Happy 2023, everyone! Here's a quick update to Ears to start the new year.

• New: Added a preference to hide BOTH the Dock and menu bar icons (previously, you could only hide one at a time). This lets Ears run completely hidden until you need it.
• New: Added a preference to hide the main window's Linked Devices section for those who don't use that feature.
• New: Ears has a new app icon.

Hello! This update to Ears finally resolves the longstanding Instamute bug on macOS Monterey that would mute the sound output of Bluetooth headphones when muting the microphone. I was never able to work around this bug myself, so thanks very much to the kind Apple engineers who fixed this in macOS 12.4.

Also, a new preference has been added that will color the microphone icon red when not muted. Early versions of Ears (~2020) used this red icon, but enough users complained it was distracting that I changed it to black. Well, now enough users are speaking up again in the other direction, so now it's a preference. Black or Red. Your choice.

Thanks again for your support of Ears and my other software. It means the world to me and my family.

Cheers.  
Tyler

Happy end of 2021! This final year-end release offers so many improvements it should probably be called 2.0.

New Features

• Linked Devices! You can now make combinations of your favorite input / output devices and switch to them as if they were one device.
• Ears now has a real Preferences window with a dedicated pane for editing your favorite Bluetooth devices.
• Connect to Bluetooth devices by choosing them from the Dock icon's right-click menu or the menu bar icon.
• Assign global hotkeys to connect to any Bluetooth device.
• Revamped how Instamute's status is visually displayed. When enabled, the menu bar icon changes to a microphone to more accurately represent what's going on. The Dock icon will show an "On Air" label when your microphone is un-muted.
• Ears can now (optionally) appear in the macOS Dock. You can turn on the Dock icon, menu bar icon, or both.

Bug Fixes

• Automatically connecting to Bluetooth devices is way faster and more reliable.
• Fixed a bug that would sometimes prevent your default device volumes from working.
• Fixed a bug when audio device names contained line-break characters.
• Better reliability when using Ears' command-line interface.

Notes

A bug in macOS Monterey prevents the Instamute feature from working properly. I've added a (hopefully temporary) awful and horrible workaround that you can enable in the Preferences window. Please see this help page for more details.

This release (finally) fixes the broken command-line interface for Ears as well as cleans up how the options work. For more details, see the "Command Line" section at the bottom of the Ears website here.

This release includes bug fixes for macOS Monterey in addition to:

• You can now optionally hide devices that you prefer not to see. They can be un-hidden in Preferences.
• Visual improvements to InstaMute - including the menubar icon and floating status bezel. Note: There is currently an Apple bug on macOS Monterey 12.0.1 that will incorrectly mute audio output when the microphone is muted for Bluetooth devices only. I'm looking into a workaround.

This update fixes the color of the menu bar icon on macOS Big Sur when the microphone is muted.

This update to Ears adds support for Apple Silicon Macs.

This release of Ears...

• Adds an optional status bezel when toggling your microphone's mute on or off.
• Changes the menu bar icon when mute is enabled from a red icon to the normal black (or white) color but with a strike-thru line.
• Fixes occasionally truncated text in the device switcher window (especially on Big Sur).
• Improves in-app documentation.

Thanks again for using Ears. Feel free to send in any suggestions or bug reports to help@clickontyler.com.

Cheers.  
Tyler

• New: AutoMute lets you add a keyboard shortcut that will switch your microphone on / off. It can be configured as a simple toggle, as push-to-talk, or as a cough button.
• New: Default Volumes. Ears can optionally remember your speaker and microphone's preferred volume per device. When switching audio devices, Ears will then automatically set the appropriate value.
• New: Help Manual. Ears now has a user manual available from the menu bar icon that will explain the app's features.
• New: macOS Big Sur support
• Fixed: Ears should now stop "forgetting" your license information for those of you who have been kind enough to donate. Please let me know if this continues to happen.

Cheers.  
Tyler

Happy Tuesday. This release of Ears has two bug fixes and a small new feature.

• Ears can now display a notification when the active audio output or input changes.
• Along those lines, the new feature added to the previous app update that announced audio changes will work more reliably now.
• Fixed a bug (finally) where a Bluetooth device could not be marked as a favorite.

Thanks again for your support!