Plain answers, organized by surface.
Jump to the section you need: general, modules, metering, system, Air Log, automation, iPhone Companion, or pricing.
The basics.
What is flexMeter?
flexMeter is a macOS menu bar app that displays a real-time audio level meter as a thin strip pinned to any edge of your screen. It is designed for streamers, podcasters, and broadcast professionals who need to monitor audio levels without switching away from their primary app.
Does flexMeter record my audio?
No. flexMeter reads audio levels from your input device in real time but does not record, store, or transmit any audio data. The microphone permission is used solely to install an audio tap on your selected input device.
Why does it ask for microphone permission?
macOS requires microphone permission for any app that accesses audio input devices, even if the app only reads signal levels. flexMeter needs this to install an audio tap on your selected input device and calculate the levels shown on the meter.
Can I use flexMeter with a USB audio interface?
Yes. flexMeter detects every audio input device recognized by macOS via CoreAudio — built-in microphones, USB interfaces, Thunderbolt interfaces, and virtual audio devices. It supports up to 8 input channels.
Can I meter my output mix — what my encoder or streaming software actually sends?
Yes, two ways.
The easy way (Plus tier). Turn on System Audio Output in Settings → Audio. flexMeter taps the macOS default output mix via ScreenCaptureKit — your games, browsers, DAWs, Zoom call, everything that's hitting your speakers. No virtual audio device to install. Uses the system Screen Recording permission.
The manual way (works on every tier). Route your output through a virtual loopback device and select it as the input. BlackHole (free) or Loopback (paid, Rogue Amoeba) both work.
Meter, Tally, Text Strip.
What is the Tally Light?
The Tally Light is a colored strip flexMeter renders alongside the meter for on-air signaling. Enable it from Settings → Tally; once on, you can flip it via ⌘⇧T, the menu bar, the right-click menu, the flex:// URL scheme, the WebSocket API, OSC, AppleScript, outgoing webhooks, or Apple Shortcuts.
Supports named colors (red, green, amber, blue, white), arbitrary hex, two-hex gradients, three animation modes (steady, blink, pulse), and a brightness scaler from 0 to 1.
What is the Text Strip?
The Text Strip is a display strip for one line of styled text — segment names, guest names, cues, countdowns. It lives on its own dock edge (Left / Right / Top / Bottom), chosen independently of the meter, since long messages read best along a horizontal edge.
Content, text color, background color, and bold flag are all per-message. Drive it from the same automation surfaces as the tally: URL scheme, WebSocket, OSC, webhooks, AppleScript, and Shortcuts. Thickness adjusts from 16 to 80pt.
Can the meter, Tally, and Text Strip live on different edges?
Yes. The Tally Light rides alongside the meter and follows whichever edge the meter is on; you can choose whether it sits at the Screen Edge or on the Content Side. The Text Strip is fully independent — pick its dock edge separately from the meter's.
Modes, targets, color thresholds.
What is the difference between VU, PPM, and LUFS?
VU (Volume Unit) is a slow-responding meter that follows the contour of a program rather than its transients. flexMeter's VU is ANSI S4.40-aligned: an EMA with τ = 65 ms (99% rise in ~300 ms) and symmetric release.
PPM (Peak Programme Meter) has a fast attack that catches short transient peaks. flexMeter's PPM is an IEC 60268-10 Type I (BBC PPM) ballistic — 80% of full scale in roughly 10 ms, with a 24 dB fallback in about 2.7 s.
LUFS (Loudness Units Full Scale) measures perceptual loudness using K-weighting filters based on ITU-R BS.1770-4. It provides momentary (400 ms), short-term (3 s), and integrated (full-session) readings. Both the absolute (−70 LUFS) and relative (−10 LU) gates are applied to the integrated reading.
How do I know if my levels are correct for YouTube, Spotify, or podcasts?
Switch to LUFS mode and select the appropriate loudness target: YouTube/Spotify (−14 LUFS), Apple Music/Podcast (−16 LUFS), EBU R128 (−23 LUFS), ATSC A/85 (−24 LUFS), or ARIB TR-B32 (−27 LUFS). A cyan reference line appears on the meter strip at that target. Aim to keep your integrated (I) reading near the target value.
What do the meter colors mean?
Green indicates levels below −12 dB (safe). Yellow indicates levels between −12 and −6 dB (warm). Red indicates levels above −6 dB (approaching clipping). Peak hold indicators turn red above −6 dB.
What is the quiet zone?
Triple-click the meter strip — three clicks within 600 ms — to toggle quiet zone mode. The color ladder shifts to be more sensitive for low-level monitoring: yellow moves from −12 dB down to −20 dB, red moves from −6 dB down to −14 dB. A "QZ" badge appears on the strip while active, with a haptic tap and a VoiceOver announcement.
macOS, fullscreen, click-through.
What macOS version do I need?
flexMeter requires macOS 26.4 (Tahoe) or later on Apple Silicon (M1 or newer).
Does flexMeter appear in the Dock?
No. flexMeter runs as a menu bar agent app. There is no Dock icon and no app window. All controls are in the menu bar dropdown and the right-click context menu.
Does it work over fullscreen apps?
Yes. The meter strip uses macOS panel collection behaviors (canJoinAllSpaces, stationary, fullScreenAuxiliary) that allow it to appear over fullscreen applications and follow you across all Spaces.
Can I click through the meter strip?
Yes — when the meter is locked. By default the strip captures right-click (context menu), drag (to reposition), triple-click (quiet zone), and scroll-wheel (resize). Toggle Lock Meter (⌘⇧L or right-click → Lock Meter) to switch the strip to ignoring all mouse events.
Session history and coaching.
What is Air Log?
Air Log is a built-in session recorder. Each time you start and end a session, flexMeter saves date, source name, workflow preset, meter style, integrated LUFS, loudness range (LRA), max true peak, overs count, and app version to a local SQLite database on your Mac. No data leaves your machine.
Can Air Log start automatically when I go on-air?
Yes. Enable "Auto-start Air Log when On Air" in Settings → General. When the Tally light activates, an Air Log session begins automatically; when the tally clears, the session ends and saves. Requires a Pro license.
What is the AI Session Coaching feature?
When you select a past session in the Air Log browser, a "Generate Insight" button appears. Tapping it sends the session metrics to an on-device language model (Apple FoundationModels, macOS 26+) and returns a one-paragraph coaching note. The insight is generated and stored entirely on your Mac. It is cached per session.
Focus filters, dead air, shortcuts.
Can flexMeter work with macOS Focus modes?
Yes. In System Settings → Focus → App Filters → flexMeter, you can configure a Workflow Preset, Tally enable state, Air Log session behavior, and Metering Palette visibility for each Focus mode. When that Focus mode activates, flexMeter applies the settings in the background without launching a window.
What is Dead Air Alerting?
When on-air, Dead Air Alerting monitors the peak level every 250 ms. If it stays below the threshold for the configured duration, a local "Dead Air Detected" notification fires. There is a 30-second cooldown between alerts. Four presets in Settings → Modules → Dead Air: Spoken Word (−50 dB / 5 s), Music (−60 dB / 8 s), Strict (−40 dB / 3 s), Custom.
Can I remap the keyboard shortcuts?
Pro subscribers can remap any of the ten global shortcuts in Settings → Shortcuts. Click the Record button next to any action, press your desired key combination, and the binding takes effect immediately. Click Cancel or press Escape to abort recording. Free users get the default bindings.
Pairing, multiple Macs, what it shows.
How do I pair my iPhone with my Mac?
Install flexMeter Companion from the App Store (free). On the Mac, open Settings → Modules → Tally Connections → WebSocket API and tap the QR-code icon next to the status row. The QR encodes a flexmeter-pair:// URL containing host, port, and per-machine Keychain token. Scan it from the Companion's pair screen — host, port, and token populate automatically.
Requires a Pro license on the Mac.
Can the Companion connect to multiple Macs?
Yes. Pair as many as you like. Each connection's credentials live in iOS Keychain. Switch the active Mac from the Companion's settings.
Free, Plus, Pro.
What does flexMeter cost?
Three tiers — Free, Plus ($29 one-time), Pro ($79 one-time). No subscriptions.
Can I try Plus or Pro before paying?
Yes. Two independent 14-day trials per machine — one for Plus, one for Pro. Start either from the License Sheet (Settings → Advanced → License). A Pro trial supersedes an active Plus trial. Trials are fingerprinted to your Mac via Keychain and survive app reinstall.
Why isn't this a subscription?
flexMeter runs entirely on your Mac. There are no servers, no cloud sync infrastructure (iCloud Air Log sync uses your own private database), no AI inference (FoundationModels runs on-device). Charging a subscription for a tool that runs locally would not be honest pricing for what this product is.
Where can I buy it?
flexMeter is available as a direct download from the website and on the Mac App Store, at the same prices on both. If you buy direct, you receive your license key immediately and can install on any Mac you personally own.
Still have a question?
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