VolumeBar now uses an on-demand AppKit panel, bounded thumbnail icons, and stops unnecessary process polling when the panel is closed. Closing the panel releases its controls, subscriptions, icon cache, and window. Saved custom app levels continue to be monitored.
Measured on the same Mac running macOS 26.6.2, using the signed release:
| State | RSS | Physical footprint |
|---|---|---|
| 0.3.0 after panel use | 117 MiB | 41 MiB |
| 0.4.2 before first panel use | 42 MiB | 11 MiB |
| 0.4.2 after Applications/search, Devices, Options, and closing | 87 MiB | 26 MiB |
The final idle sample recorded 0.00 CPU seconds over 30 seconds with no custom levels active. These are observations, not guaranteed limits; active mixing and UI history affect resource use. RSS includes shared mappings, while physical footprint better represents memory-pressure cost.
Classic native rendering reduces macOS 26 rendering caches. Apple ignores the compatibility setting in SDK 27+ builds; future toolchain upgrades need fresh profiling.
Validation: 19 automated tests passed; the unchanged audio engine passed 12 live gain measurements across three route lifecycles in 0.4.1. Search, Devices, Options, and panel dismissal were checked in this signed 0.4.2 release. Checksums, Developer ID signature, Apple notarization, stapling, and Gatekeeper passed.
Download the DMG, open it, and drag VolumeBar into Applications. macOS 14.4+ on Apple Silicon. Existing saved settings are preserved.