ToothFairy 4+

Quick Bluetooth connections

C-Command Software, LLC

    • 4.4 • 406 Ratings
    • $5.99

Screenshots

Description

Connect AirPods (or other Bluetooth headphones) to your Mac with a single click or keypress.

AirPods are great, but they don’t work quite as smoothly with Macs as they do iPhones. You can’t tell at a glance whether audio will play from the AirPods or your Mac’s built-in speaker, you have to dig into a Bluetooth submenu to connect, and then you have to go back to the menu to see when the AirPods are ready for use. ToothFairy streamlines this: just click an icon in the menu bar (or press a hotkey) to switch to the AirPods, and the icon always shows whether they’re connected.

- Works with AirPods, as well as any Bluetooth device that you can connect to your Mac: headphones, speakers, headsets, game pad controllers, keyboards, mice, etc. (HomePod is not supported, as it is not a Bluetooth audio device.)

- Click the hollow AirPods icon in the menu bar to switch to AirPods. It fills in to show they are connected and can also display a battery indicator. Now you know that it’s safe to start playing music; it won’t blast from your Mac’s internal speaker.

- Supports multiple Bluetooth audio devices; you can choose a different icon and hotkey for each.

- Get the best audio quality. macOS will normally use the SCO codec if it thinks you’re going to use the microphone. ToothFairy can ensure that it uses the higher quality AAC codec when you only care about audio output: listening to music or video or playing a game.

- Disconnect a Bluetooth device by clicking the icon (or pressing the hotkey) again, so that you can switch back to your phone. AirPods and Beats devices with an Apple W1 chip do not need to be manually disconnected, and you can set them to avoid accidental disconnections when pressing the hotkey multiple times.

- ToothFairy automatically launches at login, so it’s always there when you need it.

- Optionally hide the Dock icon so it only appears in the menu bar. With the Dock icon hidden, you can right-click (or Control-click) the menu bar icon to access the settings.

- Run a shell script when the AirPods are connected or disconnected, for example to notify you or to launch or quit another app. ToothFairy itself is also AppleScriptable, so you can control your devices from other apps (like Lacona) and automations.

- Use with your Magic Mouse or Magic Keyboard to make sure the battery level doesn’t get too low, or to quickly reconnect them after charging or if they get disconnected.

Note: ToothFairy works with devices that can be connected via the macOS Bluetooth menu. Please make sure the devices you want to connect have been paired to your Mac before using them with ToothFairy. Switching Bluetooth devices between multiple Macs requires that the Bluetooth device can be paired with more than one computer/phone at a time; this is not supported by the current-generation Apple Magic Keyboard/Mouse/Trackpad. The battery indicator works with devices that can show their battery level in the Bluetooth pane of System Preferences.

“The ultimate ‘saved you a click’ app” —Dieter Bohn, The Verge

“Ideal for AirPods” —Matt Bolton, Mac|Life

“A must for Mac or MacBook owners” —Mike Peterson, AppleToolBox

What’s New

Version 2.8.4

- The battery info updates more quickly after connecting a device.

- The “Run shell script after connecting/disconnecting” help page now explains how to trigger a shortcut.

- ToothFairy is better at remembering the current sound input device so that the “Improve sound quality by disabling audio input from device” feature will restore the proper one after connecting a new device.

- You can now pull down a device’s menu while the connection progress indicator is spinning.

- ToothFairy no longer shows arrow icons while it’s in the process of fixing the sound output, as this was confusing. Instead, it will continue showing the device as half-connected until it’s done. You can still see what’s happening with the fixing via the tooltip and the menu item text.

- If the feature to fix the sound output is disabled, clicking the half-connected device icon now disconnects the device instead of doing nothing.

- Each help page now has a link to a Google translation so you can view it in a different language.

- Updated the French localization.

- Fixed a bug where the progress indicator wouldn’t stop if you clicked the menu bar icon when using the “Don’t disconnect when clicking icon or pressing hotkey” option.

- Made various fixes and updates to prevent Cocoa from logging warnings.

- Made various threading improvements.

- The build number is now displayed in a tooltip in the About tab.

- Mac App Store receipt validation works better on Macs with damaged Ethernet ports.

If you enjoy using ToothFairy, please take a moment to rate it or leave a review. We’d really appreciate it.

Ratings and Reviews

4.4 out of 5
406 Ratings

406 Ratings

lspencer2011 ,

This made life so much easier!

I connect my AirPods, Bose Wireless Headphones, and a wireless bluetooth speaker to my Mac, and I'm cosntantly switching between them. Before this app it was such a pain and waste of time waiting for one thing to disconnect while trying to connect the other. This has streamelined it immensely and I haven't had any trouble since using this. It also let's me create seperate profiles for each bluetooth device. Another thing I love about this app is that it has an option to automatically switch input from your bluetooth device to your computer, so there wont be degraded sound quality.

SO WORTH THE PRICE, if you had any of the issues I mentioned, this will be a lifesaver.

Brotortgassy ,

Great for connecting to macs but poor elsewhere

1. Great at connecting to my macboo at home, macbook at work, mac mini as I am using them on my iphone and then want a quick switch. This is a joy.

2. However, when I click off of the icon in whichever mac thus unpairing it it does not auto pair back to my iphone which id like to be the default essentially. This is what it say it does but it does not do this. IF there is a way to do this please explain. IF you are in fact expecting having to go back into the bluetooth menu on the iphone to repair please confirm. This is ok but misleading.

3. Lastly, I have this in my menu bar at top right but the dock icon does not hide no matter that I clicked it off. Developer can you kindly explain how to execute this? Perhaps screenshots of both the app preferences as well as the dock menu options that need to be clocked off?

Developer Response ,

Hi,

1. That’s great to hear.

2. ToothFairy is only intended to ease connecting to (and disconnecting from) a Mac. I don’t think we ever claim otherwise. A Mac can’t make a Bluetooth device connect to an iPhone—that would require software running on the phone. However, you don’t have to go to the Bluetooth menu in the iPhone Settings to connect back to the iPhone. Most audio apps have a button that you can tap to switch more quickly. It looks like a triangle pointing upward to a series of concentric circles. We also have instructions for setting up a Siri shortcut to switch the audio device back to your iPhone: https://c-command.com/toothfairy/help/how-can-i-switch-back-t

(Sidenote: Pairing has to be done from System Preferences, and technically the Bluetooth device remains paired with both the Mac and iPhone. ToothFairy and the Bluetooth menu both deal with connecting and disconnecting devices that are already paired.)

3. macOS 10.14 may keep a “recent” app icon in the Dock even if the app has hidden it. Please see this page for how to tell it that you want to remove the icon: https://c-command.com/toothfairy/help/why-do-i-see-the-dock-i

StuartJ ,

ToothFairy - What a great APP!

ToothFairy does exactly what I need it to do to - it make it easy to use BlueTooth headphones on my Mac. I tried one afternoon to use my AirPods with my iMac and that put me off that idea. Having to set it up and undo it completely to be able to use them back on my iPhone to take a call there - well no, I'll not be doing that cycle again.

ToothFairy solves that little issue with the touch of an icon in the menu bar. It is simple, easy to learn & use, inexpensive, well maintained, and from a reputable company. I own two more of their products and trust them to support me every day.

App Privacy

The developer, C-Command Software, LLC, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy.

Data Not Collected

The developer does not collect any data from this app.

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

Supports

  • Family Sharing

    Up to six family members can use this app with Family Sharing enabled.