Rogue Amoeba says it’s about to get ‘dramatically’ easier to install apps like Audio Hijack

Chance Miller | Jan 10 2024 - 9:03 am PT

It’s about to get significantly easier to install Rogue Amoeba apps like Audio Hijack on your Mac. As spotted by Jason Snell at Six Colors, Rogue Amoeba CEO Paul Kafasis dropped this news in a blog post recapping 2023.

Due to various changes Apple has made to macOS over the years, you currently have to jump through a number of different hoops to install apps like Audio Hijack. The process is even more frustrating on Macs with Apple Silicon, where multiple reboots and security changes are required.

According to Kafasis, the installation process will soon get significantly easier. In fact, you won’t even have to enter your Mac’s administrator password to install Audio Hijack, Piezo, and Airfoil.

Currently, an annoying restart is required to get going on Intel-based Macs. Setup is even more burdensome on Apple’s newest M Chip-based Macs, with multiple restarts required, as well a change to the Mac’s “Security Policy”. This has been a notable pain point, which comes before a user even has a chance to try the app. It’s been very frustrating for us to not be able to do better for our customers, and there’s no doubt that this has deterred people from using our products.

We’ll soon be shipping updates that simplify things immensely. In fact, Airfoil, Audio Hijack and Piezo will feature an installer-free setup that won’t even need your administrator password. Meanwhile, Loopback and SoundSource will use a new audio capture plugin called ARK that won’t require a single system restart. It’s going to be an incredible improvement to our user experience.

I’m thrilled to hear this news. Like Jason, Audio Hijack is an essential tool for my workflow and I set up new Macs on a pretty frequent basis, so this is going to save me a lot of time. How exactly Rogue Amoeba is pulling off this wizardry remains to be seen, but kudos to them for tackling this problem.

Get the full details on Rogue Amoeba’s plans for 2024 on its website.

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