Found a video? Put it in the corner.
No new window to manage and no tab to babysit. MiniTube lives in your menu bar and stays out of the way until you need it.
Open a video in your browser
Safari, Chrome, Arc, or Edge. Any YouTube link works, including Shorts and embeds.
Choose Play YouTube from Browser
MiniTube picks up at the same second and pauses the tab. You can also copy a link or drop one on the screen.
Flip channels
Each video becomes a channel, up to nine. Scroll over the screen or press ⌘ ] to tune in, with a burst of static.
Small screen. Big manners.
It pauses when you get a call, gets out of the way when you need the pixels underneath, and never steals focus.
Play from your browser
Reads the active tab, continues from its current time, and pauses the tab for you.
Send back to browser
Done with the corner? The video goes back to its tab at exactly the spot you left off.
Ghost mode
Hold ⌥ and the overlay fades out and lets your clicks pass right through it.
Pauses for calls
Pauses when your microphone turns on or the screen locks, and hides itself while you share your screen.
Media keys
Play, pause, and skip from the keyboard or Control Center, plus global shortcuts for seek and volume.
Watch clipboard
Optional. Copy a YouTube link from anywhere, like Slack or Messages, and it starts playing.
Drag and drop
Drop a YouTube URL onto the screen to tune in. It becomes a new channel.
No ads with Premium
Sign in with your YouTube Premium account and videos play without ads, just like on YouTube.
Any corner, any size
Pin it to any corner and drag the inner edge to resize. Always 16:9, always on top.
Pick your set.
Switch between a clean Classic TV screen and a Winamp-style skin with a scrolling LCD and working transport buttons.
Classic TV
Just the picture, with soft rounded corners. Hover it to bring up the channel remote.
Winamp
A ridged title bar, a green LCD marquee, and transport buttons you can actually press. It really whips.
Hands stay on the keyboard.
Global shortcuts work from any app, so you never have to reach for the overlay.
Good questions.
Which browsers does it work with?
Play YouTube from Browser works with Safari, Chrome, Arc, and Edge. Firefox doesn't share the active tab's URL, so copy the link instead and MiniTube picks it up from the clipboard.
Why does it ask for Automation permission?
macOS needs your permission before MiniTube can read the URL of your browser's active tab. To pick up at the same second and pause the tab, also turn on “Allow JavaScript from Apple Events” in your browser. Pasting, dropping, or copying a link works without it.
Does it block ads?
No. If you sign in with a YouTube Premium account, videos play without ads, just like they do on YouTube. Without Premium, ads play as usual.
Some videos won't play. Why?
Some creators turn off embedding for their videos, and those can only be watched on YouTube itself.
Where's the Dock icon?
There isn't one. MiniTube is a menu bar app, so everything lives behind the little TV icon at the top of your screen.
Now showing, in the corner.
Get MiniTube for your Mac.
Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later