RoostBAR icon
RoostBAR
macOS
RoostBAR lives in your Mac's menu bar, tucked away until you need it. It's PiP on your own terms.
Do it, close your browser, RoostBAR will still be with you.
Download on the Mac App Store
RoostBAR File View Help
RoostBAR ⌘ wifi 9:41 AM

Why I made this.

Years of sitting at my desk. Files coming in. Files leaving. Lots of simple, sometimes mundane tasks, using a small amount of my brain. I was always listening to some podcast, or YouTube video, but when someone came to my desk I had to search for the tab to stop the thing. Or sometimes I would quickly quit a whole browser and bam! The thing I was enjoying stopped.

I dreamt of this app for fifteen years, and now it finally exists. I love apps that run from the menu bar. Out of the way. Especially apps that are only doing one thing.

At first blush you might think this is a solution in search of a problem, but I think after a day of use you will be asking yourself, ‘I can’t believe how bad I had it.’ LOL okay maybe not that much, but I do think you will enjoy this more than you expect.

The RoostBAR menu-bar panel listing services with an add and settings button

Your streaming life, out of the way.

RoostBAR hangs out in your menu bar. No Dock icon to remember, no browser page to lose track of.

Click the menu-bar icon and pick a service and a compact player window sits magnetized to the menu bar and to each other.

Out of the way but always in view.

The RoostBAR menu-bar panel with its service list
Two RoostBAR player windows floating over a spreadsheet and a browser

Shoot, you want more than one site open? RoostBAR allows for two window panels to be open at the same time. Move them around, resize at will; and when you have everything to your liking: save that layout and when you come back RoostBAR will put it all back.

RoostBAR is its own process — not a browser, not a PiP tenant. Your stream belongs to you.

Not seeing a site you want, just add it to the list.

Every control you need, nothing you don't.

Window specific controls for muting sound, or hiding the video if all you want is the sound. RoostBAR even allows for you to drop the opacity so you can see underneath. Whatever your workflow RoostBAR has your back.

A RoostBAR window faded back so the work behind it shows through
Audio onlyHides the video and collapses the window to a slim toolbar — audio keeps playing. Great for music streams or podcasts.
Minimize to menu barTucks the window to a small favicon in the menu bar with audio still playing. Click to bring it back exactly as it was.
Click-throughLet your mouse pass straight through the window to whatever is behind it. Undo with Wake windows.
OpacityFade the window from 30% to 100%
MagnetSnap to the menu bar and to other windows. Grab a stacked window and the whole group moves together.
Zoom⌘+ and ⌘− zoom page content. Saved layouts remember each window's zoom level.
Open in browserEscape hatch — opens the current page in your default browser for anything that won't play in-window.
Save layoutRecords the position, size, and zoom of your open windows so you can restore them anytime
Open at loginStarts RoostBAR automatically when you log in to your Mac
Two columnsSwitch the service list between a named list and an icon grid
Custom servicesAdd any site by name and URL — it behaves exactly like a built-in service, including saving your login

A few things worth knowing.

Sending a window to open in the default browser
Open in browser
The RoostBAR menu-bar dropdown menu
Menu
The list of RoostBAR global hotkeys
Hotkeys
Adding a custom service to RoostBAR
Add a service
The RoostBAR service list open
Pick a service
Two RoostBAR windows open over a spreadsheet and a document
Your workspace
A RoostBAR window faded back to see what's behind it
Fade it back