktop - a turntable, a cassette deck, a
jukebox or one of five other models - that turns while music plays and wears the
song's cover on its record, tape or disc. A record in the menu bar opens the
controls. The [Waltz guide](https://swiftfox.studio/handbook/now-playing-widget-for-mac) walks through
every setting; this section covers where it differs from Sleeve.

![The Waltz turntable on the desktop beside a document window, playing Golden hour by Lumen Bay with the song's name under it](https://swiftfox.studio/blog/sleeve-alternatives-for-mac/fig-1.jpg "The player sits on the desk itself, with the song under it.")

### It follows browser tabs and any app, not only three players

Waltz follows **Spotify and Music** in full, with title, artist, cover and every
control, seeking included. It also reads **seven browsers** tab by tab: Safari,
Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Opera and Vivaldi. YouTube Music, Spotify's web player and
SoundCloud tabs give the song's name; YouTube, Bandcamp, Deezer, Apple Music on the
web, Tidal, Amazon Music and Qobuz make the player spin for music, and not for a
video in the next tab.

Under **Settings > Player**, **Any app that plays sound** is a switch: turn it on
and a podcast app or a game also makes the player turn, with Waltz's own label on
it. **Not during calls** is on by default, so FaceTime, Zoom and Teams never start
it. The **Recent** list in the popover shows where each song came from.

![The Waltz popover's Recent list: Paper moon and Slow tide from Music, Night ferry from Spotify and Window seat from Safari, with the Safari song marked](https://swiftfox.studio/blog/sleeve-alternatives-for-mac/fig-2.jpg "A song in a Safari tab sits in Recent next to Music and Spotify.")

The honest limit: Waltz cannot read song titles from apps other than Spotify, Music
and those browser tabs. macOS keeps that behind a private interface, so another app
gets the player's motion and Waltz's label, not its song name. Doppler is not one of
Waltz's sources.

### Eight models, and their parts work

Waltz has eight models: turntable, cassette, gramophone, radio, CD player, boombox,
jukebox and reel-to-reel. Each is drawn as the real thing, and its parts work. On
the turntable, drop the tonearm and the song starts where the needle lands; on the
cassette, wind a reel to seek and tap the A or B side for the next song; on the
jukebox, drop a coin. The cover goes where it would on a real one, and with
**Colors from the cover** on, lights, neon and tape stripes take the song's colours.
From 8 pm to 7 am the **Night look** dims it a shade and lights its lamps.

![The Waltz cassette model playing Paper moon by The Juniper Set, the song's cover on the tape's sticker and its name below](https://swiftfox.studio/blog/sleeve-alternatives-for-mac/fig-3.jpg "The cover sits where it would on a real tape, and the reels wind to seek.")

The honest limit: the look comes from the model you choose, not from a theme you
design. There is a size from 120 to 420 points, an opacity, the song title on or
off, a picture disc for the turntable and the night look, but no fonts, layouts or
shelves to edit and no theme files to share. If designing the look is the point,
Sleeve does that far better.

### Music of its own when nothing is playing

Press play when nothing is playing and Waltz puts on wordless music to work to, in
eight genres: lofi, jazz hop, piano, baroque, ambient, downtempo, synthwave and game
music. **Play focus music from** picks the source: Spotify playlists, free internet
radio, or **Waltz's tracks**, ten tracks built into the app that play without a
connection. **Auto** takes the best available and falls back to the built-in tracks
when the Mac is offline.

![The Focus tab in the Waltz popover: eight genre tiles, lofi, jazz hop, piano, baroque, ambient, downtempo, synthwave and game](https://swiftfox.studio/blog/sleeve-alternatives-for-mac/fig-4.jpg "Eight genres to work to, one click each.")

The honest limit: the built-in set is ten tracks, which is enough for a working
session but not a library; Spotify and radio carry the variety. If you already have
a focus playlist, Waltz simply plays along with it like any other song. For timed
work sessions rather than music, [Pawodoro](https://swiftfox.studio/apps/pawodoro) is the sibling app.

### Listen mode names the songs no app reports

**Listen mode** hears the sound your Mac is already playing, only while it is
switched on. It names a song Waltz cannot read with Shazam - a radio stream, a
video, a DJ mix - moves the models with the beat, and stops the record as soon as a
browser tab pauses. Nothing is recorded or saved; only a short signature of the
sound goes to Shazam to find the match.

![Waltz's Permissions settings: Media keys for play, pause and skip in browser tabs, and Listen mode, which names songs, follows the beat and stops on pause, marked](https://swiftfox.studio/blog/sleeve-alternatives-for-mac/fig-5.jpg "Listen mode is a switch, and nothing it hears is recorded.")

The honest limit: listen mode needs macOS 14.2 or later and the System Audio
Recording permission ([why each permission](https://swiftfox.studio/handbook/now-playing-widget-for-mac)), and Shazam can only name what it knows. A song Shazam
does not match stays unnamed, though the player keeps spinning.

### Runs from macOS 14, in six languages, with a trial first

Waltz runs on **macOS 14 Sonoma or later**, on Apple silicon and Intel, so it fits a
Mac that cannot or will not move to Tahoe. It is in **English, Turkish, German,
Spanish, French and Japanese**. It costs **$4.99 once**, after a **14-day trial**
that needs no card and no email, and the license is permanent. There is no
account: recently played stays on your Mac and is erased when you switch **Keep
recently played** off.

The honest limit: Waltz is sold from its own site, not the Mac App Store yet, so
there is no Family Sharing. It also has no Last.fm scrobbling and no custom
keyboard shortcuts; the media keys work, and **Media keys** in Settings extends
them to browser tabs.

## Sleeve vs Waltz, feature by feature

| | Sleeve | Waltz |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | $5.99 once direct, $7.99 on the Mac App Store | $4.99 once, 14-day trial |
| macOS | Sleeve 3 needs macOS 26 Tahoe; 2.3.5 for earlier versions | macOS 14 or later |
| Music apps followed | Apple Music, Spotify, Doppler | Spotify and Music, seven browsers tab by tab, any app's sound as a switch |
| What sits on the desk | The cover and the song's text, in a theme | One of eight drawn models with the cover printed on it |
| Customization | Seven themes, fonts, layout, artwork effects, shareable theme files | Model, size, opacity, title, picture disc, night look |
| Controls | Play, pause, skip, shuffle, repeat, like, volume | Play, pause, skip, shuffle, repeat, seek, volume, sleep timer, the models' own parts |
| Keyboard | Custom shortcuts with a HUD | Media keys, extended to browser tabs |
| Last.fm | Scrobbling built in | None |
| Music when nothing plays | None | Focus music in eight genres, ten tracks offline |
| Unknown songs | Not named | Listen mode names them with Shazam (macOS 14.2+) |
| Languages | English | English, Turkish, German, Spanish, French, Japanese |
| Where to buy | Replay's site or the Mac App Store | swiftfox.studio |

Sleeve wins on design and on listening habits: a desktop you can style down to the
font, scrobbling, keyboard shortcuts and the App Store. Waltz wins on reach and
play: more sources, older macOS versions, music of its own, songs named by ear, and
a model that feels like an object rather than a picture.

## Other alternatives worth knowing

**Tuneful**, by Martin Fekete, is a player that lives in the MacBook's notch, the
menu bar and small mini players, for Spotify and Apple Music, with Last.fm
scrobbling. It is $4.99 on the Mac App Store and needs macOS 15 or later. Its own
release notes from November 2025 warn that a Tahoe change stopped third-party apps
from reading streamed Apple Music tracks, so check the current notes if you stream
Apple Music.

**Silicio**, by Jan Bolz, is free on the Mac App Store and runs back to macOS
10.13. It has a mini player with album art, desktop widgets on Sonoma and later,
themes, global shortcuts and Last.fm, and works with Apple Music, Spotify and more.
It is the place to start if price is the deciding factor.

**NowPlayingWidget** floats a now playing card over your windows with synced
lyrics and a local play history, and docks by the notch or the screen edges. It
reads what apps and browsers share with macOS Now Playing and needs macOS 13. It
comes with a Setapp subscription or as a standalone app from $5.99.

If you want the menu bar itself to do more, the
[best menu bar apps for Mac](https://swiftfox.studio/blog/best-mac-menu-bar-apps) sorts the field, and
the [best focus apps for Mac](https://swiftfox.studio/blog/best-focus-apps-for-mac) covers tools that
shape a working session around what you hear, and the
[Mac utility apps](https://swiftfox.studio/blog/mac-utility-apps) roundup collects small tools for
everyday annoyances.

## When Sleeve is still the right choice

Stay with Sleeve if the look is the point: you want to choose the font, the
artwork's corners and shadow, a shelf under the record, and share the theme with a
friend. Stay if you scrobble every song to Last.fm, control music from the keyboard
with your own shortcuts, or listen in Doppler. Stay if you already run macOS Tahoe
and only ever play Apple Music and Spotify, where Sleeve covers everything you
need. And stay if buying through the Mac App Store with Family Sharing matters to
you.

## Switching from Sleeve

1. **Note your Sleeve setup.** If you made your own theme, export it as a file
   first; Waltz cannot import it, but you keep it if you go back.
2. **Quit Sleeve** and remove it from Login Items, so two players do not sit on the
   desk at once.
3. **Install [Waltz](https://swiftfox.studio/apps/waltz) and start the trial.** It needs no card and no email.
4. **Turn on your sources** in **Settings > Sources** and allow Automation when
   macOS asks, once for Spotify, Music and each browser you use, so Waltz can show
   the cover and the controls.
5. **Pick a model and a place.** Drag the player where Sleeve was and choose **On
   the desktop** or **On top** under **Keep the player**.
6. **Decide on the extras:** **Any app that plays sound** under Player, **Listen
   mode** under Permissions, and **Hide when nothing plays** if the desk should be
   empty between songs.

Your themes, Last.fm connection and shortcuts do not carry over, and there is no
history to move. Setup takes about five minutes.

## Side by side

| Tool | What it shows | Sources | macOS | Cost |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Sleeve | A themed cover and song text on the desktop | Apple Music, Spotify, Doppler | Sleeve 3: 26 Tahoe | $5.99 once direct |
| Tuneful | A player in the notch, menu bar or mini window | Spotify, Apple Music | 15 or later | $4.99 once |
| Silicio | A mini player and desktop widgets | Apple Music, Spotify and more | 10.13 or later | Free |
| NowPlayingWidget | A floating card with lyrics | What apps and browsers share with Now Playing | 13 or later | Setapp, or from $5.99 |
| Waltz | A drawn turntable, cassette or jukebox with the cover on it | Spotify, Music, seven browsers, any app | 14 or later | $4.99 once |

Pick by what fails. If your desktop now playing looks wrong, a configurable cover
like Sleeve fixes it. If it misses half of what you listen to, sits on a Mac that
cannot run Tahoe, or goes quiet when the playlist ends, a player that follows every
source and plays music of its own is the fix.

_Prices and features checked on 7 November 2026._

## Frequently asked questions

### Is there a free Sleeve alternative for Mac?

Yes. Silicio by Jan Bolz is free on the Mac App Store, runs on macOS 10.13 or later and has a mini player, desktop widgets on Sonoma and later, themes, shortcuts and Last.fm. macOS Control Center also shows and controls what is playing for free. Waltz is not free: it is $4.99 once after a 14-day trial that needs no card and no email.

### What is the difference between Sleeve and Waltz?

Sleeve shows the album cover and song on the desktop in a theme you design, follows Apple Music, Spotify and Doppler, scrobbles to Last.fm and needs macOS 26 for version 3. Waltz puts one of eight drawn models on the desk, a turntable or cassette deck with the cover on it, follows Spotify, Music, seven browsers and any app, and runs on macOS 14 and later.

### Does Sleeve work on macOS Sonoma or Sequoia?

Sleeve 3, the current version, needs macOS 26 Tahoe. Replay Software says users on earlier versions can keep using Sleeve 2.3.5, the last planned release of Sleeve 2. Waltz, Tuneful and Silicio all run on earlier macOS versions: Waltz on macOS 14 or later, Tuneful on macOS 15 or later and Silicio on macOS 10.13 or later.

### Can a now playing app on Mac show music from YouTube or SoundCloud in a browser?

Sleeve cannot; it follows Apple Music, Spotify and Doppler. Waltz reads Safari, Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Opera and Vivaldi tab by tab: YouTube Music, SoundCloud and Spotify's web player give the song's name, and YouTube, Bandcamp, Tidal and others make the player spin. Its listen mode can name a song in any tab with Shazam.

### Does a desktop now playing app collect my listening data?

Sleeve's App Store privacy label says no data is collected. Waltz has no account and keeps recently played only on the Mac, erased when you switch it off. Listen mode records nothing; only a short signature of the sound goes to Shazam to find a match. Waltz goes online for license and update checks, crash reports, a few anonymous usage events, song covers, and radio or Spotify when you play focus music from them.

### Is Sleeve safe to use?

Yes. Sleeve is made by Replay Software Limited, has been around since 2021, has no subscription or in-app purchase, and its App Store privacy label says the developer does not collect any data. Spotify likes need a free Spotify Developer account and scrobbling needs a Last.fm account, both optional.

### What do Sleeve and its alternatives cost?

Sleeve is $5.99 once bought from Replay Software and was $7.99 on the US Mac App Store when checked. Tuneful is $4.99 on the Mac App Store. Silicio is free. NowPlayingWidget comes with a Setapp subscription or from $5.99 on its own. Waltz is $4.99 once, after a 14-day trial.