Live Heart Rate Overlay

Your heartbeat,
always visible.

A cross-platform desktop app that displays your live heart rate as a floating overlay while you stream, game, or train. Powered by HypeRate.

Download Free See Features
Connected — Whoakewl 98
Connection
Whoakewl
Disconnect
News
Heart
Font
Layout
Zones
Animation
Pulse
Color
98
BPM
98
BPM · Live
macOS
Windows
Linux
Free & Open Source
Features

Built for streamers and athletes.

Every feature is intentional. Nothing bloated, nothing missing.

New — Discord Rich Presence Show your live BPM and zone name on your Discord profile — with a link to download the app for free.
New in 1.0.4
New — Bluetooth Direct Connection Connect your heart rate strap directly — no phone, no cloud, no HypeRate app required. Auto-reconnects if you step out of range.
New in 1.0.3
New — OSC Integration Send your live heart rate directly to VRChat. Drive avatar parameters in real time, straight from your wrist.
New in 1.0.2

Live BPM Overlay

A floating, always-on-top widget showing your real-time BPM from your wearable. Stays above any app — games, OBS, browser, anything.

New in 1.0.3

Bluetooth Direct

Connect any BLE heart rate strap directly — Garmin, Polar, Wahoo, Coospo and more. No phone, no cloud. Auto-reconnects if you step out of range.

New in 1.0.4

Discord Rich Presence

Show your live BPM and active heart rate zone on your Discord profile. Friends see your real-time effort — powered by your zone names and colors.

New in 1.0.2

OSC · VRChat Integration

Broadcast your live heart rate directly to VRChat via OSC. Drive avatar parameters in real time from your wearable — no browser source, no third-party tool.

Heart Rate Zones

Define custom BPM zones with individual colors. The overlay color transitions automatically as you move between zones during your session.

BPM History Graph

A live chart tracks your heart rate over time in the settings panel. See your effort curve at a glance — no external tool needed.

Full Customization

Heart style, animation, color, glow, font (including all system fonts), layout, background, and border radius — all configurable in real time.

Menu Bar BPM

On macOS, your live BPM appears right next to the tray icon — always visible without the overlay consuming any game screen space.

Global Hotkey

Press ⌃⇧H from anywhere to instantly show or hide the overlay — no window switching required.

English & German

Full UI localization in English and German. Switch instantly from the title bar — labels, status messages, and the tray menu all update live.

Always Ready

Launches automatically with your OS and silently checks for updates on startup — the overlay is there before your first game loads, always on the latest build.

Setup

Running in under a minute.

No account creation, no configuration files, no complexity.

01

Install the app

Download the installer for your platform and run it. The app lives quietly in your system tray — no Dock clutter, no taskbar entry.

02

Enter Session ID

Open settings, paste your HypeRate Session ID from the HypeRate app, and hit Connect. The connection is instant.

03

Show Overlay

Click Show Overlay. A floating widget appears — drag it anywhere on your screen. It stays above every other window.

04

Stream & Play

Your heart rate is live. Your viewers see it. Customize the look to match your stream layout, then go.

Customization

Make it yours.

Every aspect of the overlay is tunable. Match it to your stream design, game HUD, or personal style.

Heart Styles & Animations

Filled, outlined, or emoji heart — with pulse, beat, bounce, shake, or glow animation.

Colors & Glow

Individual color pickers for heart, BPM text, label, background, and glow effects. Full hex input supported.

Fonts — Including System Fonts

Choose from presets (mono, serif, rounded, display) or use any font currently installed on your machine.

Layout & Background

Horizontal or vertical layout. Transparent, blurred, or solid background. Adjustable corner radius and optional border.

Preview — overlay variants
98 BPM
Default · Pulse
158 BPM
High Zone · Red · Glow
72 BPM
Heart Rate Zones
Low · 0–99
Mid · 100–139
High · 140+
Download

Free for everyone, forever.

No subscription, no login required, no telemetry. Just download and run.

macOS

Apple Silicon & Intel · macOS 12+

Apple Silicon (arm64) Intel (x64)

Windows

64-bit installer · Windows 10 / 11

Download Installer

Linux

AppImage & tar.gz · x64

Download AppImage Download tar.gz

Free and open source — view source on GitHub  ·  A HypeRate ID is required to stream via cloud. Bluetooth Direct works without one.

FAQ

Common questions.

No account is needed. You only need your personal HypeRate Session ID, which you can find in the HypeRate app. Simply paste it into HypeRate Desktop and connect — that's it.
HypeRate supports a wide range of devices, including Apple Watch, Wear OS, Garmin, Fitbit, Amazfit, Polar, and other compatible heart rate sources. View all supported devices →
Yes, completely free. No subscription, no in-app purchases, no hidden fees. HypeRate Desktop is open source and will remain free.
Yes. The overlay runs as a native always-on-top window, so it works alongside any streaming software. In OBS, simply add a Window Capture or Game Capture source, or use a Display Capture to include it in your stream.
This usually happens when a game runs in exclusive fullscreen mode. Switch your game to Borderless Windowed mode and the overlay will appear correctly on top.
It depends on how you connect your heart rate monitor.

HypeRate Cloud (WebSocket): An active internet connection is required — the app connects to the HypeRate service via WebSocket to receive your live BPM data.

Bluetooth Direct (BLE): No internet connection needed. Connect any compatible BLE heart rate strap directly to the app — everything happens locally on your device.
No. HypeRate Desktop stores only your preferences (appearance settings, overlay position) locally on your device. No telemetry, no analytics, no data collection.
HypeRate Desktop checks for new releases automatically on launch. When an update is available, a badge appears in the title bar. Click it to go to the download page and grab the latest version.
This warning comes from Windows Smart App Control or SmartScreen because HypeRate Desktop is not yet signed with a commercial code-signing certificate. It is completely safe to install.

SmartScreen (blue dialog): Click "More info" → "Run anyway".
Smart App Control (Windows 11): Right-click the installer → Properties → check "Unblock" → OK, then run it. Alternatively, go to Windows Security → App & Browser Control → Smart App Control and switch it to Off temporarily.
macOS Gatekeeper blocks apps that are not notarized with an Apple Developer certificate. HypeRate Desktop is safe to run — here's how to allow it:

Step 1: Try to open the app once — you will see the warning dialog. Close it.

Step 2: Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down and click "Open Anyway" next to the HypeRate Desktop entry. Confirm with your password or Touch ID.

The app will open normally from that point on. You only need to do this once.
OSC (Open Sound Control) is a network protocol that VRChat uses to let external apps control avatar parameters in real time. HypeRate Desktop can send your live BPM directly to VRChat via OSC — no browser source, no OBS plugin, no third-party tools needed.

To enable it, open HypeRate Desktop, go to the OSC tab in settings, enable OSC output, and make sure VRChat is running with OSC enabled (Options → OSC → Enable inside VRChat). Your heart rate will be sent to the /avatar/parameters/Heartrate parameter automatically.
There are two settings in Discord that must be enabled for Rich Presence to appear:

1. Enable Activity Status in Discord: Open Discord → User Settings (⚙) → Activity Privacy → enable "Display current activity as a status message".

2. Make sure Discord is running before you enable Rich Presence in HypeRate Desktop. The app connects to Discord via a local IPC socket — Discord must be open for the connection to succeed.

Note: Discord does not show your own Rich Presence on your profile — it is only visible to others. To verify it's working, check the member list in a server or ask a friend to look at your profile.
Two packages are available for Linux:

AppImage (recommended — works on any distro, no install needed):
chmod +x "HypeRate Desktop-1.0.3.AppImage" && ./"HypeRate Desktop-1.0.3.AppImage"

tar.gz (manual extract):
tar -xzf hyperate-overlay-1.0.4.tar.gz && ./hyperate-overlay-1.0.3/hyperate-overlay

On Wayland, if the overlay doesn't appear on top, try launching with GDK_BACKEND=x11 as a prefix.