Guide

Per-app volume control on a Mac

Last updated: August 4, 2026

macOS has no built-in per-app volume control. There is no Mac equivalent of the Windows Volume Mixer: the volume keys and the menu-bar slider change one system-wide level, and every app moves with it. To set different volumes for different apps you need third-party software.

That's the answer. Below: why macOS works this way, the free workarounds that get you part of the way there, and what the real solutions do.

Why doesn't macOS have a volume mixer?

Core Audio mixes every app's output together and sends the result to your output device. Apple exposes one master level for that device and gives no user-facing control over the individual streams feeding into it. Windows has shipped a per-app mixer for years; macOS never has, and there's no hidden setting for it.

The capability exists at the system level — macOS can identify audio per process — it just isn't surfaced anywhere in System Settings.

Free things you can do first

Worth trying before installing anything, because for some situations they're enough:

• Use each app's own volume slider. Music, Spotify, VLC, most video players and most browsers-with-a-video-open have an internal volume. Turning the loud app down inside the app is the simplest fix and costs nothing.
• Mute individual browser tabs. Safari, Chrome and Firefox all let you mute a specific tab, which handles the common case of one autoplaying page talking over your music.
• Send one app to a different output device. A few apps let you choose their own output. If the noisy app is one of them, you can route it somewhere else entirely.

What none of these give you is a single place to see everything that's making sound and balance it.

How third-party per-app volume actually works

Modern macOS lets an app create a tap on another process's audio: a way to receive that app's output specifically, rather than the system mix. Software that offers per-app volume creates one tap per audio-producing app, applies your chosen level to each, and mixes the result back together.

Two consequences worth knowing before you install anything:

• It needs a permission. macOS gates process taps behind an audio-recording permission, so you'll be asked to grant it. That's the system working correctly — anything claiming per-app control without asking is doing something less precise.
• It usually needs a virtual audio device too, so the app can sit in the path of your system audio at all. Expect a one-time password prompt during setup.

Older tools that predate process taps worked by routing everything through a virtual device and guessing, which is why they were less reliable. If you read advice written more than a couple of years ago, this is what changed.

Your options

• SoundSource (Rogue Amoeba) — the specialist. Per-app volume, per-app EQ and per-app output routing are the entire point of the product, from a developer with a long track record in Mac audio. If per-app control is all you want, start here.
• Boom 3D — includes an apps volume controller alongside its enhancement features, and is on the Mac App Store.
• eqMac — free and open source, with a per-app volume mixer in its paid tier.
• EQBase — which is what we make. Per-app volume, mute and tone are part of Pro; see below.

Per-app volume in EQBase

EQBase's App Mixer gives every app that's making sound its own volume, mute and three-band tone control, so you can leave your browser permanently quieter than your music app without touching either one again. It needs macOS 14.2 or later, since that's where the process-tap API EQBase relies on became available.

Two design decisions that differ from the obvious approach:

• If a tap fails for any reason, EQBase falls back to processing the system mix rather than dropping audio. Your sound never stops because a per-app feature had a problem.
• An app that goes briefly silent doesn't vanish from the mixer and reappear a moment later, so the list stays stable while you're using it.

The App Mixer is a Pro feature. The free tier — 10-band EQ, 8,600+ headphone corrections, Auto Switch, hotkeys — has no time limit, so you can check EQBase suits you before deciding.

Common questions

Can I do this without installing anything?

Not properly. You can turn down individual apps that have their own volume slider, but macOS provides no central per-app control, so a real mixer means third-party software.

Will per-app volume affect audio quality?

Changing an app's level is just gain, which is harmless in itself. What matters is what the surrounding software does to the signal — some tools process everything all the time. EQBase is bit-perfect when its controls are flat and adds zero latency to the direct signal, so an untouched app stays untouched.

Does it work with Bluetooth headphones and AirPods?

Yes. The mixing happens before audio reaches your output device, so it works with any output your Mac supports.

Why does it need microphone or recording permission?

macOS classifies capturing audio — including another app's output, and including your own system audio — under its recording permissions. Granting it lets the app receive audio to process. It isn't listening to your microphone; see our privacy policy for exactly what does and doesn't leave your Mac.

Related

Does macOS have a built-in equalizer? · How EQBase compares to the alternatives

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