When something is playing audio, the Now Playing tray pill shows the track title and artist. Click to open a popover with album art, full metadata, and play/pause/skip controls.
Sources
ApexDock can read from three sources, ranked by your preference:
| Source | Notes |
|---|---|
| System Now Playing | macOS's system-wide playback feed. Picks up the active session regardless of which app is producing it (Music, Spotify, browsers, even Bluetooth devices). |
| Apple Music | Talks directly to Music.app. More reliable for transport control. |
| Spotify | Talks directly to Spotify.app. Same. |
In Settings → Bar → Now Playing → Preferred Source, pick which source ApexDock prefers. The tray pill shows the highest-priority source that's actually playing.
Toggling visibility
Settings → Bar → Tray Icons → Now Playing (or the dedicated Show Now Playing in Tray toggle).
Locating Spotify
Spotify ships outside the App Store and lives at variable paths. If ApexDock can't auto-detect it, Settings → Bar → Now Playing → Locate Spotify… opens a file picker — point it at Spotify.app and ApexDock remembers the path.
Hover popover
The popover shows:
- Album art (when the source provides it)
- Track title, artist, album
- Progress + duration
- Previous / Play-Pause / Next buttons
- Source indicator (Music / Spotify / System) when multiple are running
Click the album art or title to bring the source app forward.
Notes
- The System Now Playing feed is the same one your AirPods, CarPlay, and the Lock Screen widget use. If those show the track, ApexDock will too.
- Apple Music and Spotify metadata refreshes every 2 seconds while playing, every 8 seconds otherwise.
- Switching apps mid-listen (Apple Music to Spotify, say) is picked up within a beat.