Frequently asked questions
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Usually, yes. Processing thousands of samples per second, extracting frequency data and rendering it at 120 Hz is a demanding task. When running at 120 FPS, Halo will use about 1% of your CPU, and 0.6% when on 60 FPS. When you're not listening to anything, it will drop down to 0%
To achieve this without taking up any noticeable amount of CPU, Halo uses plenty of optimizations such as heavy SIMD parallelism, intelligent DSP code, Metal shaders and continuous audio activity analysis.
Halo processes audio and renders the waveform with a total latency of 2-3ms. macOS itself's safety audio buffers introduce some additional latency, which unfortunately cannot be avoided.
When using Bluetooth devices such as AirPods, the safety buffer is significantly compensated by the Bluetooth latency, meaning it will actually look more synced up than when using wired headphones.
Yes! Halo works with any audio source on your Mac. Whether you're listening to Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube on Safari, or even a Discord call, Halo will capture and visualize the audio's frequencies in real-time.
Halo also tries to fetch the current artwork colors of what you're listening to at any given time, but to achieve this it must use private Apple frameworks that may break at any given time.
Your license is valid for three devices at any given time. You can deactivate a device anytime you want, and it will free up a slot.
Internet connection is not required to use Halo, although you have to connect at least once every 30 days for the app to renew your license in the background.
