Frequently asked questions.

A serval is a small wild cat from Africa with oversized ears — it lives by ear, picking up a rodent rustling across a clearing. Small, fast, unfussy, and ridiculously cute. Fitting name for a sound-control app.

No. Serval is an independent app. Brand and product names are used only to identify compatible hardware.

Most headphone companion apps are built around a phone workflow. Serval is engineered for macOS from the ground up, with native Swift, careful Bluetooth behaviour, real hardware testing, and interactions shaped around how Mac users actually work. Keep the vendor app for firmware updates and account-tied features; use Serval for day-to-day controls.

Every supported feature is tested on real headphones before it ships. Some features stay in the manufacturer's app, including firmware updates, account features, Find My Headphones, and spatial-audio setup.

Serval is built around real headphones, not guesses. Each supported feature starts with hardware testing, then gets shaped into a Mac interaction that feels direct, predictable, and out of the way. If a control has not been verified on real devices, it does not get the supported label.

Today: Sony WH-1000XM6, WH-1000XM4, and WF-1000XM4, Bose QuietComfort 35 II, and Nothing Ear (2). More models and brands are in research; the roadmap lists the current candidates. If yours is not listed yet, the next question is for you.

Share which headphones you own using Help add support in Serval, or the waitlist on this website. If that model is being researched, you may be contacted and asked to help test it.

Usually, but a firmware update can change how your headphones behave. If that happens, some features may need a Serval update before they work again.

The Serval app has no accounts, ads, analytics, or tracking. It can't connect to the internet, and it doesn't know what you listen to. Apple may share anonymous diagnostic information if you've chosen to share it with app developers in macOS.

If you join a model waitlist on this website, the site stores your email, selected model, and whether you opted into occasional broader Serval news. The waitlist is separate from the offline Mac app.

Serval needs Bluetooth to connect to your headphones. If you turn on connection offers, it also asks for permission to show notifications. It doesn't need access to your microphone, screen, contacts, or Accessibility settings.

No. Serval is closed source. Real effort, patient hardware testing, and careful attention to detail went into it — from the interactions you see to the engineering underneath. The price of the app is what lets one developer keep doing that work and feed a family.

See the current price in the Mac App Store. Apple localises the price and handles payments and refund requests.

Serval requires macOS Tahoe 26 or later.

Email support@servalcontrol.app.