FAQs

An Apple silicon Mac (M1 or later) with macOS 14 Sonoma or newer.

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No. Waggle is independent and isn't affiliated with WhatsApp, Meta, Slack, Salesforce, Google, Microsoft or Apple. Their names and icons belong to them.

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No. Your WhatsApp, Slack, email and other messages go straight between your Mac and each service, and stay on your Mac. Waggle has one online service of its own, the Waggle Relay. It does three things: Settings sync, iMessage on another Mac, and licence checks. Sync and iMessage sharing are end-to-end encrypted on your Mac first, so the relay only ever sees scrambled data. Licence checks send your licence key, an anonymous ID for your Mac and your Mac's name (so you can tell your Macs apart in Settings → Licence). AI bees and AI replies are the exception you choose: see "AI replies and AI bees".

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In your Mac's Keychain only. That covers email passwords, AI keys, pairing and sync codes, and the Gmail, Google Chat, Google Calendar, Outlook, Teams, Outlook Calendar, Slack and Telegram sign-ins. None of them sync to your other Macs. The exceptions are WhatsApp's keys (below) and the sites you sign in to in a Web bee, which are kept like a browser's cookies. Older versions kept some sign-ins in files; the first start after updating moved each one into the Keychain and deleted the file, and you stayed signed in.

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The bee still works until you quit. Waggle tries to save the sign-in again the next time the bee connects, so you don't have to sign in again.

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In Waggle's folder on your Mac, readable by your Mac user account only. A WhatsApp linked device keeps its identity keys and an encryption session for every person and group it talks to, and changes them with almost every message. That's far too much, too often, for the Keychain. Waggle makes the folder and its files private to your Mac account, and macOS already keeps your Library folder private. Apps running as you on this Mac could still read them. To unlink the Mac, use Unlink This Mac (it deletes the keys), or remove the linked device in WhatsApp on your phone → Linked Devices.

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Yes. Every bee is free for 14 days, from the first time you open Waggle. No card and no account. Waggle needs the internet once to start the trial with the Waggle Relay; until then, Settings sync and iMessage sharing wait. Settings → Licence shows the days left.

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Your bees go quiet: they still show your messages, but can't send. Each bee shows a note with Buy… and Enter Licence…. Your bees, settings and messages are all kept, so buying unlocks everything straight away. Web and Calendar bees carry on as normal. Settings sync and iMessage on another Mac pause until you buy.

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Two plans, each paid once:

• Worker Bee, £12.99: one service of your choice (such as WhatsApp or Slack), plus Web bees.
• Whole Hive, £24.99: every service.

Started with Worker Bee? Upgrade to Whole Hive for £12, and the same key unlocks every bee. You choose your Worker Bee service once, in Settings → Licence, and can't change it later (but you can always upgrade). Calendar bees never go quiet, so they don't need choosing.

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Settings → Licence → Buy Waggle…, or from waggle.software. Paddle, our reseller, handles the payment and sends your receipt.

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On the thank-you page after you buy, and in an email from Waggle Software (hello@waggle.software), usually within a few minutes: check your junk folder too. If you bought from the app, that Mac finds the licence by itself. In Waggle, Settings → Licence shows your key with Copy, and Email Me My Key… sends it again to the address you bought with. Keys start WGL-.

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Up to 3 Macs you own or control, with one licence. Extra Macs (£24.99 a year) adds 3 more. Your key isn't synced between Macs: enter it once on each, in Settings → Licence → Activate. If the Extra Macs subscription ends, Macs already on the licence keep working; you just can't add new ones beyond 3.

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On the old Mac, Settings → Licence → Deactivate This Mac…. If the old Mac has gone already, click Remove next to it in Settings → Licence on any of your other Macs. Then enter your key on the new Mac.

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Relay services are Settings sync and iMessage on another Mac, which run through the Waggle Relay. They're included for 12 months from when you buy, then cost £5 a year. Renew Relay Services… appears in Settings → Licence in the 60 days before they end; renewing early loses nothing. If you don't renew, only those two stop. Your bees, sending and your licence carry on as normal.

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Only now and then. Waggle checks about once a week and keeps working for 30 days without the internet. After 30 days offline, bees go quiet until a check works: connect and click Check Now in Settings → Licence.

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You can try every bee free for 14 days before you buy, so we don't offer refunds if you simply change your mind afterwards. This doesn't affect your legal rights: if Waggle doesn't work as described, email hello@waggle.software from the address you bought with. A refunded licence stops working on every Mac, and its Relay services stop within a week. You can cancel a yearly add-on (Extra Macs or Relay services) any time from the link in your Paddle receipt; it ends when the year you've paid for ends.

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Settings → Licence says so, but your key is kept and your bees keep working. Click Check Now later. If it keeps happening, use Email Me My Key… or email hello@waggle.software.

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Copies from waggle.software are signed with Apple's Developer ID and checked by Apple (notarised), so they open normally. If macOS still blocks it, make sure you dragged Waggle into Applications from the DMG, then open it from there. If it says the app is damaged or from an unknown developer, download the DMG again from waggle.software.

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Yes: a Developer ID-signed copy counts as a known developer. If your organisation blocks apps it hasn't approved, ask your IT team. Don't try to get round your organisation's settings.

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Once only. That version has a new app ID, and macOS ties saved items and permissions to it. Waggle moves your settings and sign-ins across by itself. When macOS asks to use an item in your keychain, enter your Mac password and click Always Allow. Bees then ask once again for Full Disk Access, Accessibility, Automation or Calendars, as they need them. If a bee keeps asking after you've turned Waggle on in System Settings → Privacy & Security, Waggle may be listed twice: select each Waggle entry, click −, then click + and choose Applications → Waggle.

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The bee that needs one says so, with a button to the right page of System Settings. Full Disk Access (for the iMessage bee) and Accessibility (for marking group chats read): System Settings → Privacy & Security → the list → turn Waggle on (or click + and choose Applications → Waggle). Automation (for sending iMessages): click OK when macOS asks; to change it later, System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation → Waggle → Messages.

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Yes. Open it and drag any edge or corner. The opposite edge stays put. Press Esc while dragging to cancel (it doesn't close the bee).

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As big as the screen it's on. The smallest widths are 360 points for Calendar and Web bees, 340 for Gmail, Outlook, Email, Slack and Teams bees, and 310 for every other bee, so the buttons at the top always fit. Every bee is at least 400 points tall (Calendar bees 440).

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On purpose: your Macs' screens are different sizes. Each Mac remembers its own size for each bee. Removing a bee forgets its size. On a smaller screen, a bee shrinks to fit, and goes back to the size you saved on a bigger one.

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macOS 14 has no built-in diagonal resize pointer, so Waggle draws its own for the corners. It looks like the system's, but not exactly.

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With Settings → Behaviour → Collapse on unhover on, a bee closes when the pointer leaves it. If you let go of a resize outside the bee, it may close a moment later. Let go inside the bee, or move the pointer back over it straight away.

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One wiggle takes about 1.6 seconds, so the bee wiggles again as soon as the last one finishes (about every 1.6 seconds) rather than cutting it short.

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Keyboard reordering works on the selected row. Click the row first, not the name box: with the cursor in the name, ⌥⌘↑ and ⌥⌘↓ move through the text instead.

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Keep the hive in Settings order moves the bees whenever the order changes, so a bee you dragged away goes back into the hive the next time you reorder, add or remove a bee. Turn it off (Settings → Placement) to place bees freely.

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Each display gets its own hive in Settings order, from the bees already on it. To move a bee to another display, drag it there. Bees from an unplugged display aren't rearranged; they go back to their own places when it's plugged in.

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The last ones overlap at the edge rather than going off screen.

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Filled buttons (such as Send, Join and Sign in) use the look's own highlight colour, with whichever text colour reads best on it. On WhatsApp's green that's dark text, as white on that green is hard to read. Every pop-up in a bee (emoji, GIFs, reactions, calendar events, the calendar list and the icon editor) also follows the bee's look.

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Probably behind the + next to the message box. Settings → Appearance → Message box buttons chooses which ones sit in the bar. A bee only shows the buttons it can use.

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No. It connects as a linked device using WhatsApp's web protocol, which isn't an official API. WhatsApp could change it at any time, and using it is against WhatsApp's terms.

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WhatsApp only copies recent history to a linked computer. Older chats load from your phone when you open them, which needs your phone online.

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They stay quiet, as in WhatsApp: no sound, wiggle or glow. If WhatsApp moves the chat back to your chat list when a message arrives ("Keep chats archived" off in WhatsApp → Settings → Chats), it alerts as normal and moves back in the bee too. Until your phone has reported that setting, Waggle waits about 3 seconds to see whether the chat leaves Archived.

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macOS can't play WhatsApp's audio format itself, so they open in your default app.

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The quick sign-in uses your own Slack web session, which is unofficial and against Slack's API terms. Workspaces that only allow approved apps need the "Slack app" route instead, which an admin approves. With that route, unread counts start from when Waggle connects.

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Only conversations you're in show. Channels you join later start hidden until you choose them (the filter button in the bee's header).

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Not yet. Signal has no official way for other apps to connect: the only route is an unofficial tool that needs Java, breaks when Signal changes its servers, and can't be bundled in a paid app without changing its licence terms. Signal's terms also don't allow charging for its service. We'll look again if Signal offers an official way.

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GIPHY. Your search words and the GIFs you pick go to GIPHY (not to Waggle). GIFs are rated PG-13 or milder.

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WhatsApp gets them as short looping videos, like WhatsApp's own GIFs. Telegram, Slack and email get a .gif file. GIFs aren't offered in Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini or Web bees.

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No. They're end-to-end encrypted between two devices and never reach linked devices.

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Avatars and polls. Stickers and voice notes open as files.

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This Mac forgets the sign-in straight away, but Telegram only hears about it when the Mac is online. Check Telegram on your phone → Settings → Devices, and end the Waggle session there if it's still listed.

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In the Keychain. It's saved when you sign in, and again only if Telegram moves your account to another data centre. Signing out, or removing the bee, deletes it. Sign Out works at any point, even while the bee is connecting or showing a QR code.

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Gmail, Outlook and other email (IMAP) bees check every 30 seconds. So when you read or delete an email in another app, like Gmail in your browser, the bee catches up within about half a minute. Click ↻ at the top of the bee to check straight away; opening a bee or waking your Mac also checks. WhatsApp, Slack, Telegram and iMessage update instantly, so they have no ↻.

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The last 30 days: read, unread and archived match your other email apps. Change it per bee: right-click → Keep in Step → 7, 30, 90 or 120 days. Older email stays as it was last seen. Very busy inboxes are capped at the newest 2,000 emails in the period. The first check after choosing a longer period downloads that email once, so it can take a minute.

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No. Reactions aren't part of email.

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Most providers need an app password rather than your normal password. Microsoft accounts (Outlook.com, Hotmail, Microsoft 365) don't allow passwords for IMAP any more: use an Outlook bee.

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Work or school accounts may need an administrator to approve Waggle before anyone can sign in.

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Up to 3 MB per file.

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Not yet. New emails are plain text (no bold, colours or signatures), and your email app's signature isn't added.

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Only the bee's own account's, so the wrong account's contacts never appear. Gmail bees search the Google account (contacts, Other contacts and the Workspace directory), Outlook bees the Microsoft account (people and Outlook contacts), plus the emails in the bee. Email (IMAP) bees suggest people you've emailed in that bee only (IMAP has no contacts lookup). On a slow connection, people you've emailed show first (within about 3 seconds) and Google's contacts follow when the network is back. Signing a Gmail bee in to a different Google account clears the previous account's emails from the bee, so its people are never suggested.

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It's kept in the bee (even if you go back or the bee closes) until you send it or click the bin, but not after you quit Waggle, and it isn't saved to your Drafts folder.

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Not yet.

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Up to 18 MB in all (about 25 MB once encoded for email, the limit for Gmail and most mail servers). Outlook bees: up to 3 MB per file.

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It shows as a conversation straight away, even though it's only in your Sent folder until someone replies.

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No: work or school accounts only. Microsoft's chat API doesn't support personal Microsoft accounts.

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The bee shows chats only (one-to-one, group and meeting chats). Reading channels always needs an administrator's approval. Many organisations also need an administrator to approve Waggle first.

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Text and pictures (up to 4 MB). Other files are shared in Teams through OneDrive, so Waggle shows them as links rather than sending or downloading them. Replying to a specific message isn't available: your message goes to the chat normally.

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Waggle checks every 15 seconds, so they can take up to 15 seconds to appear.

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No. It works with Google Workspace accounts only; Google doesn't open Chat to apps for personal @gmail.com accounts.

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Within about 10 seconds (Google doesn't push them to apps signed in as you). Read state stays in step both ways.

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It follows your 100 most recently active spaces, group chats and direct messages. It can't start new conversations or remove a reaction yet, and Google Drive files open in the browser.

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Not in the bee: Calendar bees are view only. Adding, changing or replying happens in Calendar, Google Calendar or Outlook (the + button opens them). Accept, Maybe and Decline open the invite there; you click your answer again on that page.

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Apple doesn't let other apps start a new event in Calendar (its link only opens the app). For the same reason, Open in Calendar opens the Calendar app, not the event.

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They check when you open them, move between days or click ↻, every 5 minutes while open, and after your Mac wakes (not instantly). An event added in the last few minutes can take up to 5 minutes to reach the badge on a closed bee.

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No: they're the bee's sound and a wiggle (Waggle doesn't post notifications). They need Waggle running and your Mac awake; a reminder missed during sleep plays on waking if the meeting hasn't started yet. The badge and reminders skip all-day events, events of 12 hours or more, and Busy time from free/busy-only calendars.

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Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Webex, GoTo, Whereby, Chime, BlueJeans and Jitsi. Other services' links still open from the event in Google Calendar or Outlook. Outlook's Join uses the Teams link Outlook gives; for other services it looks in the location and the first lines of the invite, so a link far down a long invite may be missed. Join and Open in only open web pages: a link that would start another app or open a file isn't used, and a meeting service's home, download or sign-in page doesn't count as the meeting.

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Up to 250 per calendar for the days on screen.

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Calendars from the Mac's Calendar app are remembered by name, so renaming one in Calendar makes it show again in the bee until you untick it there.

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It needs the bee signed in (Google and Outlook) or Calendars access allowed (the Mac's Calendar). Until then it says what's needed, with a button to the Calendars privacy settings for the Mac's Calendar; sign Google and Outlook bees in from the bee itself.

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Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok use your own API key, billed by that company separately from any subscription. The conversation is sent to them to write a reply or draft. Apple Intelligence and Ollama keep it on your Mac.

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macOS 26 or later and a Mac that supports it. Its model is small, so it reads only the last few messages.

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Always read it before sending. It's told never to invent facts, dates or promises, but AI can get things wrong.

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Not yet. AI replies work in conversations only.

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No. Those companies don't let other apps read your chats, projects, custom GPTs or memory. Each bee has its own chats and projects, stored on your Mac and synced with Settings sync. Copy a project's instructions and files across to use it here. The API is billed separately from Claude.ai, ChatGPT Plus or Pro, SuperGrok and X Premium. A new OpenAI or xAI account needs some credit added first; until then the bee says the account is out of credit.

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Not yet: no web search, image making, voice, tools or extended thinking.

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Claude: pictures (JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP), PDFs and text or code. ChatGPT: pictures (JPEG, PNG, WebP, and GIFs that don't move), PDFs and text or code. Grok: JPEG and PNG pictures and text or code, not PDFs. Gemini: JPEG, PNG and WebP pictures and text or code, not PDFs or GIFs. Text files in a project are sent with every message (only Claude caches them), so big project files use more of your API credit.

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The bee offers the models your key can use for chat. Some only work through OpenAI's and xAI's newer API and are left out: the Pro, Codex, research and security models, and Grok's multi-agent models.

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The bee shows a note saying why. Send your message again to retry.

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It uses a key from Google AI Studio (aistudio.google.com/apikey), separate from any paid Gemini or Google AI subscription and from Gemini in Google Workspace. Free keys have limits per minute and per day: when one is reached, the bee says so (wait a minute, or turn on billing for the key's project). Google doesn't offer the Gemini API in every country or region, and in some it needs billing; the bee says which. When Google's safety filters stop a reply, the bee says so: try rewording. It can't see your chats at gemini.google.com or your Gems, and the key never syncs.

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Not in a Gemini bee. A Google Workspace Gemini subscription covers the Gemini app, not the Gemini API that other apps use, and signing in to the API with a Google account needs a Google Cloud project, which IT controls for work accounts. Use a key from a personal Google account, ask IT for an approved key, or add a Web bee with the home address gemini.google.com. Google may block signing in inside an app's built-in browser, though; if it does, use Gemini in your browser.

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Messages signed in on the Mac, and Full Disk Access for Waggle (macOS keeps your messages in a protected folder). Texts (SMS) appear when your iPhone forwards them to your Mac. Waggle sends through the Messages app, which macOS asks you to allow once.

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Apple doesn't let other apps mark messages read or send tapbacks. Waggle shows tapbacks, and marks chats read by showing them in Messages for about a second. Then Messages goes back as it was, or is hidden or minimised: your choice in Settings → Behaviour → "After marking read in Messages". Group chats and texts from names (like a bank) also need the Accessibility permission.

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Yes, with an iMessage from another Mac bee. The Mac with Messages has to be awake, online and running Waggle. Messages arrive within a second or two; files up to 40 MB. It goes through the Waggle Relay, end-to-end encrypted with the pairing code, so the relay can't read messages, photos or files. Nothing to set up. It's one of the Relay services: included for 12 months with a licence, then £5 a year.

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No. Its request logs are turned off, and Waggle sends the relay's access token in a request header rather than in the web address, so it isn't written into web logs.

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It's a small browser, not a messaging bee: it has no unread count, sound, wiggle or AI replies.

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Google doesn't allow signing in to a Google account inside apps' built-in browsers, and Waggle doesn't pretend to be Safari or Chrome to get round that. Searching works without signing in. If Google refuses, the bee says "Google won't sign in here": use Open in Default Browser. Other sites that block built-in browsers do the same. Showing the mobile site doesn't change this: Google always sees Waggle as the Mac app it is.

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Web bees show it at first. Click the computer button in the bar (or right-click → Show Desktop Site) for the full site. The choice is for the whole bee, not each site it visits. Sites that send phones to a separate address (such as m.example.com) stay there when you switch: press Home or type the site's usual address.

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No. Zoom and the mobile or desktop choice sync to your other Macs, so a bee looks the same on each.

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Camera and microphone (so voice features such as Home Assistant's voice assistant), site notifications, and pages that ask for a username and password in a pop-up box (HTTP basic authentication).

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Plain http works only on your local network: .local names (such as homeassistant.local), private addresses (192.168.…, 10.…, 172.16–31.…, and Tailscale's 100.64–127.…), localhost and names without a dot (such as nas). Names ending in home.arpa aren't treated as local yet: use the device's IP address or .local name. Certificates macOS doesn't trust, such as self-signed ones, aren't accepted, and there's no "continue anyway": use Open in Default Browser, or give the server a trusted certificate.

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Sound and video keep playing while the bee is closed: pause them first, or click Home. Pop-up sign-in windows (such as "Sign in with Microsoft") open in the same bee: use Back for the page you came from. Downloads go straight to your Downloads folder, without asking. Changing the home address (in Settings → Bees, or on another Mac) takes an open bee to the new home page straight away.

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No. Sign-ins and cookies stay on this Mac: sign in on each Mac you use. Removing the bee, or Clear Cookies & Sign-ins…, deletes them.

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No. Everything is encrypted on your Mac with the sync code before it's uploaded. Sync is one of the Relay services: included for 12 months with a licence, then £5 a year. During the free trial it's included.

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Passwords, API keys, codes and sign-ins are never synced, by design. Your licence key isn't either: enter it once on each Mac.

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Bee positions and sizes (screens differ), and your chats themselves: each Mac gets WhatsApp, Slack and the rest from the service. Claude project files over 4 MB each (or 5 MB in all) don't sync either.

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Within about three minutes, not instantly. Click Sync Now to send them straight away.

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Keep them on the same version. From this version on, Waggle keeps settings it doesn't recognise rather than erasing them, and Settings → Sync between Macs warns when another Mac is on an older version. Older versions can still reset newer choices (such as a bee's own sound) when they sync, so update them.

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