Human themes
Human characters
A more lifelike companion
Jasmine has over thirty dance moves across five energy levels, from a gentle nod to full-body jumps.
Watch her danceLet music dance on your desktop
A desktop companion
that dances to your music
Sway lives on your Mac desktop. It listens to whatever you're playing and moves to the beat, so every song has a rhythm you can see.
macOS 14.4 or laterApple silicon & IntelFree
Music comes to life
It hears your Mac
and dances to the beat
Sway listens to whatever your Mac is playing, finds the beat and tempo in real time, and has the character step right on the beat with smooth, natural moves.
Pop, hip-hop, electronic or something mellow; Apple Music, Spotify or a browser tab, it keeps up.
No beat yet, so she's dancing the groove moves at normal speed
Listens
Reads your Mac's audio output directly. No microphone, and any app works.
On the beat
Finds the beat first, then picks the moves. Faster songs, faster steps.
Five energy levels
From idle and a gentle sway to full-body jumps. The harder the music, the bigger the moves.
Two kinds of characters
Jasmine in a realistic style, plus nine cats with personalities of their own.
Floats on your desktop
No window frame. Drag it around, click right through it, or tuck it away.
Now-playing bubble
Shows the song and artist above her head, or the tempo when there's no track info.
Your Sway, your style
Characters and settings
that make it yours
Switch between Jasmine and the cat companions with one click. Size, language, the bubble, click-through and always-on-top all adjust to how you like it.
Click the Sway icon in the menu bar and the settings panel pops up.
See all features
Under the hood
Tight on the beat,
light on your Mac
Single-digit CPU while music plays, and nothing is redrawn when nothing changes.
System audio tapGets the system mix directly, unaffected by room noise
Fallback captureSwitches to a backup path if the main one isn't available
Tempo memoryRemembers each song's tempo and locks on instantly next time
Performance senseA bubble pops up when CPU, memory or temperature run high
Hardware video decodeDecodes as it plays, keeping only a few frames in memory
Cats with moodsWithout music, they act according to how busy your Mac is
Sprite companions
Cat companions
Soft, cute and comforting
Nine cats, each with a personality. With music they bounce to the beat; without it, they find something to do depending on how busy your Mac is.
Take one home
Get Sway
Install it, and
your desktop has rhythm
- Open the DMG and drag Sway into Applications.
- On first launch, allow Sway to capture system audio. Quit and reopen it once after granting permission so the audio tap actually connects.
- Play a song. Click the Sway icon in the menu bar to switch characters or change the size, and right-click the character to hide it.
Sway
Desktop companion for macOS
Download Sway- macOS 14.4 or later · Apple silicon & Intel
- Signed and notarized by Apple, so macOS opens it normally
- Free · Tells you when an update is available
FAQ
Questions
you might have
What is Sway?
Sway is a desktop pet for macOS, though we like to call it a desktop companion. It lives on your Mac desktop, listens to whatever the system is playing, finds the beat and tempo in real time, and has a character dance right on the beat. You can pick Jasmine, a realistic character, or one of nine cats.
Is Sway free?
Yes. There's no account to create and there are no ads.
Which Macs and macOS versions does it support?
It needs macOS 14.4 or later and runs on both Apple silicon and Intel Macs.
Which music apps does it work with?
Anything that plays sound through your Mac: Apple Music, Spotify, NetEase Cloud Music, QQ Music, or music and video in a browser. It reads the system output, so there's nothing to set up per app.
Does it listen to me? Does it send what I play anywhere?
No. It reads your Mac's audio output, meaning what you're playing, not the microphone. The sound is analyzed on your Mac and discarded right away. Nothing is recorded, uploaded or stored.
I granted permission. Why isn't it moving?
macOS applies the audio permission when the app launches. After allowing it the first time, quit Sway and open it again. If it still doesn't move, click Reconnect audio in the settings panel.
Does it work with headphones?
Yes. It reads the system output, so it doesn't matter what you listen on. Bluetooth headphones add 100 to 200 ms of delay; if the moves feel early, pick a negative value under Beat offset in the settings panel.
Does it slow my Mac down?
Barely. It's nearly idle when it's quiet and uses single-digit CPU while music plays. Nothing is redrawn when nothing changes, and videos are decoded as they play, keeping only a few frames in memory.
Why isn't it on the App Store?
App Store apps must run in a sandbox, and a sandboxed app can't read system audio. So it's only available here. The installer is signed and notarized by Apple, so macOS opens it normally.
Does it update itself?
Yes. It lets you know when a new version is out. Updates are signature-checked too, and nothing installs if the check fails.