Ham radio control software for Mac.
Open the app, see your radio, operate. RigPlane Pro is a native macOS desktop app for supported Icom and Yaesu transceivers — with an audio bridge, a CW console, and WSJT-X support that need no Wine and no third-party virtual cable (the app installs its own audio driver with one administrator prompt).
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 audio path WSJT-X can use as a soundcard. Other Mac-friendly tools exist in this space — wfview is an honest, cross-platform Qt option for Icom and others; SDR-Console and Ham Radio Deluxe run only under emulation. RigPlane's positioning is the Icom-and-Yaesu, 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. Supported radios: Icom IC-7610, IC-7300, IC-705 and Yaesu FTX-1. The IC-9700 has a rig profile and backend, and its satellite mode is not implemented. The Xiegu X6100 is profile only — the serial backend refuses it, so control is not available today. The Lab599 TX-500 is profile only; its Kenwood CAT backend is not implemented, so control is not available today. The Lab599 TX-500 is profile only; its Kenwood CAT backend is not implemented, so control is not available today.
Per-radio setup pages are live for IC-7610, IC-7300, IC-705, IC-9700, Yaesu FTX-1, Xiegu X6100, and Lab599 TX-500, with radio-side checklists in the RigPlane docs.
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 third-party virtual-cable download, no JACK configuration, no VAC tweaks. The app installs its own signed virtual audio driver, which asks for an administrator password once.
- Audio routing. RX into your normal output device, TX captured from your standard input. RigPlane Pro's own signed virtual audio driver is installed by the app so digital-mode apps see RigPlane as a regular soundcard.
- CW console. CW console with sending and a decoder in the Pro app. RigPlane has no paddle or straight-key input of its own.
- 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. The radio delivers PCM (or μ-law, or USB audio on USB radios); over the network RigPlane sends audio as Opus with small buffers.
Install in 5 minutes
Grab the macOS build from the downloads page; it lists the platforms covered by each beta release. The build needs an Apple Silicon (M-series) Mac running macOS 26 or later. 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 is built for Apple Silicon (M-series) only and needs macOS 26 or later. It 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 2026-10-27.