Stays on your Mac
No account, no telemetry, no crash reports. Logs and repair receipts are plain files on your Mac. The only network request is an update check, and only when you start one.
How it works
It listens. It repairs. It checks.
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1
Listens
Fennec watches your speakers or headphones for missed audio deadlines, the signal behind the crackle. It also reads the Mac's own overload record. That second check catches faults the first one misses. Total cost: under one percent of a core.
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2
Repairs, or asks
Once the crackle repeats, Fennec restarts the sound service. You hear about a second of silence, then your music. Nothing quits. Choose Automatically, or Ask me first to approve each repair from a notification.
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3
Checks it held
A repair counts as fixed after a minute, not before. If three restarts in a row don't hold, Fennec stands down for an hour and tells you. It won't go on silencing your Mac.
Restraint
It knows when to leave your sound alone.
A restart briefly stops all sound on the Mac. So Fennec doesn't restart when that would cost you something.
- Microphone in use. Skipped. It won't cut off a recording.
- On a call. Skipped while call apps are using audio.
- Bluetooth output. Skipped by default.
- Just woke or unlocked. It waits. Audio settles at those moments, and that can look like the fault.
- About to hit record. Pause Fennec from the menu bar. The pause ends on its own.
- Mac working too hard. Fennec says so. A restart won't fix an overloaded Mac.
Trust
Local, scoped, removable.
One privileged action
Automatic repair uses a helper you approve in System Settings. It can do one thing: restart coreaudiod, the Mac's audio service. It can't be given a command, a path or an argument.
Leaves cleanly
Uninstall from Settings removes the helper, the login item and Fennec's files, then quits. If a step fails, it tells you which one.
FAQ
Questions
Why not just run sudo killall coreaudiod?
You can, and if you only need it once in a while, that's the right answer. Fennec handles the rest of the job. It notices the crackle at 2 a.m. It holds off while your mic is live or a call is on. It stops if a restart didn't help, and it writes down what it saw.
Does it hear what I'm playing?
No. Fennec watches for the failure signal, not the sound. That also means it can't prove every signal was audible. It says so in the app.
What does a repair sound like?
A short gap, about a second, in every app's sound at once. Then playback continues. Nothing quits, and nothing needs reopening.
Will it fix every kind of crackle?
No. It fixes one failure: sound that breaks up under load and stays broken. A loose cable, a weak Bluetooth link or a CPU starved Mac won't improve with a restart. Fennec tells you when that seems to be the case.
What do I need?
macOS 14.2 or later on Apple silicon. Fennec has to run from your Applications folder. For automatic repair, an administrator approves the helper once in System Settings.