What's new in Halo

Halo speaks your language everywhere, thanks to a report from a French customer.

What's new:

Bug fixes

• The calendar card, the timer, the music menu, AI usage, battery and device names, and VoiceOver now follow your language. Some of them stayed in English.
• French uses one tone throughout, and Italian, Uzbek and the rest got a consistency pass.

Halo gets out of your way: the song title under the notch, room for the menu bar, and the displays you choose.

What's new:

New features

• Under the notch: the song title, or the lyric being sung, while music plays. Songs without lyrics show their title. Settings › Music.
• Option-click the island and it steps aside for a minute, so you can click whatever it covers in the menu bar. Banners and agent alerts still show. It's in the right-click menu too.
• Show Halo on › Displays I choose: switch each display on or off. Halo remembers them through unplugging, docking and KVM switches, and uses the menu bar's display if every one you chose is gone.

Refinements

• Displays without a notch: a Corners slider for the closed island, and a Shadow switch for the floating style.
• The floating island's Height slider starts at its real minimum, 30 pt.
• Earbuds that aren't AirPods show an earbuds icon in Batteries.

Bug fixes

• Incoming calls keep macOS's own banner, so Accept and Decline are always there. A call from your iPhone could show up as "FACETIME_NOTIFICATION" instead.
• Batteries: the rings and the charging badge are no longer cut off at the top.

Your meetings in the notch, and links for Shortcuts.

What's new:

New features

• Calendar tab: today and tomorrow, event by event, with a countdown, a Join button for Zoom, Meet, Teams, Webex and FaceTime links, and a banner a minute before each meeting.
• Google and Outlook calendars in one click: Halo opens macOS's Internet Accounts, macOS signs you in, and Halo never sees your login.
• On a call, the island shows the call's app: click it to get back to the meeting from anywhere. A green camera means you're on video.
• halo:// links for Shortcuts, Terminal and scripts: show a banner, start a timer, keep your Mac awake, add to the Shelf or open a tab. Settings › Automation has Try It and Copy Link for each one.
• When your disk runs low, the notch tells you, at the level you choose in Settings (5 to 100 GB). A tap shows what's using the space, or opens Shedi if you have it.

Refinements

• Settings are grouped by feature: Music, AI Agents, Calendar & Calls, Shelf & Clipboard, Battery & Storage and Automation.
• Lyrics under the notch can be turned on or off for each music app.
• Your week shows this week so far while last week is still empty.
• The side island has a two-row header with evenly spread tabs, and usage as compact bars.

Bug fixes

• Tabs to the right of the notch no longer slide under it.

Everything in this update was asked for by people who bought Halo. Thank you.

What's new:

New features

• Cursor: connect it in Settings › Island Tabs and the notch shows when Cursor's agent is working, has a question, or is done, next to Claude Code and Codex.
• On a call, click the time in the closed island to mute or unmute your microphone.
• A camera button in Controls during calls opens macOS's own effects: Portrait, Studio Light and backgrounds.
• Timer: a Long break, next to Focus and Break.
• When an update is ready, Halo tells you in the notch, even if you've hidden its menu bar icon.

Refinements

• Lyrics under the notch can skip music playing in a browser, and a one-line lyric now sits centred.
• New setting: a soft glow in the artwork's colour while music plays.
• Hovering a call opens Controls, where its mute button is.
• The timer's ruler ends at three hours, the longest it sets, and has more room under the mode buttons.

Bug fixes

• The Claude Code usage meter no longer steps backwards when two sessions are open.

The three things people noticed most in Halo's first week.

What's new:

Refinements

• Halo opens when your cursor stops on it, not when it passes over the notch on the way to a menu bar icon.
• Reach for a menu bar icon beside the notch and Buddy or the music player steps aside, so the icons under it are clickable.
• The closed island glows softly under the cursor, so you can see it on a black wallpaper.
• The lyric line under the notch has more room and wraps long lines instead of shrinking them.

License keys, checked quietly in the background.

What's new:

New features

• New installs ask for the license key when Halo first opens.

Refinements

• Halo checks your license key with Lemon Squeezy once a week, and keeps working offline for two weeks.
• If you already use Halo, nothing changes.

The biggest Halo yet: notifications, dictation and a little face called Buddy.

What's new:

New features

• Notifications in the notch: messages from any app arrive in the island instead of a banner in the corner. Click one to open the app, and choose which apps can reach the notch.
• Dictation: hold Fn, talk, let go, and your words are typed wherever the cursor is, in any app. Apple's recognition runs on your Mac once macOS has downloaded your language; or use Whisper with your own Groq key.
• Halo Buddy: a little face in your notch that follows your cursor, naps when you're away and shows how your AI agents are doing.
• Calls: see which app has your microphone, and for how long.
• Eight languages: English, Español, Deutsch, Français, Italiano, Português, Русский and Oʻzbekcha.

Refinements

• Redesigned: a Home like Now Playing on iPhone, usage limits as rings, smoother motion, a new welcome and a new icon.
• Right-click the notch for Settings, Hide and Quit.

Bug fixes

• Agent status, Now Playing and the license each got a round of fixes from a full audit.
• Paste works in Settings fields.

Your AI agents in the notch, and a Liquid Glass redesign for macOS 26.

What's new:

New features

• See what Claude Code and Codex are doing without switching windows: working, waiting for you, done or failed.
• A sound and an orange hand when an agent needs your permission, asks a question or has a plan ready.
• The Agents tab lists every session with its live status. Click one to jump to its terminal.

Refinements

• Liquid Glass: the open island and everything in it is glass. The closed notch stays black, like a real notch.
• Smoother motion, and tabs slide in from the side you move toward.

Bug fixes

• No more flash of the island when swiping between fullscreen apps.
• The floating island's position can be moved up or down.

A focus timer, your AI usage limits, and islands on the side of the screen.

What's new:

New features

• Focus and Break timer, set by dragging a ruler.
• Claude Code and Codex usage limits in the island, and pinned beside the notch if you like.
• Connect Claude Code in one click, and your own status line keeps working.
• The island can live on the left or right edge of the screen.

Refinements

• Settings redesigned to feel like System Settings.

Batteries, and a calmer tab bar.

What's new:

New features

• Batteries tab: your Mac, AirPods and other devices in one place.

Refinements

• The tab bar clears the notch, and every tab is the same width.

Lyrics, calls and a camera mirror.

What's new:

New features

• Synced lyrics for the song that's playing.
• See when an app is using your microphone.
• A camera mirror, for a quick check before a call.
• New downloads and screenshots land on the shelf.

Refinements

• Your next event shows a short day label, so the time always fits.

The first Halo: your Mac's notch, alive.

What's new:

New features

• Now Playing from any app, with artwork and controls.
• Volume and brightness in the notch, instead of the big macOS overlay.
• Charging, timers, a file shelf and clipboard history.
• Brightness keys that work on external monitors (DDC), on Apple silicon.
• On screens without a notch, Halo draws its own island at the top.