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Yes. It's the same as the Terminal command people pass around for this, sudo killall coreaudiod. macOS starts Core Audio again immediately. Sound stops for about a second, and apps that were playing reconnect on their own.

It adds one file, /etc/sudoers.d/audiokick, containing a single rule that lets your account run /usr/bin/killall coreaudiod as an administrator without a password. The rule is checked with visudo before it's installed. Nothing else gets administrator access. Choose Require Password to Restart in the menu to remove it.

No. AudioKick fixes it when it happens. If it keeps happening with Bluetooth headphones, turn on Keep the Mac's Microphone as Input, which removes one common cause.

That's how AudioKick checks whether they're playing and resumes them after a restart. If you'd rather it didn't, choose Don't Allow, or turn off Resume Music & Spotify After Restart in the menu.

If you set up password-free restart, choose Require Password to Restart in the menu first. Then quit AudioKick and drag it from Applications to the Trash.

No. AudioKick has no analytics and no account. It sends nothing anywhere unless you type your email into Get Email Updates.

Any Mac on macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple silicon or Intel.

We made it for ourselves and figured other people have the same crackle. If you'd like to hear about the next small fix we make, join the email list below.

Open AudioKick from Applications again. If your menu bar is full, macOS may hide icons behind the notch; quit another menu bar app or hold Command and drag icons to make room.

Another app may already use Control-Option-Command-R. Check that Global Shortcut is ticked in the AudioKick menu, and quit other shortcut utilities to find the clash.