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.
- macOS 14+
- Apple Silicon + Intel
- Audio never leaves your Mac
- Instant download
- Lifetime updates
Why a native app
A real tuner, on Core Audio. Not a tab.
Browser tuners reroute your audio through the WebAudio sandbox, add 12–60 ms of jitter, and silently downsample whatever interface you've plugged in. Phone tuners assume one specific microphone three feet from your guitar.
A native macOS app sits directly on Core Audio. It sees your USB interface at full sample rate, runs YIN on your CPU instead of a JavaScript engine, and never blocks because a tab went to sleep. The result is a needle that responds the moment you pluck — and a green LED you can trust.
Open it. Allow microphone access once. Tune. Close it — or pin it to the menu bar and forget it.
What's inside
Six 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
Time-domain tracking, ±1¢ accuracy on stable notes. Segments blend orange to green as you arrive — you watch the pitch land.
8 tuning presets
Standard, Drop D, DADGAD, Open G, Half-step Down, Bass, 7-String, and pure Chromatic. Color-coded string indicators on each.
Lives in your menu bar
Optional 360 px menu-bar popover. Click, tune, click away. Or float the main window with always-on-top.
Capo + custom A4
Adjust capo position and reference frequency on the fly. Useful for non-440 ensembles, baroque pitch (A=415), or band-specific tunings.
Light, dark, system
Theme follows macOS, or pin it. The display bezel stays a deep amber-on-black either way — the meter is what your eye locks onto.
Keyboard-first
Space starts and stops listening. Press C through B to play a reference tone at A4 octave. No mouse needed.
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 taken from real hardware, then matched to your system theme.
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.
Specifications
The technical bits
| Operating system | macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later |
|---|---|
| Architectures | Apple Silicon (arm64) + Intel (x86_64), universal |
| Pitch algorithm | YIN with 4096-sample window, 50% overlap |
| Reference frequency | A4 = 440 Hz default, configurable |
| Accuracy | ±1¢ on stable notes, ±5¢ in-tune zone |
| Latency | Sub-50 ms perceived |
| Audio input | Built-in mic, USB interface, Aggregate Devices |
| File size | ~5 MB DMG |
| Network | None — works fully offline |
| Updates | Lifetime updates for the 1.x line, included with purchase |
| License | Personal one-time purchase, single user |
Ready when you are
One purchase. Forever yours.
Chromatic Tuner
One-time purchase · Lifetime 1.x updates
FAQ
Questions, answered.
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 and capo?
Yes. Chromatic Tuner ships with eight presets — Standard, Drop D, DADGAD, Open G, Half-step Down, Bass, 7-string, and pure Chromatic. Capo position and A4 reference are both 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 ±1 cent on a stable note. 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.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?
No. Chromatic Tuner is $6.99 once with lifetime updates for the 1.x line — no trial. If you're on the fence, email support@chromtuner.com for a direct reply from the developer, usually within a few hours.
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