Audiobookshelf
An Audiobookshelf client for Mac that stays in your menu bar
PoRaBar is a native macOS app that connects to your own Audiobookshelf server. It lives in the menu bar, has no Dock icon, keeps your place by writing progress back to the server, and costs $2.99 once with a 60-day free trial. There is no subscription and no account to create.
It is not only an Audiobookshelf client. The same window plays internet radio, podcast feeds and YouTube livestreams, and there is an iPhone app that hands playback back and forth with your Mac. If all you want is a dedicated audiobook app, one of the alternatives below may suit you better.
How the Mac options compare
Every client here plays what is in your Audiobookshelf library, including podcast libraries on your server. The fourth column asks something different: whether the app also plays internet radio and podcast feeds that have nothing to do with your server.
| App | Native macOS | Menu bar | iPhone app | Radio and podcasts too | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PoRaBar | Yes, macOS 13+ | Yes | Yes, with handoff | Yes | $2.99 once |
| Audiobookshelf web app | No, browser | No | No, separate app | No | Free |
| ShelfPlayer | Yes, macOS 26+, M1 | No | Yes | No | $5.99 |
| SoundLeaf | Yes, macOS 14.6+, M1 | No | Yes | No | Free, $9.99 Pro |
| indexd | Yes, macOS 14+, beta | No | No | No | Free, source |
| tinybookshelf | Compile it yourself | No | No | No | Free, source |
A few things the columns flatten. Only PoRaBar sits in the menu bar, the others all open a normal app window. Audiobookshelf does have an official mobile app for iPhone, it is simply a separate app rather than a companion to a Mac client. ShelfPlayer and SoundLeaf are iPhone apps that also run on Apple Silicon Macs. And a link alone can flatter a project: indexd is a beta with no published download, so you build it from source, and its last commit was in March 2026, while tinybookshelf was written for low-end Linux hardware, documents a macOS build with Homebrew but ships no Mac binary, and has not moved since April 2026.
Where the others are the better choice
Not every answer is PoRaBar, and pretending otherwise would waste your time.
- The official web app is free and already running. It ships with your server, works on any Mac without installing anything, and gets every new server feature first. If you listen at your desk now and then, you do not need a second app at all.
- ShelfPlayer and SoundLeaf are dedicated to audiobooks. Their entire interface is about your library, where PoRaBar splits attention between audiobooks, radio, podcasts and YouTube. If audiobooks are all you want, a focused app is calmer.
- indexd is open source under GPL-3.0. You can read the code, change it, and keep using it whatever happens to the developer. PoRaBar is closed source, so you cannot.
- tinybookshelf runs where nothing else will. Qt5 on a machine with very little memory is a real use case, and a modern Mac app is no help there.
- PoRaBar has no offline audiobooks. Podcast episodes can be downloaded, audiobooks stream from your server. If you want your library on a plane, this is the wrong app today.
Questions people actually ask
Does it work with a self-hosted server behind a reverse proxy?
Yes. You paste the full URL, including https:// and the port if it is not the standard one. A reverse proxy with a valid certificate works without any extra setup. A self-signed certificate is refused unless you first mark it as trusted in Keychain Access on your Mac. Plain http:// also works, which is the simplest option for a server on your own network.
Do I need a PoRaBar account?
No. There is no PoRaBar account and no PoRaBar server. You sign in to your own Audiobookshelf server, either with an API token or with your Audiobookshelf username and password. The token is stored in the macOS Keychain. Your password is only used to sign in and is never stored.
Does it remember where I left off?
Yes, and it writes the position back to your server. While a book is playing, PoRaBar pushes your progress to Audiobookshelf every 30 seconds, and again when you pause or finish. That means you can stop on your Mac and pick up in the web app, on your phone, or in any other client that reads server progress.
Does it work offline?
Partly, and this is worth knowing before you buy. Podcast episodes can be downloaded and played without a connection. Audiobooks are streamed from your Audiobookshelf server, so you need to be able to reach that server to listen to them.
Can I connect more than one Audiobookshelf server?
No. PoRaBar supports one server at a time. Saving a new server replaces the current connection.
Try it for 60 days
The full app, no nags. After the trial it is $2.99 once, or free if you get three station contributions approved. Requires macOS 13 or newer.