WavRead
Installing WavRead
Four steps, about two minutes. The third one shows a dialog that looks alarming and is not — it is on this page so you know before you see it. On Windows, the steps are the same and the dialog is different: installing on Windows.
1. Download it from your dashboard
Sign in at wavread.com/signin with the email you bought with. A one-time link arrives; there is no password. Your dashboard lists the current build with a Download button beside it.
Downloads come from the dashboard rather than from inside the app, because the app's own updater can only see public releases and these builds are not public.
2. Check the checksum (optional, but it is there for a reason)
The dashboard prints a SHA-256 next to every build. If you want to prove the file you received is the file WavRead published — not something a network in between altered — run this in Terminal and compare:
shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/WavRead-1.5.6.dmg
It should match the dashboard exactly. Nobody is obliged to do this. It is published because a claim you cannot check is just a claim.
3. Open it, and answer the one question macOS asks
Double-click the .dmg, then drag WavRead onto
the Applications folder in the window that opens. Open it from
Applications.
The first launch shows this, once:
“WavRead” is an app downloaded from the Internet. Are you sure you want to open it? — and underneath, in smaller text: Apple checked it for malicious software and none was detected.
Click Open. It will not ask again.
That box is macOS being ordinary. It appears for any program downloaded from the internet, from any developer. The sentence that matters is the one about Apple checking it: that only appears for software that has been signed and notarized, which WavRead is — the ticket is stapled to both the app and the disk image, so it works even if your Mac is offline.
Here is what you should not see, so you can tell the difference:
| Normal — what you will see | “…is an app downloaded from the Internet. Are you sure you want to open it?” with an Open button, and a line saying Apple found nothing malicious. Click Open. |
|---|---|
| Not normal — what you will not see | “…cannot be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software,” with no Open button. That is what an unsigned or altered app looks like. If WavRead ever shows you this, do not force it open — email support@wavread.com, because something is genuinely wrong. |
4. Analyze something you know well
Drag a finished track onto the window. The first analysis of a track takes longer than later ones — it is measuring, not downloading. Nothing is uploaded: your audio stays on your computer, and the privacy page lists every request the app can make.
Installing on Windows
Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. Your dashboard lists the Windows build beside the
Mac one; the same purchase covers both. It is an installer,
WavRead-1.5.6-Setup.exe, and it needs no administrator password:
WavRead installs for your Windows account only.
Check the checksum (optional, as on a Mac). In PowerShell:
Get-FileHash "$env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\WavRead-1.5.6-Setup.exe"
The Hash it prints should match the dashboard, letter for
letter (Windows prints it in capitals; that is the same value).
Run the installer. The Windows build is not yet signed with a code-signing certificate, so Windows does not know who made it, and says so:
What you will see the first time:
A blue window titled Windows protected your PC: Microsoft Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting.
Click More info. It shows App: WavRead-1.5.6-Setup.exe and Publisher: Unknown publisher, and a Run anyway button. Check the file name, then click Run anyway. Your browser may also warn that the file is not commonly downloaded; keep it.
That warning is about the missing signature, not about anything found in the file, which is why the checksum above is worth the ten seconds. If the publisher line ever names someone other than Unknown publisher or EZmannBuilds, or the checksum does not match, do not run it — email support@wavread.com.
The installer asks you to accept the licence and then puts WavRead in your Start menu. It also needs the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime, which Windows 11 and an up-to-date Windows 10 already have; if yours does not, the installer says so, offers to open Microsoft's WebView2 download page, and installs nothing until the runtime is there.
Your library lives in %LOCALAPPDATA%\WavRead, the app in
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\WavRead. To update, run the new installer:
it replaces the app in place. To remove WavRead, use
Settings › Apps › Installed apps; uninstalling removes the app
and never your library.
Where your files go
WavRead keeps everything in one folder you control — analyses, documents, stems, and copies of the audio you analyzed. Settings shows the exact path, how large it is, and can move the whole library to another drive, which is worth doing if you work with stems. Deleting the app never deletes that folder.
Updating later
New builds appear on your dashboard as they ship, included in what you already paid. Download the new one and drag it over the old app; your library and settings are untouched.
If something goes wrong
Email support@wavread.com. Include what you saw and what you expected — and if the app itself is misbehaving, its Report a Problem page can send a scrubbed record of the failure, which tells us far more than a screenshot. Nothing in that report contains your audio or your track names; the privacy page lists every field.
Written against WavRead 1.5.6 on macOS 14 and later, Apple Silicon, and on Windows 11 x64. Intel Macs are not supported — see requirements.