SwitchboardAvailable on the Mac App Store

Every link opens in the right browser. Your Mac's default never changes.

Switchboard is a macOS menu bar app that quietly decides which browser should open each link: a pinned favorite, a specific browser for specific sites, or a different one entirely while some other app is running. It lives in your menu bar only. No Dock icon, no windows to manage.

macOS 26 (Tahoe) or later · Apple Silicon or Intel

Team ChatFileEditViewWindow

9:41

Team Chat · #general

Sample Person A

Sample Person Blol

Sample Person Cstaging's up:

macOS default browser: Switchboard (set once, left alone) Links go to: Safari (the menu is a sketch of the idea, not a screenshot)

The trick

it never touches your real default browser setting

Switchboard does all of this without ever flipping your Mac's real default browser setting. It becomes the one thing macOS hands links to, then routes each one to whichever real browser you've told it to.

Silently, too. There's no confirmation dialog every time you click a link, and picking a new default is two clicks from the menu bar instead of a trip to System Settings and its "are you sure?" prompt.

so you can change your mind ten times a day and macOS never notices.

You click a linkin a chat, an email, a document, a terminal, anywhere.
macOS hands it to Switchboardbecause Switchboard is the one thing it sends links to.
Switchboard decidesyour pinned browser, a URL rule for that site, an app that's running, or a timed switch.
The right browser opens itone you already have installed. Even a specific Chrome or Edge profile.

URL rules

this board is live. edit anything.

Route specific sites to specific browsers automatically, by domain, a wildcard pattern, or a full regex. Type a link (or tap a sample), then mess with the rules and watch where it gets patched through. sample rules, sample sites.

Link coming in

No real sites here, just stand-ins.

Rules

Nothing matched? Your pinned browser: Safari

Browsers

App triggers

open an app, the browser follows

Automatically switch browsers while an app like Slack, Zoom, or your work VPN client is running or frontmost. Launch a few apps from the little Dock below and see what happens.

Your triggers (sample)

in this toy, the first trigger that's active wins. quit everything and you're back on your pin.

Your Mac, roughly

Nothing running. Click an app to launch it.

Links open in

Timed switches

borrow a browser, give it back later

Sometimes you just need a different browser for a bit. Switch for anywhere from 5 minutes to 8 hours, a custom duration, until you quit Switchboard, or for as long as a chosen app stays open.

When the time's up, it switches back to your pinned browser on its own, and a notification tells you it's about to.

the demo runs on fast-forward. nobody wants to wait an hour on a webpage.

Switch to

For

Duration 1 h

5 min8 h

The small stuff

the bits that make it feel finished

01
Pin a browser
Pick your default in two clicks from the menu bar. No System Settings dialog, no confirmation prompt.
02
Profile-aware
Target a specific Chrome or Edge profile (Work, Personal, whatever you've set up), not just "Chrome" as a whole. That's why the demos here list Chrome twice.
03
Global hotkeys
Cycle to the next browser or jump straight to a specific one from anywhere, with a modifier combo you control.
04
Native notifications
Know exactly when and why your browser changed, and when it's about to change back. On by default, easy to mute. (The little ones popping up in the corner of this page are pretend versions. Mute them from the menu up top.)
05
Just a menu bar icon
No Dock icon, no background windows. Switchboard shows up exactly where you'd expect and nowhere else.

Hotkeys, minus the keyboard

← press it: next browser

or jump straight to one:

Pinned right now: Safari

Sample combo. You pick your own modifiers in the app.

No servers, no accounts

it's a router, not a tracker

Everything happens on your Mac.

Switchboard has no backend, no account, and no analytics. Its whole job is deciding which already-installed browser opens a link. It never sees the content of that link beyond the URL itself, and never sends anything anywhere. See the Privacy Policy for the full details.

Requirements

macOS: 26 (Tahoe) or later
Mac: Apple Silicon or Intel
Where: Mac App Store

Switchboard is an independent app developed by Jan Aguja, an independent developer in the Philippines. For questions, feedback, or support, reach out at [email protected].