Ham radio control software for Mac.

What runs on a Mac today

RigPlane Pro ships as a native macOS desktop app — not a Wine wrapper, not a Parallels VM, not a browser tab pretending to be an app. It sits on the open-core rigplane Python library, which itself runs on macOS (and Linux and Windows), so if you prefer the headless / browser-UI path, that route is open to you too.

The current macOS build covers the radio-control engine, the operator console (dual-VFO, panadapter, waterfall, S-meter), the local audio bridge for receiving from and transmitting to the radio, the CW console, and the integrations needed for WSJT-X and JS8Call to see RigPlane as a normal soundcard. Other Mac-friendly tools exist in this space — wfview is an honest, cross-platform Qt option for Icom; SDR-Console and Ham Radio Deluxe run only under emulation. RigPlane's positioning is the multi-vendor, audio-included, native-Mac one.

Supported radios

RigPlane talks to your transceiver directly — UDP for IP-connected radios, USB / serial where applicable — with no third-party daemon, no vendor app, and no hamlib bridge in the loop. Production-grade backends today include the Icom IC-7610, IC-7300, IC-705, and IC-9700, plus Yaesu FTX-1, Xiegu X6100, and Lab599 TX-500. Profile-based support extends to additional Icom and Yaesu rigs that share the same control surface.

Per-radio setup notes live on the downloads page today. Dedicated per-rig pages are landing alongside the rest of the SEO build-out.

Audio, CW, and digital-mode integration on macOS

The audio path is the part most ham-radio control software gets wrong on macOS. RigPlane Pro targets Core Audio directly and bundles a bridge so RX from the radio shows up on your normal output device and TX is captured from the mic you already use for digital modes — no virtual-cable installer, no JACK configuration, no VAC tweaks.

• Audio routing. RX into your normal output device, TX captured from your standard input. A BlackHole-based bridge is bundled in the macOS installer so digital-mode apps see RigPlane as a regular soundcard.
• CW console. Local keyer, decoder, and CW tools live inside the Pro app — paddle and straight-key input handled in the desktop, not over a roundtrip to the browser tab.
• WSJT-X, JS8Call, fldigi. These see RigPlane as a normal soundcard. Same routing convention you already have, minus the cable hunt. FT8 and FT4 work through WSJT-X exactly the way they do with any conventional soundcard interface.
• Latency. Opus over UDP, tight buffers, no resampling round-trips. Tuned for headphone monitoring and CW operation.

Install in 5 minutes

Grab the macOS build from the downloads page — the post-Q5 page correctly lists macOS, Linux, and Windows. Open the .dmg, drag the app into /Applications, allow the bundled audio bridge to install (one-time admin prompt), and point the app at your radio's IP. Setup walk-throughs for each supported backend live in the rigplane.dev guide.

If you'd rather start from the open-core Python library, pip install rigplane works on macOS and gives you the headless engine plus the browser UI. The Pro desktop app is the packaged experience on top of that.

Why a Mac-native experience matters

Most ham-radio control software targets Windows first and treats macOS as an afterthought, if it ships there at all. RigPlane Pro is a native macOS application — not a Wine wrapper, not an Electron shell pretending to be one. The app runs on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, hooks into Core Audio directly, and respects the macOS dark/light-mode and notification conventions instead of fighting them.

That matters most for the audio path. macOS Core Audio is unforgiving of resampling chains and aggregate-device gymnastics; a native client avoids the whole class of problems that Windows-port-via-emulator solutions stumble into. It also means the app is signed and notarized through the normal Apple developer channel, so Gatekeeper does not surprise you at first launch.

What to do next

Last reviewed 2026-05-19.