One-liner
flexMeter is a macOS menu-bar utility that pins a confidence monitor to your screen edge — level meter, tally light, and text strip — for streamers, podcasters, and broadcast operators who need show status without switching windows.
Press
flexMeter press kit.
Use anything here without asking. If you need higher-res screenshots, a specific feature anecdote, or a quote from the developer, reach out and we'll get back to you the same day.
Fact sheet
- Name
- flexMeter
- Developer
- pixeLantern
- Category
- macOS menu-bar utility · audio metering
- Platform
- macOS 26.4 (Tahoe) or later · Apple Silicon (arm64)
- Distribution
- Direct download + Mac App Store
- Pricing
- Free · Plus $29 one-time · Pro $79 one-time · No subscription
- Trials
- Two 14-day trials per machine (Plus, Pro)
- Version
- 1.9
- Bundle ID
- com.pixelantern.flexmeter
Short
flexMeter is a macOS menu bar app that puts a confidence monitor on
the edge of your screen. Three strips — level meter, tally light, and
text display — sit at any screen edge, float above all windows
including fullscreen apps, and never steal focus. The tally light
and text strip automate through a flex:// URL scheme,
WebSocket API, and App Intents, connecting to OBS, Stream Deck,
Keyboard Maestro, and Shortcuts. Level measurement uses
standards-aligned ballistics (VU: ANSI S4.40; PPM: IEC 60268-10
Type I; LUFS: ITU-R BS.1770-4) with platform loudness presets for
YouTube, Spotify, Apple, EBU R128, and ATSC. No Dock icon.
No app window.
Long
flexMeter is a lightweight macOS utility that puts a confidence monitor on the edge of your screen. Running entirely from the menu bar with no Dock icon or app window, it keeps your show status visible at all times without competing for screen space or focus.
Three strips make up the panel. The level meter
shows real-time per-channel audio levels with peak hold, clip
detection, and a color ladder (green / yellow / red) tuned for
peripheral vision. The tally light is a colored
on-air indicator — red for live, green for clear — that can be
triggered by keyboard shortcut or automated from any app via the
flex:// URL scheme, a local WebSocket API, or Apple
Shortcuts and Siri. The text strip shows one line
of styled text: segment names, guest names, cues, or countdowns,
fed from the same automation sources.
All three strips sit on the screen edge, follow you across Spaces, stay visible over fullscreen apps, and never activate or steal focus. At 16 points thin, the panel takes less space than the macOS Dock.
The metering engine is built to broadcast standards. VU mode uses ANSI S4.40-aligned ballistics. PPM implements IEC 60268-10 Type I fast-attack. LUFS mode applies ITU-R BS.1770-4 K-weighting with both absolute and relative gating, 4× oversampled true peak per ITU-R BS.1770-4 Annex 2, and EBU Tech 3342 loudness range. Built-in LUFS presets cover YouTube/Spotify (−14), Apple Music and podcasts (−16), EBU R128 broadcast (−23), ATSC A/85 (−24), and ARIB TR-B32 (−27). These standards are correctly and carefully implemented — but the pitch is the UX, not the spec sheet.
Built natively on Apple Silicon with SwiftUI and AppKit, flexMeter uses display-linked rendering and real-time-safe audio processing for reliable all-day operation.
What ships with citations.
When we say a meter follows a standard, we mean the named integration time and the cited document. These are the references underneath the product.
- VU ANSI S4.40 — τ = 65 ms · 99% rise in ~300 ms
- PPM IEC 60268-10 Type I (BBC PPM) — 80% rise in ~10 ms · 2.7 s fallback
- LUFS ITU-R BS.1770-4 K-weighting · −70 LUFS absolute + −10 LU relative gates
- True peak ITU-R BS.1770-4 Annex 2 — 4× polyphase FIR oversampling
- LRA EBU Tech 3342 over a 701-bin session histogram
Press contact
For higher-resolution screenshots, App Store previews, or to schedule a demo: