Point your media keys at the
music player you actually use,
with Pokoe for Mac

A free Mac menu bar app that points play, pause, next, and previous at the music player you choose, instead of whatever macOS feels like opening. Works from inside any app, fullscreen included. If your player is not running, pressing play launches it.

Pokoe works with Spotify, Apple Music, TIDAL, SoundCloud, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, Qobuz, Plexamp, Pocket Casts, VLC, DaftCloud, Swinsian, Vox, Doppler, plus SoundCloud and YouTube straight in a browser tab, with nothing to install for those two. It scans your installed apps locally and only shows the ones on your Mac. Zero setup: Pokoe picks a sensible default the moment you grant access, and switching players is one click.

Yes, both, with no desktop app and no extension. Pokoe points your media keys at the browser that is playing, so play, pause and skip all work with no setup and no permission prompt. That works in any browser, including Safari, Chrome, Brave, Edge, Arc and Dia. To show the row as SoundCloud or YouTube rather than just the browser, Pokoe can also look for that tab, which macOS asks your permission for once. Skipping needs something to skip to: in a playlist or a mix it works, on a single video there is nothing queued up. Pokoe never launches a browser that is not already running.

They stay separate. Each gets its own row in the panel and your keys go to the one you picked, even when both tabs live in the same browser window. macOS reports only one app as “now playing” and for both tabs that app is the browser, so Pokoe works out which tab is really playing rather than guessing. A YouTube tab parked on the homepage does not count as a player and will not clutter your list.

Yes. Free forever, no account, no analytics, and no tracking. The only thing Pokoe ever fetches from the internet is cover art when your player does not hand it over. It runs on macOS 14 or later, ships as a notarized signed download, and keeps itself current with built-in updates.

Pokoe needs it to catch your media keys before macOS does. It cannot read your screen, your files, or your mind. macOS makes you flip the switch yourself.

Some players, like Spotify and Apple Music, take their commands through AppleScript, so the first time Pokoe talks to one, macOS shows a “Pokoe would like to control…” prompt. That’s the Automation permission. Allow it once per player and you’re set. Clicked Don’t Allow? Turn it back on in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation.

No. Pokoe is native Swift, takes about 23 MB of memory, and sits at 0.0% CPU when idle. Nothing polls in the background between key presses. That number comes from a 52 hour profiling soak test, not vibes.

I kept hopping between Spotify, SoundCloud, and TIDAL, and it lowkey drove me crazy that my media keys never stuck to the app I was actually playing from. So I built something. Pokoe is Dutch slang for a track, so the name was basically waiting for me.

Missing your player? Found a bug? Got an idea? Ping Stijn. Pokoe is made by one person, so your mail lands straight with the developer. Email Stijn.