Can I Run It From the Menu Bar Only?

Yes. Enable Menu Bar mode in preferences and a 360 px popover appears next to your other menu-bar icons. The main window can stay hidden.

Does It Support Alternate Tunings, Capo, and Other Instruments?

Yes. Chromatic Tuner ships with 15 instrument presets: guitar (Standard, Drop D, DADGAD, Open G, Half-step Down, 7-string), bass (4-string EADG, 5-string BEADG), bowed strings (violin, viola, cello, double bass), folk (ukulele, mandolin, 5-string banjo), and pure chromatic. Capo position (off through fret 11), A4 reference, and ±11-semitone transpose are all adjustable.

Does Chromatic Tuner Work Offline?

Yes. Chromatic Tuner runs entirely offline — no audio, telemetry, or account ever leaves your Mac. The app makes zero outbound network connections, and pitch detection runs locally on the CPU.

How Accurate Is the Tuner?

Chromatic Tuner is accurate to ±0.14 cents on pure sine tones and ±1 cent in real-world use. The in-tune zone (green) opens at ±5 cents, which is what most studio engineers consider perfect intonation. Detection uses the YIN time-domain algorithm with a 4096-sample window, octave-error correction for plucked strings, and median-of-5 + exponential smoothing for stable readings at ~22 Hz.

Does It Run on Intel Macs and Apple Silicon?

Yes — both. Chromatic Tuner is a universal binary that runs natively on Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) and Intel Macs. macOS 14 Sonoma or later required.

Is There a Free Trial?

There's a free browser-based version at chromtuner.com/tune that runs the same YIN engine — try it before you buy the Mac app. The desktop app adds Core Audio (sub-50 ms vs 12–60 ms in the browser), 15 instrument presets, 8 historical temperaments, capo / transpose, menu-bar mode, and offline use. If you're still on the fence after the browser version, email support@chromtuner.com for a direct reply, usually within a few hours.

Lives in Your Menu Bar

Menu-Bar Guitar Tuner for MacOne Click From the Menu Bar. 360 px Popover.

Tune without breaking your workflow. A 360-pixel popover drops out of the macOS menu bar, reads your input, and slips back out of the way. Or float the main window with always-on-top while you record.

Buy for $6.99 Try It in Your Browser

macOS 14+
Audio Never Leaves Your Mac
$6.99 · One-Time
Now on iPhone →

STANDARD · E A D G B ECAPO 0

YIN · 4096 / 50%LISTENING

Lives in the Menu Bar

Most tuner apps want to live in your Dock and steal Space focus when you Cmd-Tab. That's the wrong shape for a tool you reach for between takes. The menu bar exists for exactly this: small, persistent, one click from anywhere.

Enable menu-bar mode and Chromatic Tuner becomes a single icon next to your wifi, battery, and clock. Click it and a 360-pixel popover drops down with the full meter, instrument preset, capo, and reference-tone row. It opens in under 200 ms — fast enough that you don't think of it as launching an app. Click anywhere else and it slips back behind the menu bar with no animation lag.

Set it to auto-launch at login and the tuner is just there, like Spotlight or the volume control. The main window stays hidden unless you ask for it; the Dock stays uncluttered. If you'd rather have a floating tuner while tracking, switch to the main window with always-on-top — same app, two presentations, instant toggle.

Keyboard-driven the whole way through: open the popover with a click, hit C–B to play a reference tone, Esc to dismiss. No mouse path through nested menus, no focus-stealing modal dialogs, no preferences-window detour.

Why a Native App

A Real Tuner, on Core Audio.

Browser tuners reroute audio through the WebAudio sandbox — 12–60 ms of jitter, silent downsampling, throttled the moment the tab loses focus. Phone tuners can't see your audio interface at all — just the built-in mic, with auto-gain and noise suppression already mangling the signal before any pitch detector touches it.

Chromatic Tuner sits directly on Core Audio. It sees your USB interface at full sample rate, runs YIN on your CPU, and the needle responds the moment you pluck.

Chromatic Tuner main window in strobe mode — Peterson-style rotating bands stationary inside the in-tune deadband

Two Display Modes. One Tuner.

The 31-LED bar is what you reach for when plucking — segments blend orange to green and snap to in-tune in under 50 ms.

The Peterson-style rotating strobe is the one for sustained intonation work. Bands lock inside a hard ±0.5 ¢ deadband, so "in tune" is genuinely stationary — not just close.

What's Inside

Nine Things, Done Well.

A tuner should be on screen for fifteen seconds, do its job, and get out of your way. Everything below earns its place by that rule.

YIN Pitch Detection
A0 to C8 (27.5 Hz – 4186 Hz). ±0.14¢ on pure tones, ±1¢ real-world. Octave-error correction for plucked strings, ~22 Hz update rate.
8 Historical Temperaments
Equal, Just, Pythagorean, ¼-comma Meantone, Werckmeister III, Kirnberger III, Vallotti, Young II — with movable tonic for non-equal systems.
Two Display Modes
LED bar with hardware-accurate ticks and a Knight-Rider intro, or a true Peterson-style rotating strobe with a hard ±0.5¢ deadband.
Instrument Presets
Guitar (Standard, Drop D, DADGAD, Open G, half-step down, 7-string), bass (4 + 5-string), violin, viola, cello, double bass, ukulele, mandolin, banjo. Capo through fret 11.
Reference Tones
Tap any string row to play a clean sine reference. Keyboard shortcuts c d e f g a b. Soft envelope, 3-second auto-stop, honors your A4 calibration.
Lives in Your Menu Bar
Tuning-fork icon opens a 360 px popover in under 200 ms. Tune, dismiss. Or float the main window with always-on-top for stage use.
Custom A4 + Transpose
A4 reference 349.0–499.9 Hz in 0.1 Hz steps. One-tap presets for 415 / 440 / 442. Transpose ±11 semitones for B♭ trumpet, A clarinet, capo'd guitars.
Light, Dark, System
Theme follows macOS or pin it. The display panel stays a deep amber-on-black either way — the meter is what your eye locks onto.
Keyboard-First
Space starts and stops listening. ⌘W / ⌘Q standard. No mouse needed for the basics.

Design

Lives Wherever You Need It.

A 360 px popover that drops out of the menu bar between takes. Customization tucked behind a flyout. A dock icon that earns its slot. Every surface modeled on real hardware, then matched to your system theme.

Chromatic Tuner menu-bar popover — compact view showing Standard E preset, A note, +48¢ — **Menu-Bar Popover**One click from the macOS menu bar. 360 px wide, never in the way.

Chromatic Tuner settings — instrument preset, temperament, A4 reference, capo, transpose, theme, always-on-top, launch at login — **Personalize Everything**Instrument, temperament, A4, capo, transpose, theme, launch at login.

Chromatic Tuner pinned to the macOS dock between Finder and Spotify — **Pin It to Your Dock**Or hide everything except the menu bar — your call.

Chromatic Tuner main window in LED meter mode — 31-segment horizontal bar with cents readout and string row — **Two Display Modes**Drag the slider to compare the LED meter and the Peterson-style strobe. Toggle between them in-app at any time.

Chromatic Tuner main window in strobe mode — Peterson-style rotating bands with smoothstep speed curve and lock zone — **Two Display Modes**Drag the slider to compare the LED meter and the Peterson-style strobe. Toggle between them in-app at any time.

How It Works

Three Steps. The Third One Is the Only One You'll Do Twice.

01
Open Chromatic Tuner
Drag from the DMG to Applications. Launch from Spotlight or your menu bar. No account, no activation.
02
Allow Microphone Access
macOS asks once. Approve, and your default input — built-in mic, USB interface, whatever — is wired in. Audio stays on-device.
03
Pluck a String
The LED meter sweeps to the closest note. Amber means off, green means in. Tune until it stays green for a beat.

New · iPhone & Apple Watch

Also in Your Pocket.

ChromTuner: Guitar Tuner brings the same YIN engine to iOS — free. Chromatic mode, Standard E and Drop D, the LED meter and analog needle, plus a gentle haptic tap the moment a string locks in. Since 1.1 it tunes from your Apple Watch too. One $6.99 purchase unlocks everything else.

Free forever — no ads, no account, no subscription.

More About the iPhone App →

Prefer the Mac App Store? Same app, same price.

Ready When You Are

One Purchase. Forever Yours.

Today's Total

$6.99USD

One-Time · Lifetime 1.x Updates

Chromatic Tuner — Universal Binary (Apple Silicon + Intel)
Lifetime 1.x Updates Included
Direct Email Support From the Developer

After You Pay

1Receipt to Your Email
2Download Link, Valid 7 Days
3Drag Chromatic Tuner Into /Applications

FAQ

Questions, Answered.

Quick answers about temperaments, instruments, accuracy, and what actually runs on your Mac.

Can I Run It From the Menu Bar Only?
Yes. Enable Menu Bar mode in preferences and a 360 px popover appears next to your other menu-bar icons. The main window can stay hidden.
Does It Support Alternate Tunings, Capo, and Other Instruments?
Yes. Chromatic Tuner ships with 15 instrument presets: guitar (Standard, Drop D, DADGAD, Open G, Half-step Down, 7-string), bass (4-string EADG, 5-string BEADG), bowed strings (violin, viola, cello, double bass), folk (ukulele, mandolin, 5-string banjo), and pure chromatic. Capo position (off through fret 11), A4 reference, and ±11-semitone transpose are all adjustable.
Does Chromatic Tuner Work Offline?
Yes. Chromatic Tuner runs entirely offline — no audio, telemetry, or account ever leaves your Mac. The app makes zero outbound network connections, and pitch detection runs locally on the CPU.
How Accurate Is the Tuner?
Chromatic Tuner is accurate to ±0.14 cents on pure sine tones and ±1 cent in real-world use. The in-tune zone (green) opens at ±5 cents, which is what most studio engineers consider perfect intonation. Detection uses the YIN time-domain algorithm with a 4096-sample window, octave-error correction for plucked strings, and median-of-5 + exponential smoothing for stable readings at ~22 Hz.
Does It Run on Intel Macs and Apple Silicon?
Yes — both. Chromatic Tuner is a universal binary that runs natively on Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) and Intel Macs. macOS 14 Sonoma or later required.
Is There a Free Trial?
There's a free browser-based version at chromtuner.com/tune that runs the same YIN engine — try it before you buy the Mac app. The desktop app adds Core Audio (sub-50 ms vs 12–60 ms in the browser), 15 instrument presets, 8 historical temperaments, capo / transpose, menu-bar mode, and offline use. If you're still on the fence after the browser version, email support@chromtuner.com for a direct reply, usually within a few hours.

Ready to Tune?

Native macOS. Offline. ±1¢ accuracy. Yours for $6.99 — one-time, lifetime 1.x updates.

Buy for $6.99

Specifications

The Technical Bits

The Technical Bits
Operating System	macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later
Architectures	Apple Silicon (arm64) + Intel (x86_64), universal binary
Pitch Algorithm	YIN, 4096-sample window with 50% overlap
Pitch Range	A0 (27.5 Hz) → C8 (4186 Hz)
Accuracy	±0.14¢ on pure sines, ±1¢ real-world
Update Rate	~22 Hz
Latency	Sub-50 ms perceived
Smoothing	Median-of-5 + exponential, 70 Hz high-pass before detection
Audio Input	Built-in mic, USB interfaces, Aggregate Devices, hot-plug detection
Temperaments	8 historical, with movable tonic for non-equal systems
Instrument Presets	15 across guitar, bass, bowed strings, folk strings, chromatic — plus capo
File Size	~5 MB DMG
Network	None — works fully offline
Privacy	Sandboxed, Hardened Runtime, Privacy Manifest, no telemetry
Updates	Lifetime updates for the 1.x line, included with purchase
License	Personal one-time purchase, single user

Menu-Bar Guitar Tuner for MacOne Click From the Menu Bar. 360 px Popover.

A Tuner That Earns Its Menu-Bar Slot

A Real Tuner, on Core Audio.

Two Display Modes. One Tuner.

Nine Things, Done Well.

YIN Pitch Detection

8 Historical Temperaments

Two Display Modes

Instrument Presets

Reference Tones

Lives in Your Menu Bar

Custom A4 + Transpose

Light, Dark, System

Keyboard-First

Lives Wherever You Need It.

Three Steps. The Third One Is the Only One You'll Do Twice.

Open Chromatic Tuner

Allow Microphone Access

Pluck a String

Also in Your Pocket.

One Purchase. Forever Yours.

Questions, Answered.

Ready to Tune?

The Technical Bits

Other Ways People Use Chromatic Tuner