Spotify is my preferred music streaming app primarily because it’s discovery algorithm is second-to-none. But there’s one thing the macOS app doesn’t do that I wish it did (and that third-party apps used to do but have since, apparently, languished): tell me what’s playing.

I spend most of my work day with music running in the background. Spotify lives somewhere behind a dozen windows, and unless I deliberately click over to it, I have no idea what track just started. Sometimes I’ll hear something and think “what is this?” then forget to check because I’m working on something else. By the time I remember, three songs have passed and it’s gone.

Yes, I know the iOS app shows a Now Playing widget. And yes, Control Center on the Mac technically shows media info. But neither of those send me a notification when a new track starts. I don’t want to check something. I want to be told.

So I built Now Playing Notify.

What’s Now Playing Notify Actually Do?

It’s a simple menu bar app. When a track changes in Spotify, you get a native macOS notification—song title, artist, and album artwork. That’s it.

Click the music note icon in your menu bar and you’ll see the current track. There’s a toggle to turn notifications on or off if you need to focus. The app doesn’t touch your Dock, doesn’t open windows, and doesn’t collect any data. It just sits there quietly until there’s something worth telling you about.

Why a Standalone App?

I looked at existing solutions. Some browser extensions try to solve this for the web player. A few apps bundle this into larger “Spotify enhancer” packages with features I don’t need. I wanted something that did exactly one thing and did it natively using Swift.

The result is small, fast, and about as minimal as it can get while still being useful.

What’s Next

Version 1.0 handles the core use case: notifications when tracks change. I have ideas for future updates such as playback controls in the menu bar, the ability to skip or pause from a notification, maybe a start-at-login toggle. But those will come incrementally, if and when I find the time to implement them.

Get It

Now Playing Notify is available for free on the Mac App Store and you can see more information about it on the project’s homepage.

It requires macOS 13 (Ventura) or later and the Spotify desktop app.

If you run into issues or have feedback, you can reach me at here.