Cue is a free macOS focus app. Its core idea is: treat your headphones as a focus switch. When you put on your headphones, your Mac automatically turns on focus mode, blocks distracting websites, and starts a timer; when you take them off, it enters break time.
Main features
- Headphone-triggered focus: Putting on your headphones automatically turns on your configured focus mode, blocks distracting websites, and starts a timer; after you take them off, following a 10-second buffer (to avoid cases where you are just adjusting your headphones), focus turns off, websites are restored, and the break defaults to 15 minutes, adjustable in Settings from 5 to 60 minutes.
- Website and app blocking: Built-in lists for social, video, and news, and you can also customize the website list (paste them separated by commas, and Cue automatically splits them); you can list apps that need to be quit, and all are restored during breaks.
- Pomodoro cycles: Supports 25/5, 50/10, 90/20, or custom cycles.
- Per focus mode configuration: Work and Study can each keep their own block lists, apps, goals, cycles, playlists, and Slack status; switching focus modes switches configurations.
- Notch interface: On Macs with a notch, the interface expands from the camera area; on models without a notch (such as MacBook Air M1, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio), it shows a 190×32 floating capsule; when an external display is connected, it also shows a floating capsule at the top of the screen. You can hover to open it and click to pin it.
- Timing and statistics: Shows today's progress compared with your goal, consecutive focus days, and records from the last 7 days.
- Music control: Shows now playing content from sources such as Spotify or a YouTube tab, with artwork and play, previous, and next controls, read only locally on your Mac.
- Notifications: Notifications from any app are shown in the notch position instead of the corner of the screen.
- Volume and brightness: Shown in the notch area instead of a large box in the center of the screen.
- Custom colors: Choose 3 to 5 colors, and Cue blends three gradient schemes for you to choose from.
- Little assistant characters: Two little assistants hang below the notch and react to your actions, can move between the window and the menu bar, dance, and support skins and 11 dance moves. You can use the loop button to spray 20 to 30 of them from the notch; the power button adds ten each time, up to a maximum of 60.
- Sound control: Adjust volume per app, switch output devices, mute the microphone with ⌃⌥M, and indicate camera and microphone status with an orange or green dot.
- Other small tools: Keep awake, Caps Lock notification, full-charge unplug reminder, and one-click hide of the notch during recording.
- Battery and AirPods: open the charging case to show the battery of each earbud and support one-click connection.
- New in 3.3: wearing the earbuds can also sync your Slack status and start focus music.
- Already in 3.2: focus cycles and profiles.
How to use Download the free DMG for Apple Silicon, macOS 14+ from the official website. Open Cue.dmg and drag Cue into Applications. On first open, macOS may say it cannot be verified; click OK (on newer macOS it shows "Done"), then in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Security click "Open Anyway" and confirm. Open Cue again and follow the single-screen setup: click Start, enter your password once (used for the website-blocking helper), allow Motion permission, then enable Cue in Privacy & Security → Accessibility. Optionally grant Full Disk Access to choose your own focus modes. Cue never requests camera permission. If you are comfortable with Terminal, you can also remove the quarantine attribute with a one-line command: xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Cue.app
iPhone integration In Mac System Settings → Focus, enable "Share Across Devices", and the iPhone will follow the focus modes set by Cue; Apple handles the syncing, and Cue does not send any data or read that toggle. On iPhone: Shortcuts app → Automation → + → Bluetooth, select AirPods → Connected → run the Cue-related shortcut.
Use cases For Mac users who need to automatically enter or exit a focus state based on the action of wearing earbuds, such as blocking social media, video, and news websites and timing sessions while working or studying, and who want to reduce the hassle of manually starting focus tools.
Limitations
- Free, no ads, no tracking; no account required, data stays local.
- Not yet Apple notarized, so first open requires manual approval; the official statement says they are joining the Apple Developer Program and will provide a notarized version without warnings afterward.
- Only supports Apple Silicon and macOS 14 and above.
- Updates are optional, require the user to enable them, and will ask before installing.
- Information on pricing, additional platform support, and similar details is not yet available in the materials.